Clutch issues

[gelboy1015]

Originally Posted by Rage

Hi guys. Proud owner of a new 2SS M6. Currently I'm at 450 miles. I Never liked the clutch from day one...way too inconsistent. Gave it a few weeks, only to see matters worsen. It seems the clutch starts to grab about 3-4 inches from the floor, then a few inches of "dead play", then about an inch from the top it just dumps the clutch. The only way to smoothly take off is to let it out slowly, and sort of hesitate at the very top. I'm no rookie to stick.(I have driven manual religiously for 15 years) Brought it to the dealer today, who said that the service manager and tech both agreed that there is nothing wrong with it. That's BS...and he even knew it. Do I resort to escalation procedures yet...or am I jumping the gun?

Originally Posted by salcamss

Mine feels the same way. I thought maybe it was just me. Sometimes it's real smooth, and other times it seems to just suddenly engage. I try to be very smooth with it, but the friction point is very vague. Your description was very accurate.

Originally Posted by amm__x

Mine did this too

+1. Clutch engagement is very unpredictable. Seems to grab as soon as you let off the pedal sometimes, but sometimes its nice and smooth... feels just like Rage says.

[O2BQIK]

Update: Well, it seems that GM is going to let me down. I got word on Friday that despite how easily I reproduced the issue for the GM person who came...despite the fact that I reproduced it with a dealer stock car with < 10 miles on it...despite all the people on this site who have similar issues, GM is not prepared to take any action at this time. The regional rep I've been working with said that although he agrees that it's an issue, there have been so few reports of problems that GM feels it is not worth looking into further.

In my opinion the only reason there have not been more reports is that dealers across the country are telling owners that its their driving habits causing the problem, and if people are not willing to waste hours and hours of effort escalating with GM as I have, the message will never even reach GM. Even when I called GM customer service and had a case opened, that didn't get anybody's attention. I had to have a GM employee escalate on my behalf and then I at least got some response. But apparently they aren't tracking those complaints. According to the Camaro brand quality manager and the clutch engineer for the Camaro, mine is the first case that they have heard of. So unless they're lying about that (and I have no reason to suspect that), NONE of the complaints of all my fellow Camaro5 members having these problems have made it to them.

Apparently my options now are to live with the issue as-is (not really an option, it's a matter of pride now), replace the clutch with an aftermarket one and lose my powertrain warranty, or sell the car and go buy a 2011 Mustang GT. What does anyone want to bet that the clutch won't stink or stick to the floor?

It's especially sad that my wife is very interested in the Traverse, but of course we won't buy GM ever again since this is how they have elected to treat us. So we lose out on a great SUV and they lose out on another $30K sale to us.

[Michael_Js]

Check out that thread on how to escalate GM issues - maybe you have already done that as you say. I don't mind you giving them my info and report it to Gm directly. Maybe everyone else who had their clutch replaced can do the same and you can report all of us as having them repaired so far.

Sucks, sorry!....

[rcracer78]

definetly subscribing to this forum!!

My clutch is engaging ok, but feels like it's not fully disengaging. Very difficult to get from 1st to 2nd second while cold or during "spirited" driving. Sometimes it'll even grind.:( I'm not sure if it's a bad synchro, clutch assembly, transmission fluid or what. I plan I taking it to the dealer next week. Now I'm a little nervous with the treatment you guys have been getting. I really surprised GM pissed off a loyal and longtime customer so bad that they're willing to lose him to "The Dark Side". (5.0)

Keep us posted.

[nascar14fan]

O2BQIK. Let me see what I can find out. My Dad was a GM employee for 30 years but is passed away. I am going to makes some phone calls to a bunch of his friends and find out what we need to do. Was going to do this over the weekend but didnt get a chance. Give me a couple of days and I will repost on this. May not be nothing but its worth a try. I wonder how many people out there are having this problem? What about a thread where you just sign your name and vin and start like a petition. It would be nice to know how many people have this problem. We are in the same boat. But Ive had mine replaced already at 2700 miles and it did it again at 4900 miles

[O2BQIK]

nascarfan...thanks for anything you can do. I still desperately want GM to win me back, and it wouldn't take much. Hard for me to believe that they can't see that even if I didn't tell anybody about all this, they will lose a ton of money just from me. I'm 31, will probably be buying cars for the next 40 years and most of them would be from GM! If only they do the right thing here...

[salcamss]

my service manager told me the same thing. he and another guy there said they searched all the service bulletins and found nothing about the clutch. i can't believe GM hasn't had any complaints, or enough to think there might be a problem. is this another case of Toyota deny deny deny?

[nascar14fan]

moorepheus. I got the same herky jerky feeling also. But only when its cold for the first like 1/2 mile then shes fine. Let me know what they say on that would be interested. Figured if I took it in for that they wouldnt find anything unless they keep it over night and drive it in the morning. Also made a couple phone calls last night one guy is in Florida on vacation and the other wasnt home and left a message. Looking up some more numbers for a couple other people still working to find out what we need to do. I think I am going to start a thread of clutch issues and have everybody just put there name and vin and see how many hits we get. What do you guys think?

