Help! Shuddering And Vibration When Starting In First Gear!

[griffbl]

My car has a very ginger 500 miles, no abuse, and no modifications. I did a mild burn out (quite mild, on a residential street) the last time I drove the car, a week or so ago. First one ever.... When I put it up in the garage, I smelled either a burning clutch, or some tire rubber. Thought nothing of it. Today when I drove the car, I noticed a shudder and vibration when the clutch was slipped from a stop in first gear. It was so different, and obvious, that I thought I was mistakenly in 3rd gear. I was not. No matter how gingerly I start from a stop, I get this vibration....seems to shift fine after she is on a roll.....all gauges read normal. I do not understand this. Any Help, and or suggestions are very much appreciated.

THANKS!

Brad

 

[piko6]

your clutch is not uniform or your flywheel is warped.. i had that same thing too once upon a time

 

[dbtgt]

My car has a very ginger 500 miles, no abuse, and no modifications. I did a mild burn out (quite mild, on a residential street) the last time I drove the car, a week or so ago. First one ever.... When I put it up in the garage, I smelled either a burning clutch, or some tire rubber. Thought nothing of it. Today when I drove the car, I noticed a shudder and vibration when the clutch was slipped from a stop in first gear. It was so different, and obvious, that I thought I was mistakenly in 3rd gear. I was not. No matter how gingerly I start from a stop, I get this vibration....seems to shift fine after she is on a roll.....all gauges read normal. I do not understand this. Any Help, and or suggestions are very much appreciated.

THANKS!

Brad

Odd as it may seem, I had the slight clutch chatter develop after about 800 miles but after a couple of good burnouts on Woodward at the Rally :eek it dissappeared and my clutch has never been smoother. Maybe it needs some more "burnishing". It will either get better or worse. There are some previous threads on this subject that are pretty detailed. HTH.

 

[TEXAS GT]

Are you sure you weren't in 3rd gear when you did your burnout? I made that mistake and ended up with exactly the same shudder. Cost me about $3000 if I remember right to replace the clutch. You won't make that mistake twice :eek

 

[ViperJoe]

Are you sure you weren't in 3rd gear when you did your burnout? I made that mistake and ended up with exactly the same shudder. Cost me about $3000 if I remember right to replace the clutch. You won't make that mistake twice :eek

One time and the clutch is history?

 

[TEXAS GT]

One time and the clutch is history?

It's easy to jam it into 3rd when you're coming out of reverse and distracted. I only laid down about 30 feet of rubber when I realized something was wrong and backed out of it. The smell was horrific and the car was barely driveable. I parked it until the dealer could get the new clutch and that fixed it. First gear burnouts don't seem to affect it thank goodness :biggrin

 

[glord]

I had the same problem. I recently had a series of repairs done and the problem has gone away. I am under the assumption that one of these fixes addressed the clutch chatter problem:

1) Had the rear-main replaced due to oil leak. Could have had oil on the clutch.

2) Had an internal leak in the transmission fixed. The leak was discovered when the transmission was removed to get to the rear main. Interesting that the repair could not be done in the field and the transmission had to be shipped back to Ricardo for repair in the manufacturer's temp controlled clean room.

3) Had broken linkage fasteners replaced which were diagnosed as the root cause of problems (mushy feeling) downshifting into first gear.

 

[fjpikul]

glord, what year and VIN is your car?

 

[Neilda]

Brad, all is not lost....

If you were very aggresive and in 3rd, you might have damaged the clutch, if not then piko could be right about the warping.

Interestingly, my Vanquish used to suffer this from time to time - Aston Martin Works Service (essentially the factory) told me to do some high speed gear changes when the engine was hot and that the plates would re-shape enough. No more burn outs, but try some slow gear changes at speed and see if it'll knock the high points off a bit.

Hopefully you've not got the glord problems.

Would you keep us posted?

 

[Fubar]

It sounds like you just ruff'd up your clutch. It may smooth itself back out. If it doesn't get better after some clutch use then you are no worse off than you were before and you can start talking to Ford about a new clutch.

 

[SLF360]

It sounds like you just ruff'd up your clutch. It may smooth itself back out. If it doesn't get better after some clutch use then you are no worse off than you were before and you can start talking to Ford about a new clutch.

