My bonehead cousin attempted a launch from a complete stop at around 5k rpm. I can smell a distinct burnt smell afterwards that goes away after a couple of hours. Is that a burnt clutch smell? Do I have a defective clutch that needs to be replaced? How can I test it?

The car is 1500 miles and bone stock and never been launched or abused in anyways.


Thanks guys.

 

why would u let your cousin drive your evo????

 

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That was real helpful.

OP- the smell is burnt clutch, but it takes more than once to ruin it. To test it, accelerate from above 3500 rpm in 4th or 5th gear; if the rpm increases without an increase in speed, your clutch is done.

I autocrossed my 8 for two years with one to three codrivers launching it 50 times a year EACH before ruining it at 15,000 miles. A second went in the same miles under similar conditions. I am now 40,000 miles into an ACT HD 2900 without slippage- so far.

 

The smell is from a clutch that was slipped very badly...obviously from the launch your cousin attempted. The stock disc is good at recovering from that, but life was definitely taken off. For now it's fine, just don't let him do it again.

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

+1.

It should be fine. I wouldn't let your cousin drive it again, let alone "launch" it again, as he obviously doesn't know how to do it properly and you end up with some busted drivetrain parts.

 

Just took it out again today. I still smell the burnt scent (even though it isn't as strong as the first time my cousin attempted the launch). Is that normal? Or do I need to take it to a mechanic?

The car drives the same in my opinion. I tried accelerating on 4th gear from around 3500 RPM (as per one of the suggestions), it pulls strongly.

 

organic clutches will have that smell after being slipped..

 

How many miles since your cousin launched it?

 

Probably 50 miles.

 

Lesson learned... Don't ever let someone drive your car, they will not take care of it like you would.( this goes for any car, not just performance ones.)

 

That's not enough for the smell to wear away, give it a solid week of driving and I bet it goes away.

 

Great info there.

One hard launch will not make the clutch unusable. But I know if I had a Evo I would never let anyone else drive it, you just setting yourself up for disaster.

 

You'll need more than 50 miles to get rid of the smell. My old Jeep stank of a burnt clutch for about 2 weeks after I had to ride the clutch real bad to get out of a river bed. I put another 3k miles on that clutch, and sold the Jeep. Current owner has been driving it every day for almost 5 yrs on the same clutch.

 

This.. The clutch is most likely fine. You just need to give it more time. The smell will go away..