Hey everyone,

I picked up a IX MR, and I'm very excited about it. I bought a new 2004 RS years ago but had to sell it, so I'm very happy to be back in the community...


I have a few engine / clutch concerns, though, and I was gonna see if anyone had any input.

The car is lightly modded... It has a TBE, boost controller, and stock ECU tuned by English Racing to about 330 WHP, so it's no monster but it’s got a few things done to it.

There’s also an aftermarket clutch, and I’m not 100% positive, but I think it’s a Competition clutch. I dunno if it just needs some adjusting, but I'm not very happy with it. It's VERY hard to get in gear when cold, and even after it’s warm, it is still tough to put in 1st when stopped. Shifting at high rpms, around or above 7k, is doable but can be difficult at times. Shifting in general is tricky and can feel notchy unless you really get the clutch slammed down to the floor. I've had about 4 different aftermarket clutches (Exedy, Centerforce, ACT, RPS…) on 4 different cars, so I know how they should feel, and this one doesn’t seem quite right. I go through cars (buy and sell) quick, and I have never actually burned out a clutch before... I actually have an old 2000 Audi TT with 137k on the stock clutch, so I don't wear them out super fast... Although that is a lot of miles on the highway...

Another issue that is super annoying, and I don’t know what is causing this… When driving the car in traffic or around town, it has this weird pulse when you get back on the throttle after coasting. The lower the RPM, the worse it gets. For instance, if you’re at 2k rpms coasting, then touch the throttle lightly, nothing happens… eventually when you’ve given it enough input, the car sorta jumps forward abruptly. My old Evo never had that issue. I bought it new, so it never did it when it was stock, then had it tuned on a standalone AEM with lots of other mods (about 450 WHP) and that car never drove like this.

One other thing (this list was longer than I thought! ) is that when I go to shift, my foot is fully off the throttle, but the RPMS either hang where they were when I hit the clutch, or they even go up some. When driving the car hard it almost sounds like you’re either trying to do a no lift shift (which I don’t really know much about since I’ve never been a hardcore drag racer), or that you are just learning to drive a manual and being overly happy with the throttle. This happens in parking lots a ton which really sucks, where you put it in reverse or first, move a little, then hit the clutch to either change from reverse to first or stop, and the motor just revs up to like 2500 rpms or so. Having a TBE makes it obvious that something is wrong or I don’t know how the hell to drive… I know this is not a slipping clutch issue, as the clutch is just a few months old from the previous buyer, and the rpms do not jump until the clutch is depressed and there’s zero throttle applied.

From my searching, it seems like this could potentially be a throttle cable issue… does this sound like it might be the problem? What should I do, lube the throttle cable...?

Besides these concerns, the car is awesome, I really missed the super aggressive handling and steering input, brakes, etc… I’m hoping these are rather minor concerns and I look forward to getting everything back in order so that I can enjoy the car like I enjoyed my last Evo. Any input is much appreciated… I might have the tuner look at it again, but from what I’ve told them, it doesn’t sound like it’s related to the tune. It's a clean GG MR, and I'm looking forward to giving it a bath and perhaps some wax, then getting some nice shots of it on here.

Thanks for any input / help... I'm looking forward to fixing these minor issues and enjoying the car!


Trevor

 

post pictures of your new ride! also try and post a video of the shift/rev problem to help other understand what is going on.

 

A 2010 WRX that is in my family has the identical problem. Holding rpm after clutch engagement. When it was taken to the dealer, they offered to reset the fuel map to fix it. So I would assume its a problem with your tune.

I don't know that the WRX is relevant. But its worth a try! Good to hear you're back in the game man!

 

the first one sounds like your syncros are saying screw you.
the second one sounds like a problem with your tune.
and lastly i have no idea about the third sorry.

 

Yeah I may have the tuner check it out for me... They looked at it before and it seemed ok but perhaps we could look closer at the throttle issue and see what's up. If we can figure it out, I'll post it up.... Oh yeah, and pics coming soon!

 

clutch needs adjustment for the problem of it not going into gear cold, i had same problem

 

May need to change the gear oil as well.

 

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...en-shifts.html

 

I just put a competition Stage 2 in my IX and haven't had any issues similar to that.

 

i finally just got my twin disc put in and got rid of my stupid competition stage 2, at first i liked the clutch but then i absolutely hated it. Every problem you just named clutch related, i had. There were days i had to sit there for several minutes just trying to get my car to go in gear, it was super notchy all the time unless i had the peddle slammed to the floor. Also after tracking my car back when i was at 350whp my clutch slipped all the time after the 2nd time i went.

 

read the link posted by the mod earlier... i think this is a VERY common problem on the evo ix's that somewhat talked about... it seems like every evo 9 guy i've talked to has had this problem at one time or another, i would def look into getting a proper tune, then check the other variables... i've had this problem since buying my car... it did seem to get better after changing my trans and clutch (unrelated issue) but its still there.. i've owned my evo since dec of '08 and i'm hoping to get a decent tune soon so i'll proly update that link when i do

 

Well at least I'm not alone with this issue.... after having a good number of aftermarket clutches, it sounds like this is not the greatest of them. Sounds like I might need to see about switching it out, as I'm really tired of the clutch issues that I'm having, that's for sure. Thanks for the input! So from the way it sounds, your twin disc fixed these problems, right?

Trevor

 

yup. none problems at all with the twin.. its just a noisy clutch but oh well lol

 

the rpms hanging might have to do with your tune. there are a few threads about it, search for "rpm hang." Might need to have your tuner look at it if you find it terribly annoying.