So before I was having problems with my pressure plate and the car locking me out in higher rpms. Now it feels like my clutch is slipping at 3k. I was wondering if I brought the Clutch kit and flywheel to a shop what would be a fair price for labor?

I'm a beginner DIY guy but looking at some videos it seems like a pretty complicated job where you have to remove the frame. How difficult would it be for someone like me to do it myself?

 

I just finished my DIY clutch/FW/PP install last monday and it took me 4 solid days, and I'd say I'm an experienced DIY'er. At minimum you'd need; engine lift, floor jack, 6 jack-stands (4 for the car, 2 to sit the engine on if you don't have the Honda engine brace), air tools, assorted 3/8 and 1/2" drive sockets and wrenches, breaker bars, etc. Def not for the faint of hearted. Also plan on replacing the rear main seal, axle seals, intermediate shaft bearing and seal, maybe some ball-joints/tie-rods if they get messed up removing, etc.

If you were to supply the parts to a known trusted shop, I'd say between $700-1,200 for labor, which will obviously depend on location, if they run into any obstacles, other factors.

Is it a job that if you have buddies with the tools, garage, knowledge and know-how that could help you out over a long weekend if you supply the beer and food? Absolutely. Just another option.

 

For clutch, flywheel, and bearing, alldata calls 8.5h so depending on the shop expect anywhere in ~$800-1500 range for labor alone. Now if you want to add things that twokexlv6coupe mentioned it might be more, although it would be a good idea to do, especially rear main.

 

how difficult? depend on what you would consider as complex. It may take an experience mechanic about a day to do the job, it might take me a whole week do to lack of tools and experience.

If you are paying someone to do it it around $800 - $1200 depend on how much part you want to replace "while you are at it".

 

TLRoadto300K, Where are you located? If you're a newbie, I wouldn't attempt this. You need an experienced mechanic to do the job.
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If you're a beginner DIY guy, I would budget at least a week, if not two for the job, and that is working on it every day. Then there is the cost of the tools you'll need to buy and the transmission jack you'll need to rent. Long story short, your best option may well be to take your car to a shop and have them do the job.

 

Located in Chicago.

Yeah I've come to that conclusion.

 

Clutch kit flywheel and pilot bearing. Is there anything else I should have a shop do while they're at it? Would suck to have to pay a shop in the future to take it all apart again.

 

Rear main seal at the very minimum. If your engine and transmission mounts haven't been replaced, it is an odds on bet at least some of them are toast. Given the subframe is being dropped and the transmission is coming out, the job of replacing the mounts (there are six total, three engine, and three transmission) is much easier.

 

Only mount I know that has been replaced is the previous owner replaces the right(passenger) side engine mount. I'm on rockauto how would I figure out all the ones I need? For example front right right rear front center etc.

 

I spent more time on the RockAuto site looking at mounts than I care to admit. This was back in 2017, and in the end, the lack of a complete set from any one vendor warned me away from buying aftermarket mounts; I ponied up something like $600 and bought all six new OEM mounts.

 

Thinking about getting it from eBay. But not sure if I can trust this. Seems like a pretty good deal.
https://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eB...ersion=a037247

 

For aftermarket those look as acceptable as the next; how much are they asking for the set?

 

$150
https://www.ebay.com/itm/292372231720

 

How long you are looking into keep this vehicle? If I gonna keep more than 5 years I would do the following.

1. Rear main seal along with the small o-ring behind the plate (OEM part only).
2. 3 motor mounts and transmission mounts.
3. OEM throw out bearing and pilot bearing.
4. LCA bushing
5. Lower ball joints (if it still original)
6. new pair of OEM axles
7. Fresh front swaybar bushings
8. OEM swaybar end links
9. OEM upper control arm (if you still have the original)

That just me... I am one of those idiot who willing to shell out $3500 total on such an old car not too many people who willing to spend more than $350 on these car now days.

 

Lol ive only owned 2 cars an 03 camry and a 97 celica I bought to learn how to drive stick. I practically put no money into those for maintenance besides your basic brake job battery plugs and air filter. Car currently has 262k and I bought it 259k miles on it but I'm planning to keep it until it dies. I'll just do 1 2 and 3 for now.

I never planned on buying a car with this high mileage. I actually planned at not even showing up to see the car because of it's mileage but it was 5 minutes away from my house so I said what the heck. Previous owner had it for 8 years and drove it to downtown chicago 7 days a week. It shocked me how smooth it drove and it half the price of a lower mileage 6mt. I never dumped money into a car but the TL seems really nice to me so it seems worth it.


Previous owner did some suspension work both upper control arms and outer tie rods at 220k. Front sway bar bushings last year and front sway bar links at 250k. Also did timing belt and water pump at 210k. He took pretty good care of the car just sucks the Clutch had to go out on me. I also don't drive much like 6k miles a year I drive my company's vehicle more.