[Moorepheus]

Originally Posted by nascar14fan

moorepheus. I got the same herky jerky feeling also. But only when its cold for the first like 1/2 mile then shes fine. Let me know what they say on that would be interested. Figured if I took it in for that they wouldnt find anything unless they keep it over night and drive it in the morning. Also made a couple phone calls last night one guy is in Florida on vacation and the other wasnt home and left a message. Looking up some more numbers for a couple other people still working to find out what we need to do. I think I am going to start a thread of clutch issues and have everybody just put there name and vin and see how many hits we get. What do you guys think?

I have an appointment next Monday morning.

As for the herky jerky, I can even feel it after my car is warmed up. Only when taking my foot off the gas pedal, betwen 1000 & 1500 rpm. I can also feel it when I am accelerating too, but only when it is cold. Once she warms up, accelerating is not a problem.

The other problem is the clutch wants to engage almost at the very end of the pedal travel up. When I first got my car, the clutch would engage at the floor, as soon as I would start to lift my foot up. Sometimes it doesn't even feel engaged fully. Not having burning clutch smell, but the clutch just doesn't feel right. I know, I have never driven a car with this much HP and a stick, but I can't believe it would feel this different/strange.

[DBAKER]

I just took my 2SS in to the dealer because of issues with the clutch. The clutch has felt strange from day one and has been very inconsistent. At first, I was wondering if it was my imagination but later issues convinced me that something is amuck. I cut my teeth driving a stick and used to drive big block chevy's without any of the issues I am now experiencing. The clutch engages sometimes close to the floor, other times almost all the way out. I smell clutch often, and I'm not getting on it at the time. My clutch has stuck on me twice. Sometimes the clutch feels real smooth, other times, it feels like I can feel the fingers on the pressure plate pushing unevenly. I have experienced the clutch "chattering." I also have experienced the "hurky jurky" action when taking off at low rpm's cold. I sure hope this isn't systemic with this design but the threads I read here aren't encouraging.

[O2BQIK]

Originally Posted by nascar14fan

I think I am going to start a thread of clutch issues and have everybody just put there name and vin and see how many hits we get. What do you guys think?

Good idea.

[Hebe4]

Originally Posted by DBAKER

I just took my 2SS in to the dealer because of issues with the clutch. The clutch has felt strange from day one and has been very inconsistent. At first, I was wondering if it was my imagination but later issues convinced me that something is amuck. I cut my teeth driving a stick and used to drive big block chevy's without any of the issues I am now experiencing. The clutch engages sometimes close to the floor, other times almost all the way out. I smell clutch often, and I'm not getting on it at the time. My clutch has stuck on me twice. Sometimes the clutch feels real smooth, other times, it feels like I can feel the fingers on the pressure plate pushing unevenly. I have experienced the clutch "chattering." I also have experienced the "hurky jurky" action when taking off at low rpm's cold. I sure hope this isn't systemic with this design but the threads I read here aren't encouraging.

The only time I had stinky clutch syndrome was while driving onto wheel ramps (my fault), followed by slight clutch chatter.
Try this: When the car is cold, do a couple of 1500 rpm 2-3, 3-4 power shifts with quick clutch work. It smoothed out my clutch and now engages about midway with about 1.5" of free play at the pedal.
I've also found the clutch engages more consistently if I release the pedal quicker under normal driving. It's not as precise as the good'ole clutch fork days but you will get used to it. I have not yet experienced a stuck pedal, knock on head.
The hurky jerkys are more related to a cold engine and goes away after a few blocks.

[O2BQIK]

I'm so disappointed and disillusioned. But to state facts:

My dealership (Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine, TX) originally was very helpful and went so far as to replace the clutch in an effort to resolve the issue. When it didn't, they said, "well, that's actually normal." I escalated to GM customer service but eventually got the same answer. A fellow Camaro5 member then helped me escalate it within GM via a very helpful GM employee. He submitted the issue for me internally which got me in touch with the "GM Executive Office." The person handling my case there was initially very sympathetic and agreed that a new vehicle should not have these problems. She arranged for a GM regional service manager to come see my car. I demonstrated the issue for him on my car and on a dealer stock car. He spoke with the Camaro brand quality manager and the clutch engineer, who said they had never heard of this problem before, despite all the people on this site who say they have the same issues and that they've reported it. Based on the fact that they haven't gotten any complaints to that level except mine, they've decided that it's not a big enough issue to spend resources on. Everyone with GM that I've spoken with previously agreed with me that these issues are not "normal" and should not be acceptable, but now they are all towing the company line. One went so far as to tell me that if I didn't like it, I can call the Better Business Bureau. That's the last thing I ever thought I'd do, but I guess I will.

If anyone has any suggestions or ability to escalate further, I beg you to help however you can. As it sits now, my 2010 Camaro is the last GM vehicle I'll ever buy, and I'll be putting it up for sale. I can't enjoy it anymore.

[Rage]

Sorry to hear that O2BQIK, as I am starting to deal with this myself. I just spoke with the customer assistance group, got my ref#, and pleaded my case. I hope to fare better than you did, but I'm not too optimistic now..... My clutch stuck twice in 2 weeks and because they couldn't reproduce it on their 1.5 mile test drive....I'm basically S*^T outta luck. Let us know of any updates you encounter.