Me again,

So I'm a car hypochondriac, especially when I buy a new car. So having only just picked up a 2012 s max with 90k on the clock I'm stressing out about every little thing. 

On the school run today I was in 25 minutes of start stop traffic on a steep hill incline. At the end of this 25 mins the cabin filled with the smell of burning clutch to the extent we all felt a little nauseous.

Is it time to have to clutch checked or could this just be the circumstances?

After 10 minutes off and a good run on the motorway for another 10 it was not smelling anymore. Don't want to cause extra damage and as you can probably tell I'm not good with cars

It might have been someone else's clutch that you were smelling. 

Hello Tom, you need to 'chill out' and learn to relax !!

The fact of the matter is you can't realistically drive a 12 (nearly 13) year old car with over 90,000 miles and not expect a few issues from time to time. It's just the way cars are.

Not knowing your driving style it's difficult to say if the clutch is worn, or perhaps just using too many revs and not enough use of the handbrake if having to hold the car on a steep hill for a long time. To be fair if the car is still on it's original clutch after 90K then it quite possibly is due for replacement.

You weren't holding it on the clutch were you?

On 11/17/2022 at 2:38 PM, DaveT70 said:

You weren't holding it on the clutch were you?

Yes 🤦🏻‍♂️

Well that’s a very good way of destroying the clutch. Never hold a car on the clutch like that. Neutral and handbrake on. I take it you don’t know quite how a clutch works. Holding on the clutch creates an incredible amount of heat and premature wear.

1 hour ago, isetta said:

incredible amount of heat and premature wear.

..... and therefore a burning smell!

Hopefully you've merely shortened its life a little and it will be OK, but lesson learned, hopefully.

On 11/19/2022 at 10:24 PM, alanfp said:

..... and therefore a burning smell!

Hopefully you've merely shortened its life a little and it will be OK, but lesson learned, hopefully.

Indeed. Suitably embarrassed