Clutch weirdness, is this normal?

[Zona]

When my car is in first I can let out the clutch (slowly) without touching the gas at all and the car will begin rolling forward without stalling. At first I was like "Sweet!" since I'm not very practiced with manuals so I figured it would make it easier on me. But now I'm wondering if the clutch is just not letting out all the way and needs to be adjusted or something. Is this not stalling issue actually an issue or is it normal on these cars?

 

[budgetzagato]

I can do that too...

It's something I sometimes do in traffic. As far as I know, it's normal.

 

[Jim Young]

Ya normal,

I used to do that to train the kids how to get the feel and contact point of the clutch pedal. Here they call that " riding the clutch". Too much of it and you will wear the clutch out needlessly, but it's not critical. What your doing is slowly increasing the pressure from the pressure plate and eventually it locks up,the same as shifting except much slower because of less r.p.m. and power.

 

[Zona]

Ok good, makes it a lot easier to go really slow.

 

[bikesandcars]

Totally normal for a car to do this, its how I deal with slow traffic in the AM.

Fuel injected cars with engine management are especially good at this, as they will attempt to compensate for idle while under load. A carbureted car with a sporty cam will usually choke and stall rather quickly though

 

[Dan Sarandrea (Phila)]

If you have a late model X (~84 and up), first gear is a real stump-puller so maybe that's part of it.

 

[kayaker37]

Precisely how I taught my daughter to drive stick shift in her Jetta, and then she taught her boyfriend! Showoff.

Fuel injected cars with engine management are especially good at this, as they will attempt to compensate for idle while under load.