MrEquivocal

So first off I want to introduce myself.

I've been a Volkswagen guy for years and years, specifically older generation water cooled VW's. Like many of you here on the forums, I'm sure, when it comes to Acura/Honda related issues it's simply second nature to you. I'm that way with older VW's. About a year ago I decided to try something new and that something happened to be my Acura TSX. I love the car, plain and simple. When it comes to these older VW's there is nothing I haven't done or cannot do. However, I'm taking the approach with my TSX "I know what I know and what I don't know I'm just going to ask and be humble about it" Well I've been hashing out some developing issues with my TSX and I just need some people with experience specific to these vehicles explain to me what I may be missing...

Scenario...
About 3 days ago I my TSX started having gear shift issues into the 6th gear. I would go to shift at 4000rpm or higher and the shifter would simply hit what I can best describe as a wall. If I gently applied pressure to the gate while the clutch pedal was depressed as the RPMs dropped to below 1500 or so it would slip right in.Obviously this is not ideal as it could potentially be putting undue stress on the syncros. By day 2 I was experiencing this in gears 5 & 6 with more resistance, more often. Nothing I couldn't manage but clearly something is afoot. By day 3 I was experiencing this problem in gears 4-6 to a point where engagement in gears 5 and 6 became so "notchy" I could not rely on my car to change gears when I needed it to. It required more attention than it should have to successfully change gears.

So more background on the car...
6 or so months ago the clutch assembly (pressure plate, clutch disc, TO bearing) were replaced by an ASE certified shop using Genuine parts - to the determent of my wallet. And so while not entirely ruling this possibility out, it is, by my estimation, less likely to be the culprit,
About 4 months ago during routine maintenance by my local Acura dealership, my trans fluid was changed (at least according to my work order) using Honda MTF.

By Day 4 signs pointed to bad trans fluid (syncros not meshing as easily as one might expect). So I drained all the MTF out and replaced with 2.1qt Redline MTL (NOT MT-90). Made a positive difference in the feel of the gears I was already able to shift into (1-3) but at higher RPMs such as freeway speeds the notchy shifting persisted in gears 4-6 although it had improved enough to notice.

So, here's where we're at..

I pulled the boot on the slave cylinder and it was bone dry.
I checked the clutch pedal engagement and I'm seeing about 0.200" of freeplay - great. The clutch engages about 1/3rd the way through its travel off the floor.
If I leave it in 1st gear and rev it with the clutch pedal depressed the car does not try lurching forward.
The clutch does not slip at all.
I see zero external leaks on the clutch master cylinder but it is the one from the factory with the feedback plate known to fail.
Motor mounts are all in tact.
I can shift fluidly though all gears with the car stationary and idling (with clutch engaged) or with the vehicle off and the clutch pedal NOT depressed.
I inspected the clutch pedal assembly and did not find common cracking or fracturing of the bracket. The assembly does not move when the pedal is engaged.
No whirring or grinding noise when the car is idle and the clutch is depressed (suggesting the TO bearing is fine)
I am experiencing no difference in pedal feel, travel, engagement points.


So knowing all this I've narrowed it down to just a couple things but of course they are not things I want to acknowledge let alone deal with but I need it fixed, and I may just need to face facts.

By my estimation an internally leaky clutch master cylinder (CMC) can cause these things intermittently - while I don't feel the clutch pedal getting any softer, I suspect it would be hard to tell if it were getting soft since everything on these cars is so dampened anyway.

A bad Clutch Disc/Pressure plate.


Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
-Rob

MrEquivocal

I want to add the reservoir for the clutch hydraulics is full and fluid levels have *not* been dropping.