my 84 gsl-se has original clutch...first...how do you know when one is going bad and two...how long can I expect it to last?..the car has 80,000 miles ....seems fine to me but just wondering....thanks for your input...

 

My '80s clutch was slipping a little when I bought the car... it was at 89500 miles.

I dunno if the clutch on the '85 is OE or not but it's slipping a lot.

The semi-professional way I test clutches as a mechanic is to drive the car around 35mph or so in a higher gear, cltuch down, rev the engine up pretty high (around 5000) and pop the clutch. The clutch should grab and make you look like an idiot driver. If it's a little worn, it'll smoothly take the engine down over 1/2 to one second. Will last a while longer (esp. if you baby it) but the writing is on the wall. If it's bad, the engine won't drop RPM at all. Change the clutch ASAP before you burn up your flywheel, and do not drive the car hard. If it's totally shot, you won't be able to get up to 35.

(I did a Honda Passport that was so worn out the car would not move under its own power at ALL - I have no idea how they could put the clutch off for that long!)

 

My clutch on my 85 went out at about 125K miles. I won't foget how stange it was to me, that when i was getting on the interstate, and slammed the gas in 4th, that the rpms went up to about 6k, then back down.... Being that it was the first time i drove a manual, it stuck me as odd..confused:.

 

I have 138k miles on my '84 and the clutch is still strong. I check it on occasion in a manner similar to peejay.

-John.

 

The Clutch on my '85 GS went out at 130k. I think it lasted so long because for 1 thing, it is the same clutch used for the Ford ranger diesels, and also because the previous owner drove it pretty sensibly.

 

145k on my gsl-se, slips a little if you do the gun it in 3rd and pop the clutch. but it's been like that for a while. now when cold it'll shimmy a little going into first
think a bearing is on the way out.
PS, the last driver beat the car... guess the clutch too, but still no big probs.

do yourself a favor and check ALL hoses so you don't leak and overheat. look at the hose under the oil filter, heater return line... rotts out cause of oil dripping on it every oil change. mine's dying due to an overheat caused by that I think.

 

I have over 235,000 miles on my 85 sport, of which I am the second owner. I have put over 150,000 since it has beem mine. Only clutch changes have been replacing master and slave cylinder. Oh, by the way 12B engine has never been out of the car and looks and runs as good as it did new. Take care of things and they last forever.

 

If you drove like I do..well I bought my GSL '85 with 80,000miles and when overhauling the engine long time ago, the orginal clutch disc was very very thin on the one side with some of the rivets srapping the flywheel. But it did work fine till I took it out and then replaced it then too.

 

oh yea... I forgot about having to relace my master & slave clutch cylinder. The slave leaked at first and not 6 mos later the new one even leaks... dunno why. but it's slow enough to deal with

84 GSL-SE slave at 120k-ish and 145k now

 

The clutches in a rx-7 like to start to slip a little in 3rd gear while accelerating when they are going away. Sometimes you can baby them for a while longer; sometimes you will not make it home when this happens. The way I drive, and most of my fellow 7 owners, it will not make it home. On the other hand a weak clutch may slip forever and never go completely out.

I had a car that slipped in 3rd while getting on the highway. I never made it home, didn’t even make it a block after exiting.
Same car, when I first got it, slipped in third and I thought I was in trouble. Said to myself I will drive it till it goes out and then put a new one in. I thought that would be a matter of days. Drove it another year and finally it went out, and only after I lent it to a friend that blew it up into 8 or 9 pieces.

 

Ha ha...Thats how I usually wreck my clutches, but I'm the one who's driving... Its always a missed shift at 8K or so from 1st-2nd gear as it normally does.

 

They last until they're dead.

 

when my 1st engine blew at 172k, it still had the original clutch, and it would only slip if I tried to do donuts. It all depends on how you drive it.

 

I always tested my bad clutches by holding the clutch down, e-brake up, 5th gear, rev the engine to 2k and slowly let up... If the engine doesn't die, dead clutch... If it dies, you can go a little longer. Don't burn the clutch too long.

I damn near put the rivets into the flywheel on my Honda and it was still drivable... But the throwout bearing was shot, so I'd damn near stall it by pushing down the clutch pedal. There were no "ball" bearings in there when I took it out. It was blue and they were more like octagon bearings.