I did a search and saw some posts about squeaking, but haven't seen any posts about the other associated problems I'm having. I exited a freeway the other day, downshifted, and stopped for a traffic light. No problem until I went to engage first gear from neutral and had a very hard time getting into first. This is not an unusual problem for my car sometimes when it is cold, but I had been driving the car for around three hours. After a few tries the car went into gear. When I started to release the clutch pedal, the clutch egaged much lower on the pedal stroke than usual and also seemed to engage very abruptly (almost like an on/off switch instead of gradual). The car also shuddered quite a bit while I was engaging clutch. Just about the only way to get the car moving smoothly was to get the revvs up to 2-3k and slip the clutch very very slowly, but I would still get vibration. I limped home and figured I would let the car cool down and try again later. On my way home this problem did not seem to happen at each stop.

When I tried again the problem was still there and now seemed to happen each time I start moving. There is some squeaking coming from the slave cylinder on the front of the transmission, but I don't think there is any noise coming from the master cylinder. It is still sometimes hard to get the transmission into gear, feels almost like clutch is not fully disengaged (sometime like trying to put the car into gear when its not running and you don't press the clutch). The resevoir has plenty of fluid. Once the clutch is engaged and the car is moving there doesn't seem to be any slipping, so I don't think its the clutch itself.

I'm not driving the car and its going to the dealer in the next couple of days. I've never had a problem close to this and was wondering if any one has experienced this or has any ideas? In one of the searchs someone mentioned a Honda tech bulletin 97-055. Is there someway to look this up without going to the dealer to see if its applicable to my problem?

 

I bet it's broken. I've had balking and chattering before two failures -- read about them here:
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=166214

Here's what my second failed clutch looked like:


Here's another thread to read:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=169694

 

Thanks for the info 98R. Now I'm out of town and can't take it to the dealer myself and I'm kind of worried about the girlfriend driving it the 4-5 miles to the dealership. I'll just have to convince her to take it easy or wait to take it in when I get back.

How many other folks have had luck getting the dealer to replace their clutch under warranty?

 

The first time it happened to me, I called the dealer and talked about the symptoms, and they suspected it was broken. Given you're so close, if you call and describe the problem and they think it might be broken, they might come and pick it up for you -- either with a tow truck or they could send over mechanic who's comfortable coping with the problem (shifting it without the clutch, etc). You could try the roadside assistance, too, if you're still eligible.

 

Well the verdict from the dealer is in. They are saying it is due to the springs in the pressure plate plate going causing the clutch to wear out and they can fix it to the tune of $1297.56. Of course, because its a "wear item" its not covered under warranty. I plan to fight this. My car only has like 30,500 miles on it. A clutch and pressure plate, unless it was really abused, should not fail this early.

I know there have been a few others who have similar failures. Can those of you who have had similar failures, reply so I can get some sort of head count. Thanks in advance guys.

 

1300 bux.......are you serious........you better get a set of gold boots for that price

 

Stupid dealer, fight it for sure. If the springs broke, that's a failure, not wear. [Note that it's not an overly unusual failure for these cars, but that doesn't mean the warranty doesn't cover it.] My first one was at 28k miles, and they replaced the whole thing free. Try to reason with the main guy at the dealer, and then try to escalate it to the regional level. If the dealer won't help you escalate it (they should), then you can get it going yourself by calling Acura.

As for the money, well, that's a bit high I think. When mine failed this year, the quote was around $1100 total if they had resurface the flywheel, $70 less if they didn't.


[Modified by 98R-1003 US, 6:45 PM 6/25/2002]

 

Spoke with Acura customer service and basically all they were able to tell me is to try and find another dealer that will determine that the clutch failed due to manufacturer defect rather than wear (which to me it did). The only other recourse they could give me is to write (can't call, can't e-mail) a customer case rep (I can't remember the exact title right now) and plead my case.

Mentioned all this to service tech and they are going to get in touch with Regional Service Manager. I'm hoping this will help, but am not counting on it.
If it doesn't I guess I'll try one other dealer before doing something.

As for the repair quote... For what they are quoting I can get an ACT clutch and pressure plate and a Comptech flywheel, and still have a few hundred for labor.

So far I'm pretty disgusted with the whole thing. This is my 5th Honda product and I've always had good response before this. My Prelude VTEC went through two engine computers and a head that were all covered under warranty with no fuss (I'm now wondering if it was just that the dealer was great). If this keeps going this way, there may be a Type R with a new clutch for sale and a very unhappy person who will probably never buy another Honda product again.

 

Call Acura Services and start bitching. The only phone number I have handy is from 1998:
1-800-382-2238, Acura customer relations

If that's not Acura Services, and they don't get you that number, look on your little roadside assitance card (mine is in the car or I'd look). When I called them in 2000 to complain about how the dealer was handling an oil consumption problem, things started happening shortly after that. [Side note -- they never really addressed the problem, though.]

BTW, the quote I mentioned from my dealer was actually for the ACT parts (from Comptech). The price was similar for the OE parts, but I didn't have those numbers lying around. Unfortunately, nobody had ACT parts in stock at the time, so I couldn't get them -- I ended up with Exedy parts instead, for about $300 for the parts. I still had the dealer install it, for about $480 labor.

