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Although I have learned to live with the high engagement point of the clutch, I was wondering if adjustment is possible to lower the engagement point? I talked to the mechanics at the dealership yesterday, and he said this clutch is "self-adjusting", so no fine tuning is available.
For those of you with the service manual, can you check what that means? Is there really no way to adjust the clutch?
You know, Im not sure these adjustments do anything about the clutch engagement, that I believe you are wanting to get changed. I had a '91 Integra GS and it had a place under the hood where you could adjust the clutch engagement as the clutch wore. These cars as the manual reads, have a self adjusting clutch, so you really cant change this any longer I dont think. I have a TL Navi A-Spec 6mt and it took a little while to learn the new engagement point which was the direct opposite of my '02 BMW M Coupe. DanF
will a clutch stop help any bit? coming from a bmw forum they really loved the clutch stop for the e36. i know it won't lower the point of engagement but you won't have to step down so much on the clutch so therefor the engagement point seems lower.
will a clutch stop help any bit? coming from a bmw forum they really loved the clutch stop for the e36. i know it won't lower the point of engagement but you won't have to step down so much on the clutch so therefor the engagement point seems lower.
It's funny you said that, that's exactly what I did tonight. I folded up bunch of paper and put it over the round rubber piece (on the diagram, it's the little round piece between the clutch pedal and floor). According to the book (and my measurement on my car as well), the disengagement/engagement point is about 1.7 in from the pedal-to-the-floor position. With this "clutch stop", I probably decreased that by 3/4 inch.
I drove the car around after dinner and it felt far more familiar this way.
One minor problem, the car didn't want to start originally. It expects the clutch to be at a certain "depressed" position. After I pushed down hard on the pedal, the car started. If I were to keep this clutch stop, that's one adjustment the acura tech needs to make for me.
I too came from the Roadfly BMW website specifically the Z3 M coupe threads, and all of the people there have also at various times tried all kinds of clutch stops, and eventually took them out, cause they will interfere eventually with clutch engagement, and as you mention, the problem with starting the vehicle with the clutch fully engaged to the floor. I never tried a clutch stop myself, just worked with my M Coupe and eventually got used to the clutch engagement, and right before I sold it, I was good enough to just engage the clutch enough to be able to hear and feel it, and then fully engage it with just enough gas pedal so that it was really smooth. I hope to be able to get that with my new TL and am getting much much better at it, just takes concentration and it seems to be easier to do if I can hear the engine, so that means turning down the awesome sound system momentarily Good luck ! DanF
Anyone can share a positive experience of clutch adjustment? Form the manual it looks like adjusting "E" will lower the engagement point and adjusting "B" will lower the released postion of the pedal.
By threading out or in the rod which protrudes through the firewall, you will affect the engagement point (at least every other hydraulically operated clutch I've adjusted worked this way).
I dont think I would adjust it other than how its supposed to be set, as
the piston in the master cylinder must move out enough to open the port
that lets new fluid in whan the clutch pedal is out all the way.
You could give it more slop between the pedal and the push rod, but that
would just lower the engagement point....
my 00 Civic Si, has these same adjustments. what you are doing by moving the pedal is actually pushing the clutch in by moving it.
my civic had to be adjusted when i put in an aftermarket clutch since it thicker than stock, normal point and the clutch was actually being pressed down by itself.
you don't have to listen to me, but i've been through this before. you just need to get used to how the acura/honda clutch is
What jtruman is experiencing is just the opposite of what most on this website (and all of the manual TL's I've driven). That is, he states his point of engagement is high. With a short travel, short take-up pedal, this is not good. It will prematurely wear the release bearing and possibly the clutch assembly itself.
Mine starts its engagement approximately 1.5 inches from full depression (touching the "stop" pad on the firewall). At first, I was of a mind to do the adjustment (I did this on my 2002 Altima SE for the same reason), but the TL is harder to get to and so I just thought I'd see if I could get accustomed to it... I did.
Usually with hydraulically operated clutches, if you turn the rod in, you will lower the engagement point and turning it out will raise this point.
hey everyone i've personally done this adjustment to many different manual cars and it works magically... You can now drive your car alot smoother after this if you dont like the high engagement points! its very easy to do .... Just get your butts underneath there and adjust it not very hard at all, I usually do this with an adjustable wrench.
hey everyone i've personally done this adjustment to many different manual cars and it works magically... You can now drive your car alot smoother after this if you dont like the high engagement points! its very easy to do .... Just get your butts underneath there and adjust it not very hard at all, I usually do this with an adjustable wrench.
I mentioned that I did check out my TL the first day or two I had it to see how much of a pain it is to make this adjustment. I did this on my last car, a 2002 Altima SE because of the low initial engagement point, but on the TL, it's a pain in the butt... not as simple as it may appear. So I left mine alone and it and me have come to live with each other very nicely.
I noticed my clutch grabbing very low today...(low being almost to the floor to get in gear). Fluid was low on it...filled it back up...pumped clutch a few times and got it back to normal. I wonder if it just got worse over the years. I am a new owner on this 5 year old car. Has 35K on the odo...was it just time to add fluid?
update: My issue ended up being a leaking o ring on the end of the slave cylinder. let me know if you have this problem and I'll give you pointers...
get under car...on front of tranny you'll see a bleed nipple...that's the slave cylinder...pull back the rubber boot...if it has brake fluid, then it's leaking and should be replaced. Easy to do. Bleeding is not fun but I have a method that worked for me.
If you look in the car on the firewall where the clutch goes in...you can check if you see leaking there in case it's the master cylinder.
I took my TLS 08 to acura b/c my car seemed to shift into gear different for some reason. Maybe now its paid off so I want it to last or just did not pay attention with my music up. Any way acura columbus said they would do this for about 30$ for those of you that dont want to get under there. Getting mine done today...hope its more smooth.
Bringing this thread back, damn! Hopefully someone sees it and this is all worth it.
I'm attaching a new scan of the clutch adjustment procedure from the manual since the previous image links are dead.
I have an '04 TL Sport 6MT with 185k miles on the clock. Trying to keep the thing alive and make it more enjoyable to drive because it is a nice car.
So the reason I've looked into this clutch pedal adjustment is because I recently installed a clutch master cylinder from an 01-05 Civic. Reason being is that clutch master cylinder does not have the triangular delay valve like the stock TL one. I also did the slave cylinder delay valve delete. Overall the clutch engagement is exponentially better. It feels like a regular manual transmission now; not the vague, lazy feeling of the stock TL clutch release system. I guess it's good for old grandmas and grandpas who drive really slow and may not have the proper clutch technique, but for a normal driver who is used to driving with a clutch, the delay valves feel terrible. After installing the master cylinder though, I had some weird clutch pedal issues, mainly that I felt vibration through the clutch pedal anytime I used it and the engine was at decent RPM. The vibration was worse the higher the RPMs. This could be because of a worn out clutch/pressure plate or bearings, or maybe the delay valve in the stock master cylinder just helped mute out these vibrations. Either way I thought it was worth while to try adjusting the clutch pedal.
Here's my main issue - I can't get the clutch pedal height (F in the diagram below) anywhere close to the spec the manual lists. It shows the height should be 191 mm (19.1 cm or 7.52 in.). I adjusted my clutch pedal out to its maximum height, that is until it touched the clutch pedal bracket where the pedal position switch sits. I did have the switch backed off so it was not preventing the pedal from going any higher. As you can see in my pictures, the height is far from the height listed in the manual. My pedal only goes to a height of 165 mm (16.5 cm or ~6 