Clutch smell in reverse and on hills (San Francisco!)
 

I live in San Francisco and, as you might have heard, we have hills here. Occasionally I have to reverse and go up a hill (even what here would be called a slight incline) in reverse to get a parking spot. I get a terrible clutch smell, even if it's just a few feet that I'm going in reverse.

Also, if I'm going up a hill and have to stop at a light, again I get the clutch smell.

I used to have a FIAT 124 with a 1500cc engine and a 5-speed transmission. Drove that FIAT up and down hills, even stopping and starting at stop signs on steep hills. Never a clutch smell, never wore out a clutch.

Is the Mazda clutch worse than a FIAT clutch? Anybody else have this problem? In S.F. you can't really avoid hills.

I've got that smell a couple of times when dropping my kid at school. There's an incline on which traffic is stop and go. With an SUV in front and an SUV at the back, it gets pretty nerve wracking ... the best you can do is sing "Smelly Clutch" by Phoebe!

And this is in San Diego!

How many miles you got? Newer clutches need some time to break in.. and will smell when your rev too hard...

so keep your revs low and control the clutch better.. and you won't have the smell...

I find that it smells if I rev it too hard. I've only done it once or twice (while learning), but seems that if you rev it to 2K or 2.5-3K, you get the clutch smell.

Going in reverse, I typically don't rev past 1.5K and just feather that clutch, and no smell... (or just a little bit if there's a lot of creeping).

Try giving it fewer revs and just feather the clutch at lower RPMs for longer ... or somethign like that.

Practice taking off uphill with about 1.5K revs... It's not easy :)

One thing, I do is that if somebody is riding my rear bumper, then I pull up the ebrake about halfway (not enough to really hold the car, but enough to significantly slow down the roll back) or 3/4s of the way up. then i start to get going with some gas and clutch (at lower rpms). as i feel that the clutch is engaging, i lower the e-brake and take off with no rollback.

if nobody is riding my ass on an uphill, then I just do the usual: release brake, and quickly get on clutch/gas... i roll back some.. maybe like 3-6 inches, which is typically ok.

This has been discussed before - is it possible that you're actually smelling the car's exhaust, with it's oily smell? I've never smelled clutch smell with my 8, after 2 years and 34k miles.

Had the same problem and had a Mazda dealer take a look at it. It is MUCH more noticiable if you have the AC on in the fresh air setting and blowing in your face.

Turns out that it is occurs on newer clutches when breaking in. BTW, I also tend to smell other car's exhaust and other crap so my guess is that there is little to NO air filter for the cabin fan in the RX8.

I have also smelled burning gas, rotten eggs, burning oil a few times in the RX8 (each had a good explanation as well)

I only find the reverse clutch smell occurs if in reverse and pushing a lot in reverse (e.g. going up hill in reverse, I can see this being an issue in SF with all the crazy hills and parking)

If it really bothers you, do what I did and take it to the dealer. If nothing else, it can be noted before reaching the clutch warranty (which is only 12000 being a wear and tear item).

BTW, is it a 2005 or 2004 RX8 and do you know your build date... For the 2004 with there have been more tranny problems (not sure if this is age, build, components, or what)

Thanks for your replies. It's a 2004 with 2,000 miles.

I keep hoping that it's the exhaust smell and not the clutch, but I think that, unfortunately, it is the clutch. It is difficult to park in S.F. without reverse and, too often, going uphill.

I'll try it with lower rpm. I'm leaving for a 2-week vacation this weekend (a nice long drive from S.F. to Montana in the RX-8), the first really long trip. When I get back I'll take it in to the dealer and put it on record.

It really is surprising because my FIAT never had even a tiny clutch smell and I drove it all over S.F.

Yeah, I think you really are still in the new clutch break-in phase... give it another 2000 miles and it starts being less apparent.

Astral- I hope that you're right. I keep reading about the long break-in for this car, including for the clutch (although I have no idea what breaking-in means for a clutch).

I'll be doing another 2,000 miles at least on my vacation-- almost all highway driving for a change, so we'll see how it is when I get back to the streets (and hills) of San Francisco.

I also get the clutch smell when backing up hill into a tight parking spot I use at the lake on weekends. I try not to ride it, and keep the rpm's low but I still get it.

Probably not exhaust smell.... I sometimes go back there and smell the exhaust.. but its pretty clean smelling..... maybe not the best idea.. oh well.. i love my rexy

haha I don't know how you deal with them hills MT. That would be so nerveracking, I guess you'll get use to it. But I seen some steep hills at SF and if you can parallel park reverse on those things on a MT bravo to you. ;)

Only with a new clutch makes sense. I haven't got that smell lately. It was only when the car was new. Well, it's still new - 8k+ miles - but it's broken in now.