Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches E. Great Lakes Say bye bye to the clutch

im new to mechanics, and im thinking about going to school for it, but I need help for this one, and a lot of it. My brother's credentials? Hes extremely intelligent, hes 21 years old and for 4 of those years since he was 16 he has owned 2 cars with sticks, and driven cars with slipping clutches. He drove one so bad that the guy couldnt start off from first gear it was slipping so badly.

In first gear, start off is very rough if not started off at the right rpm. But in any gear if I try to accelerate to quickly the car bucks, feels like it looses power to the wheels and pushes it back, after about 4 or 5 seconds of doing this it continues just fine. Its NOT the spark plugs/wires or coil thats causing a misfire, because all of those parts are brand new and ford approved. its not a misfire because my CEL off and continues the remain that way.

i my experiences a slipping clutch will sound like this....


you start off, car doesn't go right away. it doesn't buck or jerk, it just revs high and accelerates slowly. when you shift, it will sound like you're not letting the clutch out fast enough..... and again rev and not go. it really shouldn't buck or run rough.

a clutch swap is NOT an easy swap, especially for a 16 year old to do alone. if you have some help (and by help i mean someone who has worked on and done major repairs to cars) and you can live without your car for a few days, give it a shot. otherwise, you're going to have to pay someone to do it. and it's not cheap.

i would try to find someone you know that is good with cars who will do it for you on the side.

I can get by for a week at most without a car, I could probibly barrow my dad's (he has a work truck, rarely ever drives his explorer). My main problem is finding the right help with the right tools. If I cant find the help, Im going to have to find an alternative, and I think that may be taking 40 hours a week at work over the summer and coming up with the cash for a newer car, Probibly a contour, and if I get another contour, below 80K miles 98 or newer SE with the Duratec engine. Thats what I want if I get another contour, but thats my backup plan.

yeah i dont think it sounds like a clutch. working at a dealership, ive driven a few cars that i know have bad clutches and havent ran into this. all ive ran into was when you let the pedal out, the car just doesnt accelerate and revs go up. this is just my experience though and wouldnt rule out the clutch. i personally have a bucking prob like you do when mine is at low rpm's and then once it passes in each gear and warms up, is fine. i feel mine is a just a fuel pump or some kind of delivery prob.. try letting your car warm for about 10 min before you take off next and see if it runs better. maybe bad injectors? bad pump? clean maf. run through some injector cleaner. idk man, just try all the cheaper stuff before you take it to a shop cuz like all others said, its not too cheap.

also, i dont know how well this works, but someone told me to start in 3rd gear and if you can get goin, clutch is good. true? idk.

Im going to reset the computer, and see what happens, im told that for a short period of time the car runs like brand new after reseting the computer. So if I reset it, and I still have the problem... My brother said to me, my clutch isnt to the point where you let it out and acceleration is scarce, but I can tell over the past 5 months of driving it, that the power has slowly declined. Im in the first stages right now of a dying clutch, when you see them (since you work at a dealership) you see them when they are dead already, mines not dead, just dying.

well, both of your methods are very, very hard on the clutch.