I have a 2013 manual transmission Chevy Sonic. A couple days ago I was going down the interstate in 6th gear and the cruise turned off. I tried speeding up but in order to keep my speed the engine was at 6000 rpm’s. I basically couldn’t accelerate. I pulled off on the side of the road, called my dad and he said to try driving again but don’t use 6th gear. That worked and I was able to drive the rest of the way fine in 5th gear.
Also, the clutch definitely feels different than before this happened. It gives less resistance against my foot than before.
Does anybody have any ideas on what could be wrong? Any help is appreciated.
Would you describe how the car responds in 6th gear.
Does it not move the car forward when you press on the gas? Can you shift through all the gears with the engine off? If the car is on a slight hill, engine off, lever in 6th gear, foot off the clutch, parking brake off, does the car roll downhill?
How many miles on this car?
Go test the car as I described and I should be able to tell you what is wrong.
The car does move forward, but I just have to put it at a ridiculous amount of RPM’s in order to do so. I’m not quite sure about the second and third questions, I can test that later today after work. The car has ~60,000 miles.
Clearly, the clutch is slipping badly. The next step will be for it to quit functioning altogether, at which point you will need to be towed. I would suggest getting it to a mechanic today, before you get stranded.
Does it stink when that happens? A sharp acrid smell?
I mean yeah it stinks when that happens. I only let it happen the first time I realized something was wrong. Doesn’t every car stink when the RPM’s get too high?
To be clear, the RRM"s were only weird when I was trying to use 6th gear. They sit at a normal level with all of the other gears.
A clutch that’s worn to the point of slipping will slip in top gear before it slips in lower gears. It will rev and the car won’t really go well, and it might operate more like it should if you down shift. But regardless of whether it does go better, it’s still well worn by the sound of things. Time to start figuring how to pay for a new clutch. There’s no way to avoid it.
I’ve got an appointment tomorrow morning. Here’s to hoping nothing happens until then.
No. Even 7000 rpm won’t stink if everything is correct. I am asking about burning clutch smell. If you smell it, you will KNOW something is wrong.
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