I just bought a slightly used 2004 Cavalier Ecotec... bone stock... 8400 miles. After getting used to the car's shift points and what-not, I decided to do a 1st-4th balls-out acceleration to get a feel for it. Slowly let out the clutch into 1st to ~3500 RPM then punch it... Flies up to the ~6400 redline and I shift hard into 2nd. I didn't do a powershift or anything goofy like that, just a good ol' clutch in-shift-clutch out-gas shift. It FELT like the clutch slipped a little... The wheels spun with nice 1-2 upshift tire peel but it just felt like it slipped...

Now, I'm not extremely used to the car yet so maybe what I was feeling was the engine bogging a bit as the tires found grip, but SOMETHING was slipping that felt nothing like a 1-2 upshift in my lightly modified 2002 2.2L OHV Cavy. That one was accel-shift-squeal-accel. There was no bog at all... just a slight tire chirp and sometimes a bit of wheel hop.

I post this in the Trans forum because I'm wondering if perhaps the stock clutch on the Ecotec isn't strong enough to fully hold the 150+ ft.lb. the motor makes at the crank... Hopefully someone can shed some light.

maybe the clutch is slipping to prevent damage (does have to absorb something in the high torqueness) (if thats a word)

Anyone? How well do the stock Ecotec clutches hold? Mine feels like it's slipping...

Here's an easy way to check for clutch slippage:

1. Drive along slowly and get the car into top (fifth, for you) gear.

2. Drive very gently very slowly, eg. 30mph at 1800rpm or something crazy.

3. Floor the throttle, watching rev counter and speedo.

4. If the clutch is slipping, the revs should slowly build and the speedo shouldn't move much. Ie, the engine revs and the clutch slips, so the speed doesn't increase.

Not perfect but that's what my friend was told to do when he bought his Civic. I thought the clutch was slipping in that, but it turned out to be worn trans. mounts.