Charowls

I had a problem with my car after 4200 miles on it. The clutch pedal seems to be stuck and all my gears are slipping. It's at the dealer right now and my friend said it might be a lemon. what does that mean?

fdl

As a general definition, it means your car is a dud...it was a particularly bad car that came out of the plant.

As a legal definition, it means that your car meats certain criteria which will entitle you to a new car. It doesnt sound like your car has met this criteria just yet. You can read more here:

http://cartalk.cars.com/Got-A-Car/Lemon/

teombe

The definition of a "lemon" varies from state to state.

Generally, a lemon is a vehicle that gives either a plethora of serious, repeated problems within the warranty period OR a vehicle that has the same problem over and over again despite repeated attempts to fix the vehicle.

If you believe that you have a case against the manufacturer (e.g., if you had to fix the sticking pedal 6 times within 18K miles), then you can file a lemon law complaint with your state.

The term 'lemon' is obviously very nebulous, but generally, anything that gives you enough problems to sour you on the brand.

larchmont

Well, well. Hard to believe that not everybody knows about this, but, what the heck, there's a lot that I don't know too.

A lemon is a new car that has all kinds of problems, one after another, and it never seems to get really fixed. I don't know how "lemon" came to be the word for this, but it is.

larchmont

OK, I found this on the site of a law firm in California:


Why is it called a lemon car?

In the 1800's, people started using the word 'lemon' to describe people who were sour (or unfriendly). In American English the word was first recorded in 1906 as a slang sense of "worthless thing". Over time, 'lemon' came to refer to anything that was defective or broken or which breaks constantly, particularly a car.

larchmont

I assume you mean a TSX?

Fortunately, I don't think we've heard of any "lemon" TSX's yet. A couple of people have complained about having a lot of problems, but I don't think there's been anything close to a lemon.

Has there been???

fdl

Not on this site...knock on wood.

Charowls

I am talking about the tsx. It's just that my clutch is slipping and im not catching at all. If i rev to 6000 , I start to catch a little and start moving. Also it feels like the clutch pedal has become way more shallow. Are these signs of a worn clutch? The thing is, i've been driving this car, gassing it to ~2k everytime and slowly easing off the clutch everytime. I have no idea how a clutch can fall out after 4300 miles.

wishiwere

Sorry to hear about your problem - hopefully they fix it fast. Unfortunately, for a car to be a lemon, the problem has to occur over and over. In other words, no matter how bad/annoying/disappointing the problem is, if they fix it on the first (or second, or even the third, i think) try, then it's not a lemon. It would only be if you took it in to get fixed, then they claim they fixed it, then a short while later it breaks again, then you take it in again, etc. The lemon law is there to protect the consumer, but your car does need to be pretty messed up for you to cash in on it. Good luck with everything.

rb1

They should probably just replace it. The clutch is technically a wear and tear item and not covered under warranty for any significant period of time, but my experience is that failures within a very short time after purchase (e.g. 12 months or 12,000 miles) are usually taken care of.

(2K sounds high to me but not excessively so. After this is taken car of, I'd try to learn to do this starting from 1500 RPM or so. You should also minimize the amount of time that you allow the clutch to slip during your starts -- no more than 2 seconds and generally more like 1)

teombe

If they don't replace your clutch for free, then write a letter to Acura in Torrance. You'll get it taken care of.

My friend had an integra a few years back whose clutch went out at 20K miles. The dealer charged like $500 to fix it, but Acura of America agreed to reimburse him for the charges after he told them he'd never buy another Acura.

rb1

I remember being worried about my clutch in my 88 Integra (various minor issues, but not slipping). The Service Manager at the dealer finally told me he would replace for free it if it didn't last 100,000 miles. It lasted 155,000...