The clutch slippage problem always occurred while going up hi-way grades, never on flat city terrain. The factory clutch failed at 104,000+ miles while going up grades. This rebuild failed while going up grades. I remember now that after the first couple of months of getting the rebuild, I noticed the slippage. Traveling up from foothill elevation to mountain elevation at 50-55mph, the rpm needle would swing up to 4000 and then settle back down to 2500 with no change in mph. Would drive fine, no slippage, when at my destination, which was level roads. The repair shop is at level road valley elevation, so they were never able to test drive it up grades after the rebuild. This last breakdown happened while driving up the hi-way grade, the same hi-way grade it has been traveling on since i drove it off the dealer's lot in 1991. Lot's of slippage, rpm needle up to 4000-5000 while mph dropping. Down shifted through all the gears, couldn't even move forward in first gear. Pulled over, busy mountain hi-way. Let the vehicle roll backwards to get to a wider turnout in the road and waited for a tow truck. An hour later, tow showed up, tried to drive in first gear for better tow positioning, but would not move. Just revving rpm's in first gear. Terrible burnt smell, just like the first factory clutch failure. I hope the repair shop can look beyond the clutch plate and find out what is causing it to slip on the flywheel.
This vehicle isn't in storage. It always has 10-20 miles put on it every couple of months. The majority of the miles are from May to Nov. It's gone from a primary family vehicle over the years, to a fourth vehicle with light duty use around a family mountain cabin association.
