Sounds to me like you have more of a clutch master cylinder, or slave cylinder problem then a slipping clutch. OR your biggest and most apparent problem is a retarded technician. If you can litterally smack the pedal and it hits the floor you should of never drove away, sounds like air in the system or a leaking/defective part. Which will easily lead to an early burnt clutch. It seems like many owners with the most amazing subaru known to man ever built you suck for even considering an sti 2009 wrx is having clutch problems,.,..

 

Sounds to me like you have more of a clutch master cylinder, or slave cylinder problem then a slipping clutch.

Im in no way doubting you, more just trying to educate myself, but could you elaborate on this? how did you come to this decision?

I just dont know that much about clutches/transmission, and id like to sound as educated on the matter as possible when i speak with them.

And as for the clutch pedal smacking issue. I didnt drive away. The Subaru service manager just told me i was wrong and thats the way it always was. We argued back and forth for a bit, and i got no where. So i drove it to my home dealer(the same 400mi trip im making on the 19th), and when i spoke to them on the phone they said it sounds like air in the lines, but by the time i was able to make it over there about a week later, the problem was gone.

 

How did you determine it was a clutch master cylinder, or slave cylinder problem though?

 

Here's how the system works. Hydraulics rely on the simple physical property that fluids cannot be compressed. In other words their volume never changes regardless of the force exerted on them. Your clutch hydraulics simply use an input force (your foot) to move fluid from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder, which in turn moves the actuator rod out of the body of the slave cylinder. That rod in turn applies force to the clutch fork, which has a pivot in the trans case so that when the top section that attaches to the actuator rod is moved forward (towards the front of the car) it moves the bottom of the fork rearward. The fork has two legs that seat into the ears of the throw out bearing that is attached to the back of the pressure plate. This pulls the pressure plate against the spring pressure that it uses to clamp the clutch disc to the flywheel. When the throw out bearing releases the spring pressure the clutch disc is allowed to slip and this allows you to change gears, or ease the car into motion. When you release your foot from the pedal the spring pressure of the pressure plate pushes backwards on the throw out bearing, which pushes back on the fork, which pushes back on the actuator rod, and returns the pedal to its normal position.

My question would be why do they think the clutch was slipping? A slipping clutch wouldn't cause low pedal effort. Low pedal effort is either a leaking hydraulic system or a bad pressure plate (which could cause the clutch to slip). If the clutch assembly is good and the hydraulics are leaking you would get grinding, or harsh gear engagement, or even not be able to get the trans into gear. This would happen because the hydraulics wouldn't be able to muster enough force to release the spring clamp load the pressure plate is applying to the disc, so the disc wouldn't slip, even with the pedal on the floor, or some degree of what I said earlier depending on how bad the leak is. Just because there's fluid in the reservoir doesn't mean there isn't a leak. The hydraulics can leak internally with no fluid leaking outside the system. Everything looks fine, but the system still doesn't work. The pedal should still return though, because there is a fairly stiff spring under the dash that makes that happen.

You have to look at it from SOAs perspective too. Do you know how many boy racers they get in their dealerships every year with a busted trans or a smoked clutch trying to claim they didn't abuse the car? I don't know either, but my guess is that its a lot. Ultimately they have to prove, legally, that it was your driving that ruined the clutch. There is a wonderful piece of legislation called the Magnusson Moss Warranty Act that puts the burden of proof on the manufacturer, not the vehicle owner.

Regardless, as the 2nd clutch was put in by a Subaru dealership I say that you have the best possible case for getting SOA to cover any and all repairs. If it happens 3 times you can Lemon Law them, and they won't want that to happen. Basically it seems apparent that the tech either misdiagnosed the problem and didn't address your concerns.

What happened at 28.2k? Why did the car go to the dealership in the first place? Was the clutch slipping?

 

Wow - Thanks! That was one hell of a reply! Much appreciated.

And in response to your questions, i think the clutch is slipping cause when i get off the highway sometime, and im slowing down and shifting to lower gears, i get a loud rev'ing sound and my tach spikes. But not in the normal way it would spike or sound when shifting to a lower gear.

Also, i understand how SOA works, i just disagree with them. I bet they deal tons of people "just like me" who burn there clutches racing and screwing around and then expect it to be replaced. However, in my case theyre just going by what the dealer tells the rep, and what the rep tells them. And when i first called them to tell them my car was sitting outside there building with a dead clutch, the guy at Skagit Subaru(Burlington, WA) straight up told me i abuse the car, and they would not be replacing it under warranty. All this before even setting sight on my car, and all he knew was "dead clutch."

I spoke to another dealership who, i wont name, but he totally sided with me, and told me that everything theyre doing to me is "bull****". Then he stopped returning my calls, come to find out, from him, his SOA rep called him and told him he was no longer allowed to deal with me, since he's privy to info that im not, and he wasnt siding with SOA/Skagit Subaru.

And the reason it ended up at Subaru in the first place is because he clutch showed NO signs of slipping at all that i would see, then i decided to take a trip about 60mi south of home, and on my way back with about 30 miles to go, i was cruising along at about 70mph, the clutch slipped about 3 times, then my car lost (acceleration, not electrical)power, and i had to roll off of I-5 and call a tow truck.

