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2003 Saturn Vue

Question: Manual Trans with high RPM problem

Question

rllewis, 4 Cylinder, Damascus, MD, August 23, 2009, 15:36
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 Rookie

Today when I was driving the Vue, when I was in 4th and 5th gear the engine rpms went up to between 5000 - 6000 and the speed decreased. After a few minutes there was a smell that was reminded me of driving with the emergency brake on. The temp remained below the half-way mark on the gauge.
The car has sat for a few months before I drove it today after I had to charge the battery.

I like the answer that it may be a burned out clutch. Would a faulty slave and or master clutch cylinder do the same thing?
Should I go ahead and replace the slave and master clutch cylinder if I am going to replace the clutch. The car has over 111,000 miles on it.

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  • Answer #1

    patrick mannion from Greg Solow's Engine Room, August 23, 2009, 22:49
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    The burning smell and high engine RPM when driving/accelerating indicates a burned out clutch. The clutch disc is most likely worn.

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  • Answer #2

    Visitor, March 31, 2010, 18:38

    i have a 2002 saturn sl and i just had my clutch replaced, and im gonna have to agree with the other answer and say thats definitly what you smell, but i also know that its common for saturns to have slave cylinder problems, whitch can actually be what wore your clutch disk so quickly. so i would have to say you might as well get everything replaced while there taking your tranny all apart anyways just so it never happens again.

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  • Answer #3

    Visitor, August 17, 2010, 10:00

    The worn clutch plate is most likely the solution. I did want to mention that I've owned several manual trans. cars and twice, once in a VW and once in a Fiat, I let other people drive the cars that were not that good at using a clutch. Like riding on the clutch getting out of first and resting their foot on the clutch pedal. This made the clutch slick and not want to engage. My fix was to sharply engage/disengage the clutch at about 5 mph about 15-20 times to roughen the surface of the clutch. This help me get another 15000 miles out of a "close to finished" clutch.

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