I have an Audi s4 and i consider myself a decent driver but i will stall it maybe twice a year or something, on a hill not giving it enough gas most the time.
I get very mad at myself when i do it, and im wondering how much damage i am doing when i stall the engine? or is it just on the clutch? thanks.
You’re really not doing it any harm. It’s much better to stall it once or twice a year than it is to overcompensate with the gas to try to avoid a stall, as many new drivers do.
I learned to drive in my father’s 1990 Chevy Cavalier five speed. The car had 60,000 miles on it when he bought it, with the original clutch. Learning to drive, I didn’t overcompensate with the gas since I knew what it would do to the clutch, but I did stall it an average of two or three times a learning session, and even occasionally a few months after I got my license. My father, and his Cavalier, went through this also with my younger brother and sister a few years later. The car now has, last I checked, between 190,000 and 200,000 miles on it, still with the original clutch. The only clutch-related thing he ever had to replace was the hydraulic assembly (master/slave cylinders and pipe), which was leaking due to age.
There’s no reason to get mad at yourself. You’re human, and anybody who has ever driven a manual has stalled it at some point. If people behind you are flipping out over you having to recrank your car on a hill once a year, that’s their problem. Those kind of people usually can’t drive a stick anyway!!!
You’re not doing any damage. Stop worrying about it.
I taught both of my kids how to drive a manual on the same '89 Toyoota pickup, and I cannnot tell you how many times they stalled it…as well as smoking the clutch, chirping the tires, making the truck shudder scarily, and every other clutch-related event you can imagine. It was probably hundreds of times. It did absolutely no harm to the vehicle. And it does no harm to yours.
By the way, I got 338,000 miles out of the vehicle with no major work…until it got totalled.
Thanks so much guys i feel much better! i appreciate the help a lot.
If you don’t stall it at least once in a blue moon, you are probably revving it too much or slipping it too much causing the clutch more wear than you need to.