clutch slips when HOT ?????

the clutch was replaced by the dealership roughly 12-15k mi ago.........

I was REALLY beating on the clutch offroad this weekend, I was in 4hi in the woods (no trail) and just working my way over rocks and fallen trees, stumps and whatnot, I got myself wedged into a spot between two trees with the back tires locked up between two rotten logs :wow:!!! At this point I was applying way to much gas during clutch pedal release and just beating on the clutch trying to rock myself loose and get spun around away from the two standing trees !
I could smell my clutch burning or else getting VERY hot, at one point I hit let out the clutch and the XJ did not move .......... My buddy that drives truck told me to let it sit a minute that it will slip if it gets very hot and abused but will be fine when it cools some..... I left it sit for 10 min than got in put it in 4low 1st gear and with very minor slipping pulled myself to the road.
After letting it cool for 30min all was well ....... complete function returned and works flawlessly again, worked great holding me back in low range coming down off the mountain and on paved road as well. Iv'e been offroad quite a bit with this thing and never had this happen, but I was never in a spot like this weekend.


So will a clutch slip under sever abuse ?? or do I got an issue ??

I'm sure the fluid needs changed but i'm worried about the bleeding process...
I'm gonna get a buddy to help me do the fluid this week and will replace (like all my fluids) with AMSOIL synthetic fluid.

The reason I change my brake fluid every 30k or so is because it collects moisture (from heating than cooling) which will lower the boiling point of the fluid compromising it's usability when hot.....

Does the DOT3 in the clutch do the same ??? it's probably been in there for 20yrs !!

Thank guys for any thoughts opinions or experience's

Its just the clutch slipping. It gets too hot, it slips. Same thing happens with brakes.. Thats what those big pits of pea gravel are for going down mountains

Dont stress it, it'll be fine.

xj_maniac_newb said:

Its just the clutch slipping. It gets too hot, it slips. Same thing happens with brakes.. Thats what those big pits of pea gravel are for going down mountains

Dont stress it, it'll be fine.

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thanks man.......
I hope i didn't get any sweat on ya when I flicked that bead from my browarty: !

Bleeding the clutch fluid is a good idea, no reason to have little chunks of black crud in there.
I have had the clutch-no worky on other MT vehicles, no long term problems yet, works fine once its cooled.

Next time use 4-low when you first get stuck

souske said:

Bleeding the clutch fluid is a good idea, no reason to have little chunks of black crud in there.
I have had the clutch-no worky on other MT vehicles, no long term problems yet, works fine once its cooled.

Next time use 4-low when you first get stuck

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yeah,I was not in a condition to be jeepin anyway (we were on our own property, not public roads).
under "normal" conditions I would have been in 4low as soon as we hit the logging trail.

should I stay at DOT3 or go DOT4 (something similar to GL-4 vs GL-5 "ellow metals" type issues ??) or is brake fluid ALL ok ?

dot 3 and dot 4 can be mixed with no ill effects

stay away from dot 5! its a silcone based fluid, and is completely incompatible

souske said:

dot 3 and dot 4 can be mixed with no ill effects

stay away from dot 5! its a silcone based fluid, and is completely incompatible

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Thank you sir.

Ok, guess i should clarify: dot 4 has a higher boiling point than dot 3, so running a mix will give you a boiling point somewhere between the two specs.

That being said, there is no issue running dot 4 in a system designed for dot 3. You might have some issues running dot 3 in a system that requires dot 4.