 

i fall under this category with my clutch.......it squeaks first gear.......

 

I found the phone number I called in 2000, it's the same as above:

Acura Client Services (800) 382-2238

 

The car is being towed to another dealer tomorrow. Things sound a little more positive with this dealership, or at least they seem more willing to look at things. We'll see what happens. The first dealership basically gave up and said I could contact Acura if I wanted, but they could do nothing else for me.

I've spoken with Acura Client Services a few times already and have not had very good results. The first woman I spoke with suggested I take it to another dealer for "a second opinion" if I wanted. She said they would not assign a case or follow up and the only other action I could do is write the company. After the first dealership gave up, I called Acura again and now they are at least going to assign my case to a case manager and they will contact the dealership in 1 - 3 days. Of course until then, my car is still stuck. Maybe the second dealership will have some better news before then. Thus far, I've been really quite disapointed with Acura. There does not seem to be a lot of concern than my car is undrivable right now.

I'm still trying to get an idea of how many people have had similar problems and what mileage they had when it occured.


[Modified by hecklervtec, 9:49 PM 6/26/2002]

 

I'm a little puzzled by the dealer "giving up" or not being able to do anything for you. I mean, there's no doubt what has to be done, right? Something in the clutch is failed or failing, and it's going to have to be taken out to find out exactly what.

Are you trying to get them to pull it and find out exactly what broke, without agreeing to getting it fixed if it's not covered under warranty? In that case, I could see them balking, because they don't want to be left holding the bag if Acura won't pay and you then want to go somewhere else and get it done for $800 instead of $1300. I don't think you're going to be able to force the dealer to take all the risk.

It's good you have another dealer to work with, but I think you need to decide now what you are going to do if they won't pay for it. I think it would help you if you can tell this next dealer that you're going to have it fixed there one way or the other, even if you end up paying. My dealer was happy to put in non OE parts, too, so if yours does also then you still have an opportunity to save some money there if you end up having to pay.

Also, if you commit to having the work done there, then perhaps you can get into a loaner car and remove that time pressure from the equation. That would give you more time to argue with Acura if needed. I'm assuming your dealers have loaner cars -- mine does, and if they run out of cars they rent me some POS from Enterprise. It's a big advantage for me, and it's one reason why I get work done there when something breaks suddenly. With my last clutch failure, my car sat up there for a few days while we worked on getting non-OE parts, and they ended up paying for the rental from that whole time. That certainly makes up for the relatively high labor costs.

 

I am having the same problem with my clutch. My car only has 18k miles on it. It doesn't happen all the time just once in a while. I am considering going to the dealer myself. My car doesn't have enough miles or enough abuse to act like this.

 

When I say the dealership has given up is they are seeming to fight for me. They say they have seen these problems before in my car and feel it won't be covered under warranty. They did not make any further efforts to get Acura involved and said I could contact Acura Customer Support if I wanted to, they did not seem to want to take any more inititive.

The second dealership seems more willing to go to bat for me, offered to take a closer look as long as I guaranteed to cover the inspection. They also seemed more willing to go to bat for me and seem to feel that if the component the first dealership said failed, they would probably consider it a warranty repair or would probably be able to get Acura involved to make some sort of "good will". We'll see how it goes.

 

Well, I hope it works out, because it sounds like Acura owes you that.

 

thank you very much, i have the same problem and now I know what to do..
type r clutch her I come!

 

-----UPDATE-----

Just got off the phone with Scott...he had the car towed to another dealer who pulled the tranny and replaced the clutch disc that was cracked in half under warranty...glad that it was taken care of and a to Mike Harvey Acura in Burlingame, CA.

Austin

 

Cool -- I hope he can post a picture!

 

Hmm, I had two OE clutches fail in 75k miles without abusive driving -- I'd consider the aftermarket...

 

As Austin mentioned my problems have been taken care of. I had the car towed to Mike Harvey Acura in Burlingame so they could look at it. The found the clutch disk was cracked and replaced the clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, and pilot bearing, all under warranty. Even better, the repair took less than 24 hours. I really have to give a lot of credit to David at Mike Harvey and the rest of their maintenance department and cannot say enough good things about them. To me, this is how dearership support should be. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures, but I wasn't in town. If fact, that's another kudo for David and Mike Harvey Acura, but all of this was done while I was 3000 miles away in New York.

I'm still a little disappointed in the other dealer and especially Acura's customer service. No one from Acura Customer Service seemed to be of much help and only by being a pain in the a** would they assign my case to a case manager. Then for it to take up to 3 days for them to even get started reviewing my case while my car is undrivable is a little much. I'm sure they probably have more than a couple of cases for a limited staff, but... The most helpful advise I got from Acura's customer service was to go to another dealership. In short, I just was not impressed.


[Modified by hecklervtec, 4:17 PM 6/29/2002]

 

thats same thing mine does.. same thing exact, im gonna bring it in tomorrow. see if theyll warrenty it