Something wierd happened today. I was at a light ready to race some kid in a Mazda Protege. I was reving the engine to around 4,000 RPM with my foot ready to smoothly let up on the clutch when the light turned green. I had my system cranked up pretty loud so I didn't really hear anything but when the light turned and I let off the clutch to my suprise I was going very slow but the engine was reving. It took me a second to realize I wasn't going anywhere. At first I thought maybe my tires were spining so I went to 2nd gear, it just kept crawling slowly. I then put it into 1st gear and took off like a rocket. My first thought after this was that my clutch was fucked. I've tested the clutch since and it seams fine. My friend thinks I was in 3rd gear instead of 1st when I tried to go. This is very possible because the music was loud and there was a hot click behind me that I was looking at so I might have forgoten to put it into 1st. So, does anyone think it was my clutch? are there any warning signs of your clutch going on you? my car has 113,000 miles and as far as I know it's got the original clutch. Sorry for such a long post.

 

You were probably slipping the clutch in first. This happens with the stock clutch, especially with older ones.

 

What do you mean by Slipping the clutch? Sorry for my ignorance.

 

did you smell something nasty afterwards? if you did, it was your clutch....

 

Oh yeah I forgot to says that. It smelt kinda of wierd after but not too strong. I drove around for alittle while while after and everything seemed fine. What should I do?

 

A clutch is just like a brake, it pushes a friction surface against a spinning disc. They're backwards however, as the brake's job is to use the friction surface to stop the disc from spinning, the clutch's job is to use the spinning disk to get the friction surface spinning (and that spins your transmission and wheels).
When you step on your brakes, the friction surface can clamp down, but if you're not pushing hard enough or your calipers are week, the disc can keep on spinning, but is eventually slowed down. This can happen with a clutch too. When you let your foot off the clutch at 4K rpms, the friction surface came into contact with the spinning disc (attached to your flywheel), but the friction surface (attached to your wheels through first gear on your tranny) just sat still while the disc kept on spinning, aka slipping or burning. This can "glaze" the friction surface and affect clutch engagement, but the glaze should wear off after a while.
This is why aftermarket clutches advertise 70% or 110% or more clamping force over stock.
I dunno if this makes sense.

 

That makes perfect sense, and I should be fine if what you described is what happened, which sounds right. How long do clutches usually last anyway? The guy I bought the car from is kind of an agressive driver but not into racing and he bought it off of some lady in her 40's. I've had it for about 3 months and drive it pretty hard. I guess with this happening and 113,000 miles on it I'm starting to worry about the clutch going, what should I look for if there are any warning signs?

 

Chit, everyone I know goes through the stock clutch in 40~60K miles.
Warning signs are slippage like you experienced, also "chatter" during clutch engagement. "Chatter" is when you hold your clutch just at the point of engagement, it should still feel smooth as the pressure plate pushes against the flywheel, but with a worn clutch it just chatters or vibrates. You can't really mistake the feeling.