Is my tansmission/clutch going.....the car revs by itself

[Saint]

Okay, the car revs by itself. What I mean is that when I'm shifting and after I release the clutch and give the car some gas, the car revs and my foot is nowhere near the clutch pedal. I put the clutch in, shift, clutch out and give it gas, and then it revs.

This mostly happens in speeds over 35-40mph. Also, when I'm crusising in 5th at around 70mph and want to acelerate so I give it some gas, it revs by itself too which is wierd.

Does anybody know what could be the problem and give me possible solution?

I have a 93 Golf, maunal, with 133,000 miles on it. I just had it in the shop a few weeks ago with a full check, oil change, and brake job too.

[2turboimports]

maybe there is air in the clutch line, or a leaky master cylinder. is there a very noticeable burning smell when the car revs by itself. it sounds like your clutch is going bad.......has it ever been changed out?

[ivymike1031]

sounds to me like your clutch is slipping. It's probably time to change it.

Air in the hydraulic lines usually has the opposite effect - you can't get enough force to disengage the clutch.

[Saint]

If it's slipping, wouldn't the stick slip out too. The stick is firmly in there and sometimes it's even hard to put in the 1st gear.

I think it's been change a couple of times but I'm really not sure and just guessing. I only took over the car since 128,000 miles.

[2turboimports]

no...if the clutch disc is worn out it just won't engage firmly and will slip just like you described, but it also would usually smell badly too. have you checked the transmission fluid?

if the shifter keeps popping out then that's just something not very good at all. but not a symptom of what you described above.

i'm gonna say clutch, or a leaky oil seal in the tranny that got oil onto the assembly. which would make sense if it's hard to get into gears because of low fluid maybe?

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by Saint

If it's slipping, wouldn't the stick slip out too. The stick is firmly in there and sometimes it's even hard to put in the 1st gear.

I think it's been change a couple of times but I'm really not sure and just guessing. I only took over the car since 128,000 miles.

The clutch and the trans are completely different components. A slipping clutch would not cause the shifter to jump out of gear.
Also, a slipping clutch is more likely to be noticed in the higher gears.

[quaddriver]

Originally Posted by Saint

If it's slipping, wouldn't the stick slip out too. The stick is firmly in there and sometimes it's even hard to put in the 1st gear.

I think it's been change a couple of times but I'm really not sure and just guessing. I only took over the car since 128,000 miles.

no sir, a slipping clutch means the disc and/or pressure plate are worn, wiped out, greased up to the point where there is little friction and the motor is able to 'pull thru' the clutch. a 93 golf in 5th at 70 has very little hp and torque at those rpms to pull thru even the wimpiest of fine clutches, so whatever is wrong, its going south in a hurry.

as for the gear engagement, the gears are typically spiral or something else that escapes me-cut to hold them in gear and the forks have little detents on them. if the tranny was popping out of gear to where the stick actually returned to neutral, thats a whole different bag of tricks.

[darsdoug]

It sounds like you may need to put in a new clutch disc. throwout bearing and pressure plate in it. My 82 280zx is doing the same thing when I'm going up a steep hill in third gear and nail it. The speedo stays at 30 mph while the tach rapidly climbs from 2000 to 4500 and a strong burnt material odor fills the cockpit at stoplights. You definitly will want to look for the obvious before dropping the transmission. Is your clutch slave cylinder releasing all the way? Is there a massive oil leak at your rear main seal of the engine crankcase? Is the clutch fork getting hung up on any cables and not releasing sufficiently? If you do end up changing out the clutch try to replace all the components such as the pressure plate and throw out bearing. Weak springs in the plate will make them slip too. And check the flywheel for scarring. If its good it will be smooth and polished where the clutch disc makes contact with it. Good luck.