I let my wife drive my car, and she was having problems on hills and the car was making a bad smell. What is the nature of this smell? Is the clutch burning? clutch fluid? and will this do long term damage to my car?

 

She was probably "riding the clutch" and giving it alot of gas at the same time, hence the smell of the clutch burning. The clutch surfaces themelves do not wear if the pedal is fully depressed or fully out--and you want to spend as little time as possible between these two extremes. The life of the clutch has been reduced a bit but probably no long term damage. Try to avoid this in the future.

 

oh yeah...i wouldn't let her drive alot until she gets better at the hill start..

 

Thanks for the Info.

 

Just a suggestion. When I taught my daughter to drive a manual transmission car on hills with other cars behind us I would hold the handbrake lever up and she would start to let out the clutch as I released the handbrake. This seemed to make her less nervous and saved a lot of clutch wear. She didn't need my help after a couple of times. She's still driving a manual transmission car. Never had to replace a clutch in either of her Jettas.
Bruce
03 SE, 6 spd.