 

The textbook sign of a slipping clutch is to have the car in 5th gear on the highway at about 2,500 RPM-3,00RPM and floor it. In a car that the clutch doesn't slip you will accelerate, albeit at a fairly slow pace as the turbo spools and pulls the car (at this RPM it shouldn't lug though). If it slips the tach will race up to about 4,500-5,000 RPM but your acceleration will not match the increase in engine speed. When this starts to happen you have little time until the clutch absolutely must be replaced. Eventually this slip will occur in lower gears (first 4th, then 3rd, etc.). Ultimately it will slip all the time, even when trying to take off. At that point the rivets in the disc are grinding into the flywheel (not that it matters as the flywheel must always be replaced when a clutch job is done in a Subaru).

I've found that typical clutch life on a WRX is 50-60k miles. Some guys on here are claiming 75-135k. All I know is that my factory clutch was spent at 50k, and the factory replacement was done at 105k. My wife and I both drive the car, currently she much more so than I. I wouldn't say I beat on the car, but I do enjoy some spirited driving every now and again. I have drag raced it a bit on all three clutches, but I'm careful with my launch technique.

Basically your situation sucks. I can relate as I went through a similar situation with my wife's previous car (the t-stat stuck closed on the highway). I was able to get it fixed because a friend of my Mom's was the dealership's comptroller. Once I spoke with her she spoke with the president of the dealership, who called me personally five minutes later, apologized profusely, and did everything possible to make it right. Once that car was fixed I drove it from the dealership to the Subaru dealership and drove the WRX home.

I would advise that you just start climbing the food chain. Make sure you talk with the head of the service department. If he's still being unreasonable talk to the dealership's business manager, or ultimately the president or CEO. Be polite. I know the tendency is to unload, but these people aren't aware of the situation and will most likely help you if you treat them properly. Conversations are good, but letters sent via certified mail are even better because the fact that you will know they have been received will clue anyone with a brain into the fact that you are documenting your activities for legal action if less invasive means fail. Be sure to get them to respond to you in writing. If all else fails you can sue, or even threaten to sue. Most of the time they won't want to go to court, because in a jury trial they will lose, regardless of the evidence, because most people believe that car dealerships are crooked. If they don't show up to court you will win. I will caution to use this as a last resort. Ultimately you may prevail, but it may take years and you will be out of pocket for your attorney until then, unless you can find one that will work on contingency.

 

The textbook sign of a slipping clutch is to have the car in 5th gear on the highway at about 2,500 RPM-3,00RPM and floor it. In a car that the clutch doesn't slip you will accelerate, albeit at a fairly slow pace as the turbo spools and pulls the car (at this RPM it shouldn't lug though). If it slips the tach will race up to about 4,500-5,000 RPM but your acceleration will not match the increase in engine speed. When this starts to happen you have little time until the clutch absolutely must be replaced. Eventually this slip will occur in lower gears (first 4th, then 3rd, etc.). Ultimately it will slip all the time, even when trying to take off. At that point the rivets in the disc are grinding into the flywheel (not that it matters as the flywheel must always be replaced when a clutch job is done in a Subaru).

What if the slip seems to happen when switching from a high gear to a lower gear, but not while accelerating. This is slightly different then where my clutch completely died the first time. Same noise almost, but different scenario. The first time it was almost exactly as you describe, except all my gears died at once.

 

It can occur while downshifting too, but usually only when downshifting into passing gear and accelerating. So you are saying that it slips when you downshift but do not have your foot on the accelerator?

 

Its not slipping every single time i downshift, but other then that, yes.

 

When decelerating and downshifting the RPM should just steadily drop off. What is your car doing instead?

 

Picture what your Tachometer would do if you were to shift from 5th to 2nd at 60mph. It does that. Except that it did that while cruising in neutral(off an offramp), and shifting to third at about 30mph.

 

So you were coasting in neutral down an off ramp and shifted into 3rd gear without giving it any gas and the tach shot to 6,500 RPM at 30MPH?

 

Pretty much, yea!

I took it into Subaru today. Turns out i drove 400 miles for nothing. They only would LOOK at it. They didnt take anything apart or do anything, other then test drive it. They said they had to see the problem themselves to do anything. Even though, when i originally called them, i told them it doesnt slip often, and that it had only happened twice. They told me they were going to pull the tranny.

Needless to say, they had my car for 7 hours. I didnt leave the dealership very happy.

 

That's a strange problem. At 30MPH is 3rd gear there's no way it should turn 6,500 RPM, even if the clutch was completely shot. 30MPH in 3rd should be like 2,000 RPM. I can't see the RPM racing upwards like that without the engine being fed gas.

Is it possible that you were mistaken and actually shifted into 1st gear? I'm not trying to say what you claim happened didn't happen, but a 1st gear downshift at 30MPH given the other circumstances just makes a lot more sense.

Did the dealership come to any conclusions this time?