Up until now i've had a 93 altima (manual) with an old trans and oil burning motor, and my CRX with a GSR swap which has never been on the road long enough to drive for any length. I just picked up an 05 EP3 with now 32k miles on it and right when i got it i realized that when i shifted into 3rd it had 2 engagement points, it would engage, have a space of seemingly no engagement, then pickup again and engage before letting off. I thought this was fairly odd, but didnt worry about it since even the extended warranty i got wouldnt cover the clutch (wear part). I've been driving it about a month, the feel of the clutch seems to have gotten a lot worse; i'm not ruling out driver error. I'm not sure what i'm doign wrong on the lines of driving a manual, i think i just learned incorrectly the first time. For one, the feel of this clutch is far less than i'm used to with my CRX, as i had an aftermarket clutch, and the Altima...well...that was just a pile of ****. Unfortunately i dont know anyone else to has a manual that i would actually trust driving with. My engagement point is very short now (further out as well, away from firewall). I cant figure out what i'm doing wrong. I've tried the following: Letting it out slow while shifting to let it engage, letting it out slow but right at rpm range of next gear, letting it out quicker, reving to 1500ish and slowly releasing clutch in first, let RPM's drop to about 800, drop clutch as RPM's begin to raise up... Not trying to be emo, but it's pretty demoralizing when you get a new car and you seemingly burn out the clutch within a month of granny driving.

I'm out of ideas, and to the point where ill accept being torn apart on HT. Next question is....do i go aftermarket or stock when i get the clutch replaced? Any estimate of what price i should expect on this novice mistake?


Modified by rtnlsltn at 2:52 PM 8/21/2007