What does a clutch feel like when it is wearing out?

Summary:

Jaden identifies slipping as the main symptom of a worn clutch, and he defines it the same way he defines transmission slip: engine speed rises while power fails to reach the wheels and the ground. He then covers a second category of symptoms involving difficulty getting into gear when the pedal is depressed. He notes this can be the clutch itself, but is often the clutch hydraulic cylinders instead. He explains the system, describing a master cylinder at the pedal and a slave cylinder down at the transmission, and states that when either fails the clutch will not disengage properly. A third possibility he raises is the pressure plate itself failing to disengage the clutch correctly. His answer distinguishes between wear of the friction material and failures in the components that operate the clutch.

Answer:

So most of the time when a clutch is wearing out, you're going to have a few different symptoms. The big main one that happens most of the time is slipping. Again, with slipping, it's RPMs are revving up on the engine, but the power is not getting to the wheels, so it's not getting to the ground. Other ways clutches fail is like when you step on the clutch pedal and it's hard to get into gear. Sometimes that's clutch, sometimes it's clutch cylinders. Clutch cylinders are what operate the clutch. There's a master cylinder up at the pedal and the slave cylinder down at the transmission. If those fail, then it won't disengage the clutch properly. It can also be something with the pressure plate itself that's not disengaging the clutch properly. So a hard shift into gear is not automatically a worn out clutch disc. It can be, but it can just as easily be the hydraulics that operate it or the pressure plate, and that's part of what we're sorting out when one comes in.