So, about an hour ago on my way home from work. im cruising on the highway doing about 70. a volkswagon jetta passes me, then slows down and passes again. apparently wanting to race. now first let me say, that i rarely race my car. i know that my car is a turd so please dont flame me by saying (y u no get a lt1? lawl v6?), but i guess its sometimes fun beating a honda every now and again. and in the time ive had my car ive raced 2 people. 3 people as of tonight.

anyways, i speed up to match his speed, were now going 75ish. he honks 3 times and we go. i go into 4th because i didnt want my car to jump to 5000+ rpms. im accellerating, (pulling ahead surprisingly!) i get to around 95-100 at almost 4000rpms, then all of a sudden my rpms jumped up quickly to around 5500 as if my clutch slipped really hard, as soon as i heard the rpms rise like that i immediately then let off the gas and push my clutch in, i feel a jerk in the car, then my engine just shuts off completely. rpm gauge drops like a rock, my lights dimmed, basically the situation when your engine cuts off.

i go into a panic, thinking i slung my timing belt, wrecked my valvetrain and i was going to have to pull over on the highway, or that my engine locked up. i literally was screaming NOOOO!!! while hitting the brakes. but then i put it in 5th gear, let out on the clutch, and the engine starts running like normal. literally as nothing happened. i eventually get home with no incident.

my gauges looked fine, oil psi runs between 40-55 when driving, 25ish at an idle. and about 60 on startup in the morning. coolant stays at 150-160 at all times. unless im sitting at a light for a long time and it raises until the fans kick on. battery charge is between the half way mark, and the 3/4 mark.

someone please give me some insight on what could have happened to make my car do that? all i know is lesson learned, ill never race that car again lol.

 

you sure it didnt slip outa gear?

 

im pretty sure it didnt slip out of gear. i didnt even think of that happening. but even if it did, why would my engine buck real hard then die after i pushed the clutch in?

 

The clutch slipping was just that. 5th gear is the first place you will feel slippage under load. You motor is near max torque at 4000 RPM so it makes perfect sense that is where the clutch would slip as it was starting to go bad. You may want to check your trans mount also


The other thing we can only guess, You could have a coil overheat and running higher then normal RPMs and load cause it missfire. Or your motor could have been starving for fuel like a bad fuel filter. There are a lot of thing that can make a car break up like that at higher RPMs. Even the moisture level at that time could make an existing issue a lot worse.

 

ive never had my clutch slip like that before. ever. but then again ive never done a highway run past 100. ill usually get through 3rd and let off. idk how old my clutch is either so that could be whats up. as for the trans mount, im pretty sure its worn pretty bad too. when i go over bumps in the road the shift **** will bounce up and down. my next paycheck i had already planned to buy new engine mounts and a new trans mount.

and what could i do about the coils? could i test them to see if they are bad or something? i did recently change my spark wires and noticed there was some rust or some sort of buildup on one of the coil prongs or w/e, so i did some light sanding and cleaning to get a better connection.

idk how old the fuel filter is, but i guess i could replace it just to do so. whats 10 bucks. also, what would the moisture in the air do?

 

it does sound like something in the drivetrain. may want to keep an eye out for a trans and rearend. the stalling could be a fuel problem, you may also have a governor set in the computer, some 6s are set from factory. i think at 105,,,, maybe 115,,, did you notice if the speedo went up when the tach went up?

 

aw man dont say that, i hope i dont have to replace the trans or rear end. i wanna say my trans is fine. it shift really good with no grinds or binding.

as for the possible fuel problem, i guess ill just change my fuel filter and check my fuel pressure. idk what else to do.

but honestly i didnt pay attention to the speed. i was mostly staring at the road, i only noticed the rpms jump really high from the corner of my eye. by the time i pushed the clutch in and looked down, the lights were dimmed and the rpms gauge was dropping like a rock.

 

And you don't have to worry, those 3.4's rarely sling a timing belt.....especially since it has a chain not a belt.

 

I hit the governor in my car when it had the 6, the computer shut something off and killed the motor until it was at a speed lower than the limiter. So maybe you hit the governor and your computer cut the engine, which caused you to stall the engine out by having it in gear still?

 

slipping clutch will chatter when it grabs after slipping.