.. and when you open it up, all is flaky like Detroit snow.. ! :rofl

 

[griffbl]

Thanks for the help.

Guys-

thanks to all......I do not THINK I was in third when I did this, and will see if the clutch smooths out.....with as gingerly as I have driven the car to this point, would be shocked if it should need replacement, but as many have suggested, I will drive it for a while and see if it smooths out....Please let me know how to drive it in an effort to "smooth out the plates"

Many Thanks,

Brad

 

[Neilda]

Once you've got the engine nice and hot, get on a stretch of highway and do some slow release clutch changes at 70mph +.

I'm just rushing out, but from memory you don't have many miles on the clock, so do bear that in mind in terms of not thrashing it.

 

[HHGT]

What about burn outs in 2nd

What about burn outs in 2nd? I was told that when I owned the 04 Z06. I never did one though... A buddy did and he left a serious amount of rubber...

 

[griffbl]

Roughness starting in FIRST VS. NONE in REVERSE

Guys-

A Rough clutch sounds logical....MY question is why would it be so when starting from first gear, and NOT at all noticable when starting in Reverse?

It does seem to be smoothing out a bit.....

Thanks,

Brad

 

[ViperJoe]

Here's what I believe is happening. I have 500 very delicate miles on my car; no burnouts and no intention of doing any. Every now and then I get some clutch shutter which I attribute to improper engagement caused by me! Indeed if I try to release the clutch too slowly and at low rpm, I get the shutter. If I spool it up a bit and engage the clutch quicker, no shutter. So it's just me adapting to how the clutch needs to be engaged on this car. Nothing more!

I am incredulous over this whole 3rd gear burn the clutch out business. Does this occur during normal light throttle operation or in conjunction with aggressive throttle burnouts? I'll bet I can take off slowly from a dead stop in 3rd and not damage anything!

 

[griffbl]

Here's what I believe is happening. I have 500 very delicate miles on my car; no burnouts and no intention of doing any. Every now and then I get some clutch shutter which I attribute to improper engagement caused by me! Indeed if I try to release the clutch too slowly and at low rpm, I get the shutter. If I spool it up a bit and engage the clutch quicker, no shutter. So it's just me adapting to how the clutch needs to be engaged on this car. Nothing more!

ACR JOE-

I am reasonably adept at using a clutch, and the car NEVER had a shutter, or vibration, from a dead stop in first gear up until now.....The most judicious, expert release of the clutch in first is accompanied by vibration. It is unavoidable at this point. I just hope it smooths back out.

Thanks,

Brad

 

[Red Rocket]

I'd be surprised if the shudder remained after some more normal driving, but it would best if you did not do a lot of stop & go traffic maneuvering until it sorts itself out. The stop & go stuff would lengthen the recovery process.

BTW this dual disc clutch is better operated more like an on/off clutch with minimal slipping. That's what it is designed for. So give your self enough room in traffic, enough revs, and just get your foot off the pedal as soon as feasible.

On the subject of burnouts, back in the day when cars had muscle we used to do the burnouts in 2nd gear to avoid over-revving the engine. In those days most of us were running very low gearing - 3.90 final drive was even considered tall! So here's the question - given that the GT is very tall-geared, is it better to do a burnout starting out in 1st gear or 2nd? Waddyou burnout Kings say?

 

[SLF360]

BTW this dual disc clutch is better operated more like an on/off clutch with minimal slipping. That's what it is designed for. So give your self enough room in traffic, enough revs, and just get your foot off the pedal as soon as feasible.

This is very, very true and good advice ! :thumbsup

Me, having buried the first clutch, and having moved on to a more durable piece of kit (special SPEC) can only tell ya all, this clutch will go sooner or later on you... more mods, more hard driving, quicker the lifespan will end... Then, replace it with something worhty... PM me if you like..

cheers from Italy

Stefan

 

[SLF360]

Just to share, I recently got new back tyres (2400 miles on it) and then, adapting to a more direct engagement, turned the rims in the tyres by full 90 degrees... had to get them rebalanced right away..

Love the torque :biggrin


stefan