On Saturday, I would have what I would call a "catostrophic failure" of my ITR's clutch. Up until this point I had no issues with the clutch whatsoever - no slipping, no shuddering, nothing. I was driving (not even too "spirited" at the time) and had trouble getting the car into gear (3rd, then 4th... 3rd, again, then 2nd) as if the clutch was not fully depressed. There was no noise or drama I'd associate with the disc or pressure plate coming apart... After a few cycles of difficult shifts - the clutch pedal dropped to the floor with minimal, if any, resistance.

I was able to shift gears by rev-matching and took it home. At stoplights, I could rev-match from 2nd to 1st and then hold the clutch pedal down and it would stay disengaged. However, when I let out the clutch, it would shudder something terrible at about 2500 rpm and then hook up. The clutch held all the way up to 6k or so without slipping (I wasn't about to hit VTEC at this juncture).

I called Acura TLC and they dispatched a tow truck... took it to the dealer. First thought I had (and the service advisor echoed) was it was the clutch master cylinder (a hydraulic part). Service guy said if that turned out to be the case, it would be covered by warranty. I get a call back from him a few hours later - diagnosis: clutch master cylinder. He says the part is not handy and it would be a day before it would come in... yaddah... yaddah... they'd try and score one from another dealer and have the car back to me by Wednesday. Ok, fine.

So, I call today for an update and >surprise, surprise< now they say it's NOT the clutch master cylinder... rather it is the clutch assembly and the clutch disc, pressure plate, bearing, etc. will cost me some ungodly sum for them to repair. PLUS (to add insult to injury) another $65 to resurface the flywheel if it needs it. Not a warranty item since it is a wearing part.

WTF? I ask. I mean, I have been driving standard transmission cars for... well, since I've been driving cars and any sudden failure like this is, by definition, a "defective part" and then the repair (in total) would be covered by the warranty. So, I tell him "fix it" and we'll sort out who is paying for it later. At this point, he admits they have yet to remove the disc, etc. and they're not sure what it looks like. A-HA! So, I say - save the parts... if the friction material has come off the backing or somesuch that's a defective disc and a warranty job.

Called my lawyer. She says - get a copy of the warranty. Warranty is in the car. Ok, so that makes it a bit harder.

Called Acura Customer Care. They won't get me another copy of the warranty (I have to order it), but they will log the call and have someone follow up with me - maybe next week...

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Cliff Notes - Clutch died (non-abuse related, at the time). Diagnosis unknown. Warranty depends on cause.

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Anyone have any luck getting a clutch assembly covered?

Comments/suggestions?

Words of advice?

 

Hmm. Nothing to add except please keep us posted!

Good luck, V

 

nothing to add either, bu i see no reason for acura not to warranty it.

 

Depends on how many miles you have on it. I remember hearing something that they will cover your clutch up to 10k miles. Some one on the board had there clutch replaced under warrenty for early failiur, you might want to try a search.

 

how many miles are on the car? I know that here in Iceland the clutch does not fall under warranty

 

41,000 miles.

If it is specifically excluded in the warranty (at any age/mileage) I'm probably hosed. If it is EVER covered, I'm sure my lawyer will make them prefer to honor it than not (my sister is a litigator by trade, she can be downright nasty when provoked).

If the disc does not wear out, but comes apart... that should be a warranty item. I mean, EVENTUALLY everything fails, whether it is a "wear item" or not. I'm thinking of it like a pencil eraser... it's ablative by nature, but if it wears half way and breaks off the back of the pencil - that's not right. If it wore down to nothing, that would be different - I'd be swapping in the whole Toda Clutch (flywheel, street disc, plate, & bearing) package with my own labor for the price they quoted me to do the stock parts for me (I dunno... maybe... it sure seemed like a lot of money).

(shrug) This is all premature, since they may cover it... I'll keep y'all updated.

 

A clutch is a normal wear item. It's quite possible for any clutch to wear out at 41K miles, depending on a lot of things (including driver technique, usage patterns, etc).

See what they say. If they tell you they shouldn't cover it but they offer you partial coverage on a goodwill basis (for example, 50 percent off on the parts or something like that) - grab it and count your blessings.

 

Good luck with that. They are gonna tell you to go screw yourself. A clutch is a wear item, and with 41k on the clock, its not all that uncommon to need replacing. Maybe if it was at 15k or something, but its not. Just suck it up and buy an aftermarket clutch/flywheel combo.

 

WELL!

I assure you Acura did not tell me to do any such thing! Actually, they were more than cooperative with my attempts to get satisfaction.

Although they began with resistance to any kind of warranty coverage, I held fast and explained my position that even "wear items" don't fail all at once with no degradation. Without too much hesitation after that, the regional service manager (via the dealership's service manager) authorized the warranty coverage of all the parts - leaving me to pay the $300-ish labor. I sensed weakness, so I did not relent quite yet. I told the dealership's SM that although I didn't want them to be shafted for the parts failing and having to burn valuable rack and tech time, I wouldn't BE in this predicatment if not for the disc "coming apart" (they never actually told me the friction material came off the rivets, nor did they show me the parts - which leads me to believe it did come apart) - I offered to split the labor with them. (1) They did not have a full yard of cars waiting for service and (2) it more closely reflects their true costs as opposed to opportunity costs (since they don't pay their techs $70 an hour). Of course, the dealership SM needed the regional SM's approval for this... bear in mind, this is just about 5pm on the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving Holiday. I suggested we conference the regional SM into the call on his mobile phone. The dealership SM declined and said he'd speak with him directly. I expressed my concern that even with the best intentions, he couldn't represent my case and my position as well as I could, but he was adamant, so I let it go. The dealership SM called me back about 10 minutes later to accept my offer.

Aaaaahhh!

I only mentioned "lawyer" once and that was before any consessions were made... Not once did I have to yell or get nasty with the Acura people, and when I arrived to pick up my car, they were nice as can be... although the receipt said something about "one time good will gesture" as the authorization, but it didn't irritate me as much as paying $800 would have.

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Cliff Notes: Never underestimate the power of negotiation.
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...this post was retrieved from page 8 to bring you this happy ending.

Hope everyone had a great turkey day.

 

Nice.

Now hopefully I can get a similar resolution with my 10k miles clutch going south...

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=93626

 

I am having some clutch problems as well and will be taking my 2001 R(15k) in on Wednesday to get it looked at. After seeing this post I started hypeRventilating, so I called my local A dealer and was told that any problems to the clutch "WILL" be covered under warranty as long as there has not been any misuse. My reply to that statement was I have never abused the car in any way, but drive it like a type R was made to be driven. Their comment to that was, "no problem see you wednesday". I don't need to worry do I?

 

No need to worry. I fully expect my clutch to be covered. I'm hoping to get them to put the final drive in while they do the other work. The key is to be polite, play dumb, and ask for the manager if you don't get the answer you want...