jproy

I am currently on a road trip back to Louisiana from Chatt, TN. I was there for a wedding over the weekend. I drove up Signal Mountain this morning and smelled burning oil. I thought it was the car in front of me burning oil because it was a beater. I left Chatt. and headed to Birmingham stopped an hour and a half later for gas and smelled the same odor. I took one look at the hood and could see faint smoke trails coming from the hood gaps. I popped the hood and saw smoke coming from the back of the header. I was close to Birmingham, the gauges looked fine and I had already driven 1.5 hr. on it so I drove it to my buddies house in Birmingham. Upon further inspection, I found it was fluid burning on the cat, trans fluid. After inspecting the trans without a lift or jack, it seems there is trans fluid leaking from every bolt and part on it. The trans is dripping from the front or forward most part of the trans casing where the line from the clutch damper goes into the trans on the forward most part of the trans housing. In the last few minutes of driving the car in Birmingham, the clutch began to slip badly. I have no idea what happened! I don’t think the clutch is done because of how quickly it failed. It drove great after getting off the highway and within three stop and go's, it wouldn’t engage tight. Then if I floored it I could easily spin the clutch lose. I have a great mechanic here, Jim at Motorvations Motorsports in Trussville a few miles north and I am going to take it to him in the morning and see what he says. So I am stuck in Birmingham for the moment. I guess I am lucky it happened here. I went to college in Birmingham. I am with friends now. Any thoughts fellas? Jim

o1s

front tranny seal perhaps?

Allout

I've got a bad front seal on my gearbox that's leaking now. The had to use dye and a black light to isolate it to the gearbox. I haven't had mine swapped out yet. I'm hoping that the Competition Clutch pressure plate comes around soon and I'll do that at the same time.

I hope they find your problem and take care of you.

YeuEmMaiMai

did the case crack? I really cannot understand how a trans would leak from every bolt.......

jproy

I took the car to the Acura dealer first on the advice of my mechanic because he is backed up for a week. Anyway, the dealer called me at 3pm to tell me that the clutch master cylinder and clutch slave cylinder and a boot on the connection some where between there are done. 180 in parts and 4 hours in labor.

GreenMonster

Sucks... Jim, you must be out of warranty, eh ??

jproy

Of course I am out of warranty. I bet I will get out of there for just under 400. I will follow up.

PacoCLType-S

Hey, better that than a blown tranny, that'd run ya a bit over $400. I just don't get how you'd blow both the master and the slave at the same time. Usually one or the other goes, whichever is the weak link in the system. I'd question them about replacing both.

jproy

I am thrilled I only have to pay $400. I was sure I had completely burned it up. I think that tranny is 4500 new. Ouch! I also wanted to know why both cylinders so I asked and they told me the other is damaged when one gets damaged. I called my mechanic and he verified that it is best to replace both of them. Otherwise, your likely to have to replace the other a in a week or so. my car has 82000 miles and I am the original owner.

Allout

The part that had me concerned is that you mentioned that during the last portion of the drive, the clutch started to slip. Typically loosing the clutch master and slave would keep the clutch engaged. Is it possible that clutch fluid got onto the clutch?

jproy

I have been wondering about one of the fluids being on the clutch. I intend to ask about that. what would happen to a clutch with a little oil on it? the guy at the dealer told me they had it on the lift and pressed the clutch and fluid was squirting out the front of the clutch slave cylinder from some part of it with a torn rubber boot. It sounds right to me from looking at the car. I will be wondering about that though till I drive it again. I really hope nothing else caused this to happen.

Allout

The clutch material is similar to brake lining. Clutch and brake fluid are also the same. The clutch or brakes won't grip as well once contaminated with brake fluid or oil. If the friction disk got contaminated, you may be looking at a clutch job also.

jproy

you dont think it would dry out after a few heat cycles

Allout

I don't know about brake fluid. Not sure if it would burn off and not cause any long term ill effects.

I know if it's oil contaminated, the friction disk should be replaced.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Do they need to tear it apart? if so I'd replace the clutch. I'd actually replace the clutch anyway. I've had too many sticks when a master or slave went & the clutch gave out a short time later resulating in me paying double $$.

jproy

i dont think they are opening it up. i will talk to the mrchanic today and get back.

Allout

For $400, they definitely are not opening it up. Labor to do so is around $800. There is an inspection plate at the bottom of the bell housing. That may give you some additional info looking inside.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that all is good with your clutch

jproy

jproy

It was not the clutch slave or master cylinder . We pulled off the inspection plate for the clutch. Inside of the cover plate was covered in black oil with metal shavings. It was sparkling . so either the rear main on the motor is done or main input shaft seal on trans is done. fluid is still leaking from everywhere on the trans. I can hear a slight whirring sound during the test drive today. Acura is now going to pull the trans tom. to see how bad the damage is. either way I will have to get a new clutch and whatever else is broken. I guess I am looking at a $2000 bill. I have no warranty.

OscarCL3.2

Who's doing your service, King Acura in Birmingham? If so, they are good people, they'll take care of u.

