A clutch slipping means that the clutch isn’t able to hold itself down.
For instance, from a stop when you put the car in 1st gear and slowly let out the clutch, the clutch is “slipping”.
When a clutch is finally let out and engaged it’s “holding on” and you’re in gear, right?
So when a clutch gets old, worn out and starts crapping out it will do things like chattering (where the clutch slips but instead of slipping like it should the clutch feels like it is skipping instead of smoothly slipping as you let it out) and sometimes will start to slip (the clutch no longer is able to fully engage and starts quite literally slipping, kind of like it’s letting go if you know what i mean).
Think of it like this…
Lets say you are a clutch, and you’re job is to hold onto something right? Lets say what you hold onto for some random example is a broomstick. Your friend hands you the broomstick and says “ok, hold on” and you have enough strength to hold onto that broomstick and not let go. Lets say your friend holding onto the broomstick is the engine… now if you make an engine super powerful and have a weak clutch the clutch will slip, or not be able to hold on. Lets say your friend has 300hp and you can only handle 150, he starts grabbing onto the broomstick, so do you and you can’t hold it, he’s stronger than you and you let go… Well… your clutch does the same thing if it can’t hold the power it’s given. Lets say over time you get weaker, and this zx2 only has 130hp and you can handle 180hp, you say “no problem”, you could hold on all day, no issues… but over time you get weaker and weaker, your clutch plate materials disintegrate and things just flat out wear out over time (its a fact that it happens with all clutches as parts do wear out) and one day you get to the point where you can’t hold on all the time…
When this starts happening it feels like you’re in gear but you can’t go, the rpms may raise and it’s in gear… sometimes it isn’t THAT bad but maybe it just doesn’t feel right or doesn’t feel like it’s doing as good and won’t engage.
Here’s a great example. Next time you go drive, put the car in 1st gear, and drive around at 20mph ok? Now, as you are driving, SLOWLY put your foot onto the clutch and SLOWLY push it in, at some point the clutch will start to “slip” and start to let go and you’ll stop going, THAT is slipping.