Clutch issue ?

[jondee86]

No problem. As I said, there is conflicting information about this problem and
there may be more than one factor involved. The situation I outlined above
could contribute to the car rolling back from the ramp while in gear, and to
the smell of burning clutch when backing the car out of the garage. It is a
simple matter to check under the car and see if the clutch slave is working
normally. If it is, then one possible cause of the problem is eliminated.

As for the car moving when idling in neutral, I have never heard or
experienced this myself. However, if the car stops moving when the clutch
is disengaged, it is clearly a gearbox related issue. Unfortunately, I know
next to nothing about the inner workings of a gearbox, but it would seem
that there is some small transfer of torque from the countershaft to the
output shaft. Maybe a bent shift fork is holding one half of a synchroniser
in light contact with its matching other part ?

I'll leave that one for the gearbox experts

Cheers... jondee86

PS: And yes, it is not unusual for the viscous drag and internal friction of
the moving parts inside the gearbox to cause the rear wheels to spin with
the rear wheels off the ground. The torque transmitted to the driveshaft
is multiplied by the diff ratio and becomes sufficient to overcome the
friction of the differential and wheel bearings.

But when the vehicle is on its wheels on level ground, the rolling resistance
of the tires is far greater, and (under normal circumstances) the tiny
amount of torque being sent to the rear wheels is no way enough to roll
the car forward at idle.