When I start out in either 1st or reverse, and am letting off of the clutch and accelerating, the car will sometimes shake/vibrate a little bit, until the clutch pedal is disengaged fully. It only happens sometimes, mostly on hills. It almost feels like someone that is first learning to drive a stick and not giving it enough gas. If I rev the engine higher than normal, it will not do this. I wanted to know if this is a sign that my clutch could be wearing out. It does not slip in any other gears. I hope my explanation makes sense.. I am not sure of the maintenance history on the car, but right now it has 162k. It pulls strong in all gears and has no other signs of clutch-related problems.

Normally, I wouldn’t worry about it until it becomes much more pronounced, but I am planning a cross-country road trip in the beginning of April and want the car to be able to make the 6k+ miles without problems. I used to have a Kia, and the throwout bearing went out on it one day on the way home from work, without any warning whatsoever. Last thing I need is to be stuck out west have to pay a mechanic to do it!

 

Does it make any noise, as if the bearing is going out?

Do the RPMs dip during the shaking? If yes, how low?

 

It chattering, your flywheel need to be re-surface or replace (might as well do the whole clutch job at that time).. fine to drive just gota find that sweet spot so it doesn't shake/jerk as much.

 

Or the springs in the disk are broken or there is oil on the friction material. It's going to need a clutch job to resolve but for now it's not a risk of an imminent total breakdown.

 

I tested it out today on a steep hill. It'll only do it on higher-strain situations like that, and if I rev the engine higher it won't do it at all. RPM's don't jump at all that I can see. I'll keep driving it until it gets significantly worse. I've already put 12k on the car..I'm sure it will be fine for the 7k or so on the road trip! I also watched some videos on YouTube on replacing the clutch..looks do-able. I did it on a Kia Optima and had to remove the entire subframe and power steering rack. So compared to that, this should be a breeze. Thanks guys.