 

Back in 2019 I wanted to put OEM axles in my car and, at that time at least, they were not currently available. I took @DMZ's advice and went with a new set of APWI axles; they've been in for nearly two years now and I cannot recommend them strongly enough; a great price and nice and smooth.

 

^^^I would go that route, however mine was lowered on coil so to prevent any further vibration issue down the road.

 

The LUK clutch kit and LUK flywheel from rockauto. Get a genuine Honda bearing, then discard the one that came with the clutch kit.
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Bought a clutch masters FX250 clutch kit(sprung)
with an Aasco lightweight flywheel. Bought all the mounts. Going to buy OEM rear main seal throw out bearing and pilot bearing. Now time to just wait for parts.

 

Excellent choice! I went with the CM FX250 & FW combo too, just passed my 1,000 mile break-in today.
Honda themselves installed my previous OEM LUK 40K ago when it started slipping, obviously leaving a bad taste in my mouth so I opted against the stupid self-adjusting clutch and dual-mass flywheel for obvious reasons. Dear Honda: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The pedal feel of the ClutchMaster is a tad stiffer than stock, but in a good way, I think it's perfect for a daily driver. 👌

 

Awesome! Thank you I feel better about my purchase now and was wondering how it's going to feel for a DD.This is my first time ever getting a lightweight flywheel. I did some research on this forum and I know somebody on YouTube on their mods list had this setup. I've got some bolts on HFPC and j pipe+test pipe for now.

 

Might not be a bad idea to get the o-ring 91308-p3r-t01 while you're at it. I didn't realize it till after my clutch job unfortunately

 

I would like to see a video of this done in 8.5 hours.

 

Yes that O-ring is a must as it gets squished over time and can potentially leak if reused.

 

This. When I had my clutch done I asked the mechanic to replace the rear main, and replace this seal as well which involves resealing the entire rear crank cap. He only did the former and my car still has a slight weep from that area.

 

Got it. Got all the parts now. Clutch kit flywheel rear main seal pilot bearing and all the mounts. I also have a PS leak that my mechanic couldn't figure out where it was leaking. I remember there was PS fluid leaking on my cat though. The cars steering is completely fine though.


I'm nervous to even get a quote or look at the bill after all of this.Never spent anywhere near this kind of money on a car.

 

The cat that's on the J-pipe, right? Not one of the ones bolted to the cylinder head?
Luckily since you're dropping the sub-frame to do the clutch, the steering rack is getting dropped too so it'll be the perfect time to investigate where on the rack (most likely) the leak is coming from. Probably just some cheap boot.

 

Yes the Cat on the J pipe. I hope so.

 

Are you in the PNW? I’m about to do my Clutch/flywheel/rear main this month. Maybe we could side by side em? You could copy as I go and ‘DIY’?

 

I'm in Illinois.

 

I was quoted $2145 for labor for everything mounts included.

 

Not too horrible bad depending upon the shop, but maybe a bit high.

 

Try and Google for Acura / Honda specialty shops in your vicinity, they may have better pricing.

 

From my experience they know the cars/engine better so less chances of them ruining other parts of the car while performing work on your car.

 

lol, its definitely not an easy job. especially if you dont have the 4 point eng brace and attachment.
Just a bit on me, former ASE certified technician with a degree in automotive technology. I have to say Gen 2 Acura's were way easier to work on.

Did a new Flywheel. plressure plate and clutch on CLS Type S in maybe 6hrs. Tried the no subframe removal this weekend on TLS type S and was able to remove, and place new clutch with some wrestling. But having such a hard time finding enough room to get the trans back in line...
To add to it, I'm doing this myself on jack stands not a lift. so, yeah its a pain.

subframe is still in

underside with subframe in

 

^
Cool to see someone else try the 'Brotha' method.
@Acura TL Builder I think has done at least two, maybe three now?

 

Going to do my third soon. Glad to see you trying the maneuver!

There are a few ways to tackle it. On way to line it up is to put in the alignment tool(after already cropping it). Then use the flywheel turner tool as you tighten the pressure plate to the flywheel utilizing the starter hole.

Tighten the bolts on the pressure plate, then completely tape off the area of the alignment tool, and cut it into two pieces. Then Carefully remove the masking tape and coverings. This is only if you aren’t able to get the main shaft out of the way of the pressure plate hole(which requires getting the tranny in the correct position.

 

I got a good tip from some machine shop guys at my work about lining the trans back up to the engine (AFTER I finished my clutch job ); use a couple pieces of threaded rod (maybe 2 pieces, ~4" in length, obviously metric thread) threaded into the engine block. Essentially using them as alignment studs.

 

Thanks for the tips...
Sorry to thread jack. I just like sharing my experiences or lessons learned.