Charowls

I got my TSX late July and its been my daily driver. Sure I like to have fun once in a while, but I'm usually driving that thing without ever revving past 2000rpms when i start moving. About a week ago, my clutch started to slip and then my clutch wouldn't catch at all. My TSX is at the dealer right now and they're charging me 550 to open up the tranny to see what the problem is. Anyone have any idea what's going on? Am i getting gypped for some simple mechanical problem or did i actually burn out my clutch. Btw the clutch felt like this: i could push it in further before i felt some resistance, almost like it was worn away. any ideas..? should this be covered by warranty? thanks in advance

escobarj

Sounds to me like it should be covered under the warranty. I would fight this. . .

Count Blah

Seems like they should at least LOOK at it under warranty. What's the policy on "normal wear and tear", or excessive wear?

Brad

Heck. How many miles to you have on your TSX?

That's what I don't understand about clutch wear. On all of my previous MT Accords--3 of them--the clutch never wore out. Two of them hit over 200,000 miles, and my most recent one (that I just sold today) has over 108,000 miles. They all had their original trannies, clutches, and flyplates. And yet, I also read about others whose clutches go out way too soon, like at 80 or 90K miles.

Aside from Charowls problem, what are people doing to their clutches that causes premature wear? Are they using the clutch as a foot rest? Do they drag the clutch or press it in and out a lot without shifting?? Do they ram shift? I've heard of people who don't believe in using the clutch. Is it a sign of "bad" driving skills if the clutch wears out prematurely. If so, what specifically is a bad driving skill that causes premature wear out?

phirenze

shit guys.

This same thing happened to me at 6000 miles. I took it in and they fixed it under warrenty. They had to fly someone out to show the mechanics how to do it b/c it had never been done before anywhere in the country. I wasn't going to post and say anything b/c I didn't want to scare everybody. I jsut assumed that there was something wrong with my driving style.

P.S. I didn't pay a dime and they gave me a loner TSX for 4 days which i put 1,000 miles on and they didn't care at all. And I didn't even by my car at the dealership that fixed it.

copland007

Oh no, not another tranny problem

Charowls

sigh they didn't give me a loaner or anything. I had 4300 miles on it when they took it in. I didn't idiotically use the clutch as a foot rest or anything. I'm hoping it's not clutch, but if it is I'm going to fight it. Did i mention the car had 120 miles on it when i bought it. That could also be a factor right?

wiz

I have over 12000 miles on my TSX...not a single clutch problem...and I've grinded a few gears with it...

rb1

Unless they can prove abuse (and this will be difficult if you bought the car with 120 miles on it), they should cover the clutch or tranny fully at this point.

Call Acura Customer Relations (or "Acura Client Services" as they now call it) at:

(800) 382-2238

(Monday through Friday, 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Standard)

Don't wait to hear what the dealer says as they have already revealed their hand by trying to charge you before anything is even found yet!

Count Blah

This kind of thing scares me. This is my first MT car, and after 1600 miles I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with the clutch. But hearing these stories makes me feel like the clutch/tranny is fairly fragile. Even if it doesn't completely fail, it seems like there's a lot of ways you can unknowingly(?) mistreat it.

rb1

MT's are very durable -- much more so than automatics. There are really only two points of failure: synchros and clutch.

The TSX has multi-cone synchros (3 cones on 1-4 and 2 on 5,6), so it should tolerate aggressive shifting much more so than (for example) the MT in my car, which as dual synchros on 2nd gear only (and VW covers mine for 10 years / 100K even so).

The clutch is a different story -- it's a wear item. Every time you slip the clutch, it wears a wee bit -- just like a brake pad. 90+% of this happens during launch, with only minimal if any slip occuring during normal upshifting. Downshifts incur a hair more slip than upshifts unless precise rev-matching is done. Even so, the clutch so last a loooong time unless repeatedly subjected to abuse (excess slip, dropping the clutch at high RPM, etc) or unless something was wrong with it from the beginning.

Sometimes you can smell the clutch lining when it has taken recent abuse. (Acrid burning smell)

DEVO

Let me guess, first time with a stick? It's not about how high you rev the engine it's for how long your are slipping the clutch to get the car going. If you take forever and are not reving past 2000 to get the car going then you are going to burn out the clutch.