Eye Spy: From frozen ditch to burned clutch

Ben Knowles of Mechanic Modern in Richmond, Que., sent in this picture of a fried clutch. The owner of the 2008 Toyota Corolla thought he could get himself out of a snowbank by brute power and quickly switching from forward to reverse. By the time he was out, the pressure plate was red hot. It split in four and died on the highway. It had to be towed to the garage.

“It smells so bad in the car!” he wrote. “Anyone who has burned a clutch a bit knows that smell. I think it might be a permanent smell for that car!”

Got an interesting photo to share? Send your Eye Spy pictures to allan@newcom.ca.