P27F3: Clutch B Temperature Too High
Do not keep driving
Pull over and let it cool — a slipping clutch this hot is being damaged by the minute. Expect judder or refusal to creep until the temperature falls; that is protection, not the failure itself. If this happens in heavy traffic or on hill starts, change how the car is held — brake or hold function, never the accelerator. If it recurs in ordinary driving, have the clutch and its actuator inspected before the material is gone.
What this code means
Clutch B in the transmission is too hot.
In a dual-clutch or automated manual gearbox, this is a real friction clutch, and heat is what kills it. A dual-clutch box carries two — one serving the odd gears, one the even — so that the next gear is pre-selected and handed over in milliseconds. Automated manuals carry one, worked by a motor instead of a pedal. Either way the part is the same as a manual car's clutch, with the same limits.
Heat comes from slip, and slip comes from creep. A conventional automatic creeps in traffic through its torque converter, which is designed to slip all day. A dry-clutch automated gearbox creeps by slipping its clutch — the same thing you would do with a manual pedal, performed by a computer, in a part with a manual clutch's tolerance for it. Crawling traffic, repeated hill starts, and holding the car on the accelerator are the classic causes, and a clutch already worn or contaminated gets hot faster from all of them.
The module measures or models the clutch temperature and this code is its protection. Expect deliberately degraded behaviour while it is hot — juddering, reluctant creep, harsher engagement, or refusal to engage at all — that recovers once things cool. Fails hot, fine cold is the signature.
Cooling off is the correct first response, not a fault-find. If the code arrives once, in the worst traffic of the month, it may be an honest overload. If it recurs in ordinary driving, the clutch is dragging, worn to the end of its material, or its actuator is not releasing cleanly — and the adaptation codes in this same range are often stored alongside, telling the rest of the story.
Do not hold the car on a hill with the accelerator. On a slope, that is continuous clutch slip by definition. Use the brake, the hold function, or the parking brake — the clutch will last years longer for it.
Likely causes
Start here
- Worn clutch packs · specialist
- Clutch not fully releasing · specialist
Less common
- Oil contamination on the clutch · specialist
- Faulty clutch actuator · specialist
- Low hydraulic pressure in the clutch actuator · specialist
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
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