New clutch break in?

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I purchased a 99 Subaru Legacy Outback as a winter project to fix up and use as my commuter vehicle.

It needed a new clutch, I pulled the motor and installed a new Exedy OEM clutch kit as well as a new flywheel and transmission snout repair kit (I did all new bearings that came with the kits too). Subaru's are notorious for eating the transmission snout causing rough clutch engagement. Mine wasn't worn bad but did it because I was in there.silky smooth clutch movement.

Anyways, does a clutch need to break in for a while? I've never had a brand new clutch before. I've driven it about 100 miles in the city and am getting some clutch chatter when starting off about 50% of the time. Shakes the car pretty bad.

Maybe i'm not giving it enough gas, too much gas, letting the clutch out too fast? I'm letting the clutch out while revving it to 1200-1500 RPM's. This is my first manual Subaru but I've owned 3 other manual cars over the past 16 years.

Maybe someone else with a manual Subaru can give some insight on how they drive their's smoothly.
 
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It may go away as it wear in over a few hundred appluications but maybe not - one car I owned had judder whenever it was humid/raining - I think it was the yaris.

I hope all these parts were pristine clean - you don't want any oily spots or handprints on the flywheel face or PP or clutch disc. Maybe the clutch kit is not too good.

Did you have the flywheel resurfaced or rough it up yourself? I wouldn't put a new clutch assy on a worn,polished flywheel...
 
Dual mass flywheel? Sometimes they can get in a resonance and chatter. My Focus has one and it seems there must be some specific friction level on the clutch that will get it started. Usually only on the 3rd or 4th start in first gear in the morning, and only once for the day, and sometimes only once a week.
I just rev it a bit higher and let it slip and it quits shuddering, probably around 1500rpm. My normal start rpm would be 1000-1200 rpm due to a bit of a tall 1st gear.
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
It may go away as it wear in over a few hundred appluications but maybe not - one car I owned had judder whenever it was humid/raining - I think it was the yaris.

I hope all these parts were pristine clean - you don't want any oily spots or handprints on the flywheel face or PP or clutch disc. Maybe the clutch kit is not too good.

Did you have the flywheel resurfaced or rough it up yourself? I wouldn't put a new clutch assy on a worn,polished flywheel...


That's a good point, it has been raining pretty much every time I have driven it. My trip to work is 11 miles so maybe it just isn't getting hot enough to get all the moisture dissipated.

Everything was new, new flywheel, clutch kit, throw out bearing, pilot bearing etc, all brand new. I cleaned everything with brake cleaner twice before installing it.

It is a single mass flywheel.
 
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Clutches do need to wear in. I have been told it usually takes about 500 to 1000 miles for everything to get working smoothly. Until then, just drive the car as you normally would and don't go launching or anything.
 
Drive as you normally would. Avoid riding the clutch, drag racing type starts, and towing a trailer for the first thousand miles. If the job was done right, and there's no oil leaking onto the flywheel it should work fine. Chattering shaking the car bad sounds like a problem that probably won't go away after the clutch is broken in.

I would have someone who knows how to drive a stick well drive it. It could be driver error, but if you've driven stick for 16 years I doubt that's the problem. Taking off at 1200-1500 rpm can glaze the clutch over time. Try less gas.
 
Thanks for all the input, much appreciated!

I just took a spin home for lunch and it behaved much better with less throttle and slower initial clutch engagement. I think I was getting off the clutch and too many RPM's too quickly. My last few manuals were much newer cars and were really easy to drive. This Subaru seems a bit more touchy.

I think I'll let it break in for a while and see how it is acting in 500 or so miles. If it's still chattering after break in I'll open it back up to see what the deal is.

My wife drove it the other day and she didn't notice any chattering. I think I got lazy driving automatics the past few years and need to work on my manual technique
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
You may find this interesting.

http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/causes-clutch-failure-diagnosing-chatter/


That is a good read. I actually replaced the motor and transmission mounts yesterday because I thought that was adding to the issue. It definitely helped reduce some of the engine and transmission movement but the occasional chatter remained.

That doesn't mean something else isn't worn out though, it is a 99 after all.
 
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