A bad clutch is one of the easier things on a car to diagnose when it's going south. The whole system is pretty straight forward. It'll be hard to explain how the system works here, so I won't get into that. But I will describe the most common symptoms and what it means to you. The most common failure is that the clutch simply wears out. This usually happens around 100,000 miles or so. You'll be driving along and when you give it gas to pass or to climb a hill, the engine will suddenly rev up a bit, like there is a disconnection between the car speed and the engine speed, which there is. This is called "slipping". The clutch can't transmit the full engine power anymore so it "slips". What this means to you is that you probably don't have long before the car won't move anymore. The clutch will progressively slip more and more, until it slips so much that the car won't go forward or backward under it's own power. At that point, it's time to call a tow truck. Have the clutch replaced before you get stuck. Another common symptom is it will get hard to shift into gear. First gear will be a tough push and it'll grind trying to get it into reverse. Usually this will happen at the worst possible time, like when you're trying to make through an intersection. If the clutch pedal feels like it lost it's spring and it stays to the floor, more than likely it's the master cylinder or the slave cylinder. Either or both could have a leak, and when you run out of fluid, the system won't work anymore, the clutch pedal goes to the floor, you're stuck in the middle of that intersection. No fun. What this means to you is that you'll need to get it repaired now in order to get it drivable again. The leak will have to be remedied before it will shift properly again. If you think you'll having a problem, drop on by or give me a call. It only takes a few minutes to diagnose a clutch problem and it's no charge.