I need your help!

My 05 TL 6MT has been my pride and joy for the last 3 years. It currently sits with about 162k miles and to my knowledge, just had its first Clutch Replacement. What led to the replacement was terrible slipping while accelerating and after the new clutch she drove better than she ever has. It actually surprised me how quick it grabbed the gears I had to retrain myself how to shift.

That all lasted about a week. Late Saturday night while out driving for Uber (I get a lot of compliments for having a TL, and even MORE for having one with a manual) all of a sudden the gears became hard to shift. It got so bad that the only way to get going from a dead stop was to turn the car off put it in gear and then restart. While in gear it was fine, but in slower speeds and lower gears it was very hard to shift. I went about 24 hours without driving at all.

My friend who did the repair, hes a 15 yr ASE certified mechanic (so no I didn't go to a dealer....just don't have that kinda cash these days) took a look at it, did a bleed of the system to ensure there was no air and still had issues.

The next morning I go out to my car, because I had to take it to work, I had no other option everything shifted just fine. This was a huge surprise. I was at work all night, the next morning when I got in my car same thing. Everything drove fine. It EVEN drove fine this morning on my way to work. Fast forward 4 hours. I go to move my car from one parking spot to another and the shifting issue has returned. Im floored, im not sure where it came from, where it went, and why it came back, but this is troubling.

I will try to sum up what I know and what I think and if someone could atleast point me down the right road, it may go along way in helping. Ive read other posts, and you guys all seem pretty smart!
--Brand new Clutch Kit installed 10 days ago. New clutch, new pressure plate (I think) throw-out bearing and another bearing. Im sure, used a LUK clutch kit. For the first 7 days drove beautifully. Also the kit had the adjustment tool so I wasn't worried about that.
--When the shifting issue began I had been driving about 12 hours, not hard, but fairly on and off (more on then off).
--System was bled, no issues noted.
--Its been cold every day for the last 4 days, so Im not sure if temperature has anything to do with it, but I doubt it.
--Considered a bad throw-out bearing, but trying to avoid removing the transmission again if we can, because that's just a pain if its unnecessary. Thought because of the shifting issues this might be the case.
--Considered master cylinder and slave cylinder, this would be one of the easier fixes, while it looks like I can get both parts for about 250 or less (haven't looked a lot) I really don't have the spare cash if I don't need to spend it.
--Another guy suggested I check out the "quadrant lever?" He said as the clutch wears this adjusts, but when you replace the clutch it doesn't readjust?
--That last one goes along with the fact that not only does the clutch seem soft, like I feel like it goes to the floor easily, but when I let up on the clutch, instead of it following my foot up, it sticks half way and then pops up.
--Clutch fluid is full, no leaks, no air

Alright, as you can probably tell im no car pro, I like to do my own work, but have to watch a lot of videos to figure out new tasks. Anyone who can point me in the right direction would mean the world to me. Thanks for all you do!

 

Personally, I would start with the clutch master cylinder.

The clutch hydraulic system is pretty basic. Two cylinders, some lines in between, and that's it. If your system was leaking you wouldn't be able to drive the car at all. You would for a bit until air got introduced into the system and then that's it. No disengaging the clutch until the leak is repaired and air is bled.

That being said, a master honda technician told me if there's an issue with the slave cylinder, the only thing it will do is leak. The fluid has no where else to go. No leak, no problem.

That leaves the master cylinder. It has gaskets inside that eventually fail, allowing fluid to internally bypass the cylinder and giving you weird pedal feel and shifting issues.

If your master cylinder has never been replaced, it's not a bad idea to do so. It is a bit of a bitch to do though as it is in a ridiculous spot in the engine bay. There are write ups on AZ on how to do it though.

Finally, I'm wondering if it was a bleeding issue. Did your mechanic use a wood or metal rod to restrain the CSC? If not, you might have a small amount of air in the line still, causing issues. What you want to do is (i used a broom stick I cut down to 22.5" I think. You might need to do some trial and error): turn your wheels all the way to the left, put the stick in through the wheel well into the engine bay and against the CSC. Then turn the wheels to the right, against the stick. Make sure the end of stick is sitting against your wheel and not your tire. The steering wheel must lock in place also, when you pull the keys out of the ignition.

Now bleed the system again. It even says to do this methodology in the acura TL service manual. Air gets trapped in the CSC and can cause you grief. By pushing the CSC cylinder in, air can't get trapped in it.

 

The INITIAL engagement point of the clutch needs to be adjusted once. Then it will self-adjust to that initial setting for the life of the clutch (theoretically).

I think you may have an issue with a bad master or slave cylinder or air in your fluid despite the bleeding (best case scenario). This is *most* likely the issue.

While the issue is occuring, you should have someone watch the slave cylinder plunger. Is it pushing the clutch fork enough? If it is NOT pushing adequately...then you have a slave/master cyl or other hydraulic issue. Or an initial adjustment issue.

If the plunger works as it should...you're a bit boned.

Worst case scenario is a broken or loose clutch leaf or hub spring. That would require a re-removal of the trans.

 

During "normal" driving, does the clutch grab when the pedal is just barely lifted from the floor pan?

 

No. I know what's going on here. It shouldn't be like that at all.

 

I put a new CMC in a few weeks ago and mine did that. That is not correct and means the clutch is not fully disengaging. Don't drive the car. You might be wearing the clutch out unnecessarily.

It happened to me when I put a new CMC in. It was fucked when I bought it (shitty aftermarket part). I bled the system 3 times and still the same. I put the old CMC back in (because it still mostly worked) and the problem went away. Voila. Bad CMC.

I ended up buying an oem one and had no issues with it. Works like it should.

In your case, it's either air in your line or your CMC is done. I'm quite sure of it. I got to know my hydraulic system REALLY well over the last several weeks.

 

Are you sure you thoroughly checked the clutch master?
It can leak back into itself internally. You can diagnose that with pushing it in and being able to shift gear but pulling the shifter back all the while you're still holding the clutch pedal down, you attempt to keep putting it back to gear to see if you're losing pressure. Considering you did a clutch job, you should have replaced the cmc as well (and maybe slave but slaves tend to leak externally and seen visibly). Gears not enganging is not really an issue with the clutch job unless he screwed up something major, it's very simple once the transmission is off. If your hydraulics are fine, check the clutch pedal bracket. Mine recently broke and was moving a few mm when trying to push the clutch and I would feel a restriction (lack of leverage from broken bracket) as well. Took out the bracket, welded it (part is back ordered) and good as new.