Recent problem came up. When I am starting out in first gear there is a strange noise every so often. It' s only in first gear, and very prevalent when the car is cold. I don't think it's a heat shield because of the sound that it makes. They only thing I can come up with right now without really digging into it is might be the throw out bearing. The clutch grabs fine and doesn't slip. Has anyone had this problem. I am pretty knowledgeable with cars and this is the first I have ever heard a noise like this. I wish I could describe it but I wouldn't know where to start. Taking the car in right now is not really an option since I am out of town on business. If anyone has a suggestion, I am all ears.

Car is as the title states

05 6speed 40,000 miles.

 

You may be having the same problem as me. Clutch grabs and feels fine, but a strange screeching noise sounds once in a while and I can't reproduce it on demand. I did show an acura mechanic once but he had no clue what it was.

I've heard it may be the throwout bearing as well, does yours sound like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQbWSU1SOEw

 

I have the same symptoms, and, yes, it sounds almost exactly like that. Was that the throwout bearing?

 

Throwout bearing/clutch release bearing/spigot bearing. It gets worse if you are taking off in 1st uphill. Loud screeeeeching sound. Get it replaced when you change the clutch. The bearing lets the flywheel/pressure plate assembly spin when the clutch release fork is disengaging the clutch. It wears prematurely if you have a habit of sitting at the lights with your foot on the clutch, or if you like to rev the engine while holding the clutch down.

 

Yes, that sound is identical. At least I was right in thinking it was the through out bearing. Looks like I will be making the appointment at the acura dealer again. 3rd time there for the trans and they say nothing is wrong, I must not know how to drive a manual very well. I guess 17 years of driving a manual isn't long enough for them. I might need more practice.

 

Looks like I'm also in the market for a new throw-out bearing. Sounds like it's pretty deep into things, I'm guessing I'm going to be paying $500 in labor for a $10 part? Anybody have one installed yet?

 

I did mine when I changed my clutch. Once you have the gearbox off, all you do is put 2 or 3 fingers on old throwout bearing, pull the bearing off the input shaft, take new input shaft bearing between your fingers, add a little bit of grease, push it back onto the input shaft. No additional tools required.

 

Yes.

I just changed out my stock clutch and flywheel yesterday. I drove with that noise for about 50k miles (at 92k now). The tech that changed out my clutch also noticed some pretty heavy wear marks on the flywheel. I drive 100 miles a day and did not hear that noise once today. I live in San Clemente and there are steep hills which will create that noise every time. Didn't hear it today

 

sucks that such a problem can be fixed with an inexpensive part, but the labour work required to get to it is is pretty much not worth it. My car's only 3 years old and I'm not looking to change the clutch just yet.. I'm probably just goign to drive it until the clutch is done, then replace the bearing/clutch at the same time.

Isn't the throwout bearing under warranty? When I had the Acura Tech check it he has no clue what it was, so how can we even have the warranty claim done when the tech doesn't know what the problem is.

 

You're right, this definitely sucks. The dealer quoted me 12 hours for the labor -- which translates to over $2k for the job!!!

I think that bearings (in general) are considered wear and tear items, and therefore not warranty items. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong!

 

12 hour is BS. I did it at a workshop, with me watching the whole way. Took 8 hours, which included additional steps like opening up the gearbox, cleaning out all the crap, replacing flywheel and clutch, chit chatting, having lunch, fixing other stuff on the car. So it will definitely take less than 7 hour to change the clutch release bearing.

 

For Honda stock clutches, it is highly recommended to change the bearings whenever the clutch plates are changed. Use back the Honda stock bearings even aftermarket bearings may be similar but stay Honda stock as much as possible.

The loading back in is also critical and any experienced mechanic will know what to do. If you do the clutch, it means about 80K km and thus, the belts etc should also be changed.

 

Yes, but Honda doesn't make their own bearings. So if you buy a clutch release bearing for the Honda K series and it is made by the same OEM that produces Honda's stock bearing, then you'll be alright. That is what I have on my car now.

 

Would that be Exedy? What setup do you have, exactly, and are you happy with the flywheel?

 

Yes, I have the Exedy HF02 lightweight flywheel and Exedy Daikin OEM RSX-S flywheel. Came with a clutch release bearing, no problems with it.

 

If your car is still under the original warranty it is covered under the full factory warranty. If you are on an extended warranty then you will have to eat the costs. Wear item or not, the original warranty covers bumper to bumper.

 

So if you have wear on your bumper like pits from stone chips from driving on the freeway, that is covered under the original warranty!?

