'08 Evo X MR - Completely Stock. For ref...

At about 9,000mi I started have intermittent clutch failures when coasting or braking and attempting to downshift. Instead of revving up and engaging my rpm drops gently down towards idle speeds and I can feel that the clutch isn't engaged, period. There's no transmission braking at all.

However, as soon as I press the accelerator I'm engaged again.

It's not any kind of shift-delay, or at least it lasts longer than 8 seconds (longest I've waited before hitting the gas). It's the same story in manual normal, sport, & s-sport (although I'd re-assert its intermittence in all 3 modes). No problems with auto-mode.

I haven't pinpointed any specific speed or rpm range. between 30-50 mph & 3000-6000rpm (if that's vague enough for you...).

'Service is overdue' notice was on for an oil change, which I had 2 days ago. No more notice, but same issue. I mentioned it to the mechanic who said he wasn't able to replicate the problem (which I believe, he only drove it for 2 minutes).

Ideas anyone? It's not a pressing problem since it always engages with the pedal down, but it's still irritating the crap out of me.

 

Wishing you had purchased the GSR yet? I did as soon as I signed the papers for the MR

 

So ur saying that when u down shift in manual, the rpms just drop to idle?? I figure if u were having some sort of clutch failure there would b a service light...

 

when you decelerate .. the gears engage but the clutches doesn't .. because the TCU is smart enough to know that if you're decelerating, there is no need to wear the clutches ..

Release the brakes and the clutches will engage ..

This phenomenon is especially glaring when your speeds drop below 40mph ..

There is nothing wrong with the car .. it does what its supposed to be doing.. just like clutch in coasting on a manual car ..

 

Yeah, but if you are braking while downshifting, you can feel the clutch engage after the shift. Or at least, I can.

 

lol why?

You realize the GSR has problems too, right?

 

I haven't had this happen for me.. I've tried a few times to engine brake.. have yet to be able to "properly". I get the same experience as Gunzo describes.. When I am braking and downshift, I get nothing until I release the brakes or accelerate. If my foot is off the brakes, sometimes I am able to engine brake.

 

In Normal mode, that is what will happen .. engine brake works when rpm is higher ( > 4000 rpm I think I forgot )and you're not braking hard .. ie the ECU looks at rate of deceleration..

Go into Sport mode and you get engine braking until a certain speed .. I believe its around 20-30mph .. same logic for higher gears as SSPORT mode

SSport will get you full engine braking unless you're in a gear that drops the rpm below 2000rpms (I think) .. then it'll release the clutches to prevent the engine from stalling

 

I almost always have my car in sport or s-sport/manual; engine braking and rev matching during downshifts are spot on with the brake applied or not or whether I do it manually or let the TCU handle the downshift. The downshift and rev match is better and smoother than I can consistently do in a manual trans car. I love the SST!

 

What you're saying about the rpm limit could be what I'm experiencing, since I'm normally downshifting from a higher gear (5or6 usually), and I've only noticed it during stop & go city driving. I'll have to look into that. I'd be more than happy to find it wasn't a malfunction of some sort.

On a side note, anyone know how to remove the 'vehicle service overdue' message from the MMCS? (correct acronym??). A day or two after my oil change I realized they didn't actually clear it.

 

To turn off that, you need to do it when the engine is off, and go the menu, then do the same magic thing that you reset the trip miles. Acctually, they teach you in the owner's menu.

Just curious, which part of Kansas you are at?

 

If it is the MMCS - namely the NAV unit - then you will go to Menu > Service or Maintenance (I think) and then find the appropriate line that needs to be reset. There will be a button at the right side of the row to reset the indicator.

If it is the MID - the screen between the spedo and tach - (courtesy of Noize)

 

Bringing an old thread to life... have questions...

Was driving my friends SST Evo X and it was a total joy.. but he was complaining about a few problems that he was having... the most interesting and confusing one being this -

When cruising lets say at about 40-50 miles in 5th gear and you need to make a 90 degree turn, as we turn, the car downshifts to 3rd gear and when we step back on the throttle, there is NO response.. we tap it like 5-6 times and its just dead! The car is running but there is ZERO throttle response... this was really confusing! Any Ideas?

 

Sounds to me like turbo lag because the RPMs are too low to spool the turbo. This is the primary reason I drive in manual mode. The transmission can't possibly know what I'm going to do as a driver, it can't know what's ahead in the road, and it can't know about any sudden things that happen. So I drive in manual mode (normal and sport most of the time) and downshift when it's proper. Hope this helps.

 

Try putting the vehicle in Sport mode, or manually downshift. As migs mentions, the vehicle has a limited number of data points it is using to try to determine what you're going to want it to do next.