I have an 05 TL 6MT. It has just a tick over 41k miles, and has had the nagging 3rd gear stick. I took it in around 36-37 k and had them look at it. They had my car for one week, and ONLY replaced the gear oil. I complained of an erratic clutch, and the tech told the service writer that the flywheel had stress cracks in it, and its my abuse that caused the problem. I have a 6puck unsprung hub clutch with a 9lb flywheel in my other car, with 40k or so miles, and NO problems at all. I didnt understand this at all, as i never abuse the TL. Rarely does it rev past 2500, and if it does, i doubt its really been past 5k more than a hndful of times.

FF to this week - I took the car BACK in for the third gear, AGAIN. No clutch slip yet, due to wear/abuse, but the pedal is still very erratic. Lets out at random points, basically, engages and disengages at different points all the time. I never ride the pedal, nor do i dump/slip it to death. I am very nice to the car, and i would call my driving quite "normal" literally. Now they are replacing the ENTIRE transmission, but want me to pay 987 for a clutch flywheel install combo. I called IM'ed hondaacuraworld.com and Tim i believe was more than nice enough to make a few reccomendations. He offered me a price of 770 for the same parts, and said a clutch install kit was only 289. They offered to replace the clutch without "charge" as the transmission would already be out. I still say the pressure plate should be replaced, as well as all other mechanics. I am more than willing to cover wear items, even clutches/brakes, however, im not so down with this, esp. not at only 40k miles. I would even pay for a new disc, because thats the part I wear out, not a pressure plate in 40k miles.

Anyhow, any assistance, ideas, or ways to assist me in getting just treatment from this dealer? I would appreciate any and all input!

thanks in advance everyone!

take care
Mark

 

I had similar problems. My clutch failed at 18k miles by not releasing (pedal down, not able to get into gear). They wanted to charge me the ~$900, but covered it under warranty after I very nicely asked a lot of questions they couldn't answer.
I think the problem is related to the self-adjusting pressure plate. It keeps adjusting the pressure plate closer and closer to the flywheel, and the clutch always drags when you have the pedal down, and heats up.
See if they can check to see how far the pressure plate has auto-adjusted, and if that is consistent with the thickness of the clutch friction disc.
Now that all of those parts have been replaced, it feels a lot more like a normal clutch, albeit still with a low pedal. The 3rd gear issue is gone too.

Here's the thread:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=clutch
Good Luck.

 

thanks for the link and advice

ill def. check into that

 

I think the pressure plate should be replaced; I think that's what is causing the weird pedal. Educate them about the self-adjusting pressure plate, it's something new that most techs and eve service managers are not aware of, and see if you can get them to cover it all. The pedal shouldn't act weird, even if you did abuse the clutch.
I'll email the service manager at the dealer that replaced mine and see if he has any news, he was going to follow up with the Acura Corporate guys.
I'll let you know what he says.

 

Here's the response I got from the Service Director (Manager?):

Mike,

I did speak to some Acura people re: clutch on TL's. The response from all was that the fly wheel and the pressure plate and the disc work as a unit. When the disc is wearing, pressure plate is taking up the slack. Most of the people said that the way the old one looked - it was caused by to much heat???
Some said that it was possible for the plate to be bad -- why??? - no one had any answers.
All have agreed that if after clutch was replaced and it works properly and it feels much better then when it was new - I have made correct call. The new clutch should be as good if not better then new one was.

Thanks
John

 

Hmm, ill have to take this into my service advisor when i get a chance.

 

You can still adjust your engagement point by turning the push-rod that connects the pedal to the master cylinder. Same as any standard hydraulic clutch system. I guess the idea of the self-adjusting pressure plate is too help maintain the same engagement point throughout the entire service life of the clutch. Seems stupid to me, but you know how they like to fix things that aren't broken...

You can also adjust pedal height by altering the depth of the pedal-out switch (screw it in or out)...

 

On my car, the pedal is too close to the floor when the clutch starts to grab for my taste. That's different than a pedal height adjustment, it's an issue with the pressure plate and clutch master/slave piston diameter design.
I think the pushrod is only used to adjust the freeplay at the top of the travel. That would work if the freeplay was large, but it's pretty small.
I think the switch is used only to adjust how high the pedal is with your foot off of it, i'd still have to push it the same distance to disengage the clutch.

Thinking about it now, I might bleed the clutch; maybe there's still a little air in it from when they replaced the clutch. That might help.

 

To fix the clutch pedal the way you want it
- unplug the clutch-out switch
- loosen the clutch-out switch jam-nut
- back the clutch-out switch almost all the way out
- loosen the push-rods jam-nut and turn the pushrod counter clockwise two or three rotations
- tighten the push-rods jam-nut
- push down on the pedal with your hand to take up all the free play
- turn the clutch-out switch until it bottoms out on the clutch pedal's rubber stop
- back the clutch-out switch a half turn and tighten it's jam-nut
- plug the clutch-out switch back in and test drive the car.
- repeat all steps if clutch still isnt' satisfactory

I do this to all my cars so they all drive the same...

 

Thanks.
So that will adjust how far the pedal is from the floor when it engages?
But it changes how high the pedal is with your foot off it?
I'd like the clutch pedal to travel a smaller distance before the clutch disengages, I'm not too worried about how far it is from the floor per se.

 

Honestly I've never noticed a difference in pedal height as far as "feeling it with my foot." Usually you can get the pedal height pretty much exactly the same by simply reducing the amount of free-pay. As long as you have just a tiny amount of free play, you don't have to worry about messing anything up in clutch system...

For that to happen, you would need a larger diameter clutch master cylinder. Unfortunately nobody makes them for the newer hondas. In fact the only one I've ever seen was the piece that Omni offers for the 92-00 Civics /94-01 Integra. I would say to at least try the adjustment I mentioned just for the sake of making the engagement point a little more normal. If you don't like it, you can always set it back how it was...

BTW: I took a look at my 05's clutch pedal. I found that in order to access the mechanics of the pedal, you have to remove the lowest piece of dash cover. I imagine that panel comes off very easily as it's usually where the under-dash fuesbox is located. I didn't try to pop it off, so I'm not 100% on this. I can say that the push-rod is adjustable as it's identical to my 03 Element...

 

It shouldnt be this erratic regardless of the size of the master.

Im not sure i follow here.

 

All my posts are in regards to altering where a "normal" clutch grabs.

The master cylinder size comment is directed at "sandymike's" issue of wanting a shorter overall pedal stroke. It really doesn't have ANYTHING to do with your erratic shifting problem. His erratic shifting problem is already fixed. He just wants a shorter pedal stroke, and this isn't possible with the stock master cylinder...

Sorry if we went off on a tangent as I guess we've gotten off your original problem...

 

ok, i thought something was off. Its all good however, any info pertaining to the issue is a good idea. Its not a problem in the least.

 

A reminder that sitting in traffic or at lights with foot on clutch puts extreme wear on the components!
Nuetral and foot on brakes is the way to go
Also use the brakes for normal slowing- not the trans as a brake system