same boat almost...... 3 track days, 2 auto-x's, 2 different drag strip visits....and a few street races.... total of at least 20 6000rpm launches........ factory clutch line and restritor still in my car as well.....

6500 miles..... my tires are damn near bald though.... my alignment is off...but.........

 

I still believe that all of these clutch issues are either drivers error (big time reason) or a very rare problem.

Someone with a toasted clutch can be like "I drive perfect all day long", but their idea of perfect is riding the clutch or doing other things to it that other people deem crazy to do with a clutch.

It's all in the eyes of the beholder. With how many good clutches there are out there, I do not believe it is a defect.

 

Do you work for ?

Seriously, I agree with you. When I first learned to drive a stick I roached a clutch. I haven't done so since then and I've driven about 400-500K miles in various vehicles with a manual transmissions. I'm sure there are the occasional bad clutch out there but usually such failures occur in batches, not one-offs.

 

Another classic case of clutch abuse.

I don't care how under designed people say this clutch is, if you only got 3k out of it your doing something wrong.

I've put many hard streert launches on my clutch and know others that have done the same with no problems at all.

I'm at 11k and the clutch feels better than the day I drove the car home.

 

How many people keep their foot on the clutch between shifts? I have seen way too many people who drive like that. Not saying this is the case here, but a large number of people have no idea to drive a stick correctly. People sitting on inclines who ride the clutch to keep the car from rolling back. The list goes on and on.

 

doods ive burnt the **** outta mine at the track one time..i drive my evo very spirited on the streets..but no hard launches no clutch can take that much abuse..just take off slowly then romp on it...dood your driving an evo no need to prove anything to anyone else..have fun...btw my clutch is as good as the day i drove it off the lot 5500 miles so far

 

14,900 miles on mine, still good as new.

 

Tell me about it. I still see 50+ yr olds doing the ol' clutch-ride-to-keep-it-still move. I feel the agony of that clutch's slow death.

 

Seriously, I drove my old mustang GT much harder than my evo and the clutch was good up until i sold it at around 80K miles.

Personally I feel either the pressure plate is too weak for the engine or the clutch needs to be beefed up for longevity reasons for normal wear and tear. The evo was my first car which the clutch went out. Let me warn you one day it'll just go but having so many people with clutch problem at such low milage something is wrong.

WRX has a so called glass "transmission" and we all know the clutch in it was weak. How come they didn't have the under 10,000 mile clutch wear problem. Could it be that our clutch wasn't designed very well? I'm positive the evo's drive trains is 100% better than the wrx but it's just something to think about on their design standpoint.

I'm just saying perhaps purposely design the clutch with the restrictor to protect the drivetrain and give the clutch bill to us. Just something to think about.

sevensign, why don't you just get your flywheel resurfaced instead of replacing? I believe they could do that only once before it's too thin under tolerences.

 

Well, I got you beat. 1K miles and the clutch is slipping. Not bad, but slipping.

Abuse?... I was still breaking in the car. Bad driving? Even riding the clutch and all, it should last longer than 1K not mention 35-40% of those miles are highway miles driving 40 miles each way to the dealership 4 times and back. Not to mention the 40 miles I drive to work.

There are still quite a few genuine clutch problems that Mitsu is ignoring.

 

Forgot to mention, the DM said no dice to any fixes unless I pay up first for a teardown in which they will warranty only if they have 100% proof that its a manufacturer defect.

Luckily, I have a dealership that is trying to help. SO basically... make good friends with your dealer, if the DM say FU, at least you can still get some help.

Good luck.

 

3125.8 miles, clutch slipping, not bad, but when i punch it in 4th gear i get free revs, then it starts driving like it should

 

I was 100% with you till my clutch went out today......


I dont ride my clutch, or use it to hold myself on an incline, i press to the floor, shift and quickly let it out, matching revs so its a smooth transition..

I do drive spiritedly, and i have done some auto x events, but all that did was wear down my front tires and breaks a bit..

i think 3k is WAYYY to soon for a clutch to go out,, from my experience you'd have to do a break stand and rev the engine then ride the clutch and just let it burn for a while every day to wear it down that much...

I guess i'll just get it resurfaced.. i doubt the warentee will cover it....

 

Excuse me mister fancy pants, wait while I drink my tea and eat my crumpets, poopy head,
I've had many cars that were a manual and I've never smelled burnt clutch prior to the Evo. This includes my 2000 Mustang GT (and I drove the crap out of that one). When I took the Evo in at 3k, they told me it was new and to wait. Well now I have 8500 miles and it still smells. To tell this guy that it's him over-reacting is a farce in my opinion. I don't see guys on the srt-4 or the rsx board complaining about there clutches.

With this Evo, I have had consistantly smelled it, whether I'm driving like grandma moses or running it wide open. Other members of this board are in the same position and have 10-20k on their vehicles. Lastly, let us consider that there are 4500 out in the united states. With such a limited production, why are their so many complaints?

 

Is there any thing at all related to the clutch that has to be performed on delivery? Check the fluid level? Bleed it? remove any type of block/tensioner/thingy? I think that the clutch issue may only occur on a very small portion of owners < 5%, and that does sound like a possible bad batch. It might have been inital cars that just got stuck in shipping or lots, but didn't sell in direct proportion of when it was built.

Is anyone tracking the build dates and who's had a premature failure, and who hasn't. Maybe there is a range in the serial number(VIN) to avoid?