carfanatic

I was totally humiliated by a piece of crap '84 Trans Am tonight. He wanted to race so I reved it up to about 7000 but nothing happened when I released the clutch. It's my understanding that this happened because VTEC was not warmed up but I had been driving for about five to ten minutes. Does anyone know how long it takes for VTEC to be ready to unleash the fury? By the way, my temp was at three bars.

Also, after the incident, I could smell a strong smell comming from the engine compartment. Is that normal? (I only have about 800 miles)

Jay Li

Did you drop the clutch? If not, that might have been why you didn't go anywhere...you may have burned the clutch, and that's the smell you're smelling now.

carfanatic

I let the clutch out quickly, if that's what you mean. Once the clutch was out, the car kept reving to redline (since I still had my foot on the gas) but only went about ten feet before I had to shift. It was like I was in slow motion or something.

bentrim

If your car is not at 3 bars in temp it will not VTEC.

Jay Li

It sounds like you slipped the clutch...when doing a hard launch, you want to put the tip of your toe on the bottom of the clutch. When you want to launch, just slip your toe off...that's what dropping the clutch is. If you just try to release the clutch quickly, you can still slip it.

lupin

you need to warm up the VTEC?? WTH?? can somebody explain it?

Jay Li

If there aren't 3 bars on the temp. gauge, the rev limiter is at 7500.

carfanatic

That's what's weird, I had three bars and the car reved all the way to red line, I just didn't go anywhere.

Jay Li

Like I said, if you revved and didn't move, you most likely slipped the clutch. The smell you're smelling from the engine compartment is the clutch.

carfanatic

So is my clutch okay?