PacoCLType-S

Man, that bites, sorry to hear that. I know the automatics like to , is this a common problem with the manual trannys too???

jproy

I dont think it is a common problem. there have been many here on the site who have abused there man trans. much worse than I. Honestly, I dont feel I have ever abused mine. I do drive fast sometimes but correctly and gently if you get what I am saying. It is at King and I am confident it will be taken care of. I got to talk with everyone who will be working on the car. We all went under the lift and pulled the inspection plate. We couldnt see the clutch material side of the clutch. I think you need a mirror to see it. We talked about the syncros and all the seals. He is going to check everything since he has to open the trans. We are probably going to repace the rear main seal for good measure. I think they will have it torn apart by Friday so I will update then.

Allout

That sucks Jim. If it's your main seal on the motor, your motor oil should be low too. I've had one main seal replaced and now I need the input seal on the gearbox replaced. From what I understand, it's part of the clutch replacement procedure to also replace the main seal on the motor at the same time. Are you considering upgrading the flywheel or friction disk at the same time?

You should call Competition Clutch and see what they have for you. I know the pressure plate isn't done yet but maybe they have the flywheel or friction disk available. Comptech is the only other flywheel that I know of.

Good Luck. Hope they take good care of you.

YeuEmMaiMai

how many miles on your car? If you are 100K or under I would see about some goodwill assistance......

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Well I will say your driving it while it was leaking was not smart & may have caused even more damage.
It sucks I know. I have had my share of tranny problems in many other cars & been stranded 100's of miles from home several times.

I will also say this is NOT a common 6mt problem, & in no way is a indication of the reliabilty of the 6mt tranny.

jproy

driving while leaking was not smart, yes. I do not think I caused any additional damage driving the extra 15 minutes. I dont know. It is the Input seal on the gearbox that is the main prob. I dont feel so bad changing the clutch, rear main seal, input seal and whatever else because of my higher milage. I am at 82000 miles. Apparently this has been going on for at least 3000 miles. I saw a few drips last time I had the car on a lift but I thought it was nothing to worry about. I dont know why or how this happend. I do not abuse my car and only use synthetics, Redline for the man tran, Mobile 1 for the motor. changed regularly.

jproy

Finally I am HOME. I had to miss the meet I set up in Austin. I also missed the Rolling Stones concert in Austin. I got the car back on Thursday morning. $3200!!! I took two weeks to fix. As I was walking out of the service area the guy told me I should never have to work on it again. LOL. The rear main seal, clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, input shaft seal, (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th gears), front engine mount, clutch master cylinder, clutch slave cylinder, were all replaced. I had some grinding issues when cold in 2nd so I paid the extra 700 for the new gear sets. I didn’t have to pay for the labor on the clutch slave and master cylinder because we found the originals were never broken.

Well the car drives great now. Gear engagement is slick and precise. I think it is smoother than it was when it was new, seriously. I kept my old syncros and gears if anyone is interested in pics. King Acura in Birmingham gave me a loaner for a week for free even though the car was out of warranty. They gave me a $5 break on the labor rate also but at $85/hr. that doesn’t account for much. I guess every bit counts. I can honestly say that I was extremely pleased with the service I received at King Acura and I highly recommend them. I got to go in the shop last Sat. with the mechanic and look at and play with everything torn down. We went over everything for at least 45min. It was very interesting. My flywheel and pressure plate were covered in hot spots(discoloration from excessive heat). My clutch may have been going and in the process over heated everything burning up the rear main and the input seal. I don’t know exactly. The mechanic couldn’t put his finger on it either. I also talked with the mechanic at length about the clutch damper some people on the board are removing and he said that he felt it would probably help out to remove it and that there were zero ill effects as a result. On that note I am having my H&R springs and Tokico Illumina adjustable shocks installed Mon. or Tues. and I am going to have my clutch damper removed at the same time. I wish I could have got the new Competion Clutch Kit but I kind of had my back against the wall on this one. I plan on keeping her for a while longer if you can’t tell. Jim

artbran

iTrader: (2)

sorry for the trouble, but i have a question. Do you or anyone here know how much it costs total to get the clutch replaced on the CL? An average price would be great.

jproy

when replacing the clutch you also have to repace the pressure plate and flywheel unless yours are in perfect shape. rare. average cost on a cls6mt is 800-1100. make sure you have the rear main seal replaced as well while they are in there. its a nine dollar part.

Allout

I'm starting to think that the hot spots on the flywheel are more the norm. Quite a few guys have found hot spots on the flywheel.

Glad they got it all put back together for you. What type of fluid did you go with for your gearbox? I thought I saw that Honda came out with a revised formula for us.

jproy

I heard they came out with a new formula but I cant find it at any of the dealers. They(the mechanics) dont even know about it or if it really even exists. I dont know if it is true or not. I was using Redline full synthetic MTF with good result. I obviously didnt have the Redline with me in B'ham so it has whatever they put in it at the dealer. I will flush is and put the redline back in soon.

AcuracltypeS03

If the dealer did the all that work for 2000 you can concider yourself lucky my man, very expensive dealers are and you're a OK believe me..

jproy

here is a thread about the new MTF formula.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...2&page=1&pp=25

go to the link at the first post and look at the last page.

Allout

Thanks Jim. Exactly what I was looking for.

cl8trr

dibs on gears and syncs..... let me know how much shipped to 90660bro.

jproy

i am curious why you want to buy my old gears and syncs

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Hope it came with some lube

AcuracltypeS03

Mines is running strong on 66k miles

Its 6 spds