 

I love smart ass replies that are pointless. A question was asked if it would be covered under warranty. I answered the question. I said it was covered bumper to bumper, not rock chip bumper to rear ended bumper. Feel free to grow up just a little and answer questions that are being asked since someone doesn't really know. That is the whole point of this forum. If you need to write useless remarks find somewhere else to write them. I believe that the reason people are on this site, and ask particular questions is for information about a question they are not sure about.

 

Thanks for the info bltfed


So I called up the stealership to get an estimate and they said 10 hours at $115/hour. Obviously that rules them out...but I know a shop where I can get labor at $60/hour.

My question now is...how big of an issue is this really? Should I just live with the noise until I need an entire new clutch, or does this need to get fixed promptly?

I'm only at 30k miles but I drive in Boston for an hour every day so it's not surprising the release bearing went. It's hard to not keep the clutch depressed fairly often. I don't want to cheap out on fixing this and end up causing more problems down the road, and also I hate that my $30k car sounds like a POS Civic in need of a repair job.

 

To be honest I am not sure if it will cause more damage. This is the first time I have ever had one go bad. Just a quick question for you madmax. If you only have 30K on the car why wouldn't you take it to them to fix it. Is it because you are chipped.

 

This will not cause any problem until it starts doing it all the time. The noise is because the clutch fingers are touching the bearing and since the bearing has some resistance to it, it doesn't immediately start spinning at the same speed. The fingers just drag across the bearing until ti catches up. This can happen when you're initially engaging the clutch or on the way out as the pressure from the fingers is no longer enough to keep the high resistance bearing spinning with the clutch.

That sort of chirping isn't much of a problem because the metal on metal friction is brief and doesn't build up much heat. If it starts doing the same thing in a more prolonged fashion it means the bearing is seizing up and will eventually grind through the fingers causing your clutch to be unable to release. Since this repair is so costly and you'll want to replace the clutch while your doing it anyway, just ride it out as long as you can. Even if it does destroy the clutch fingers the solution is still the same, replace the clutch.

 

I only have 30K but I've had the car for 4.5 years, doesn't that mean I'm out of warranty coverage?

 

Hello friends.

I have exactly the same problem described in this thread and the noise sounds exactly the same as in the video shown in the second post. Sometimes the noise even lasts for about 1-2 seconds, because I keep the clutch pedal somewhere in the middle. I have found that the problem is easy to reproduce when:
- start from completely stop
- you are on a hill and let out the clutch slowly with almost no giving gas
- the steering wheel is almost on full left or right (might be wrong about this one, but this is my observation)
- it is only on the first gear but very very rarely it is reproducible when shifting from 1 to 2nd gear and the sound is very very short - just a part of a second

For the last week I am searching in the Internet what is causing this problem, but no success. Finally I have found this forum which contains the most useful information comparing to any other. So, please tell me: What should I do, what part should I change/fix to stop this noise? I really like my Accord Euro (CL7), but this noise makes me feel like I am driving some cheap and no good car.

Any help will be highly appreciated!

Sorry for my bad English.

 

Anyone? Please.

 

My dealer found where the problem is. Some "lens" in the exhaust (not sure this is the correct term in English) as he explained is making this noise. They put some grease on it and told me that this is temporary fix and probably the noise will return after a few weeks. When this happens they will replace the faulty lens. This was a week ago and since then not a single cwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeckkkkk.

Just sharing, because someone may find this information useful.

 

Wow that's crazy....so it was not your release bearing

I'm not really sure what lens you would be talking about in the exhaust. Was it an expensive repair?

 

Yes, it is crazy. I also did not believe it in the beginning. It has nothing to do with the clutch.
I am holding the receipt now (I also payed for new engine oil, oil, air and a/c filters, and sparks) and the price against "lubricating exhaust lens" is: 20 in my currency which is around 13-14 USD. I have no idea what is the price of the new "lens". I will definitely ask about the price of the new part and what exactly is this part when go back to the dealer. I will share then.

 

I am very sorry if I had mislead you guys, but my fix does not solve the problem. Here is the part number of that part that my dealer changed few months ago: 18229-S6M-003. Although the sound occurs more rarely (maybe because the "fix" was when the summer starts and it seems this sound occurs when the humidity is high... not sure about that just my observation) the problems exists.

I really really like my car. I just bought new tires and wheels and I am planning to keep the car for a while, but now this problems makes me thing other way. It is very embarrassing when the car goes grrrrrrrrskweeeeeeeckkkkkkkkkkkkkkk and my friends and colleagues ask me what the hell was that?!
If you have any information please share it.

Thank you!

 

This really sounds like a design flaw on the part of acura. I hope they learned from this on later generations!

 

Does anyone have any update on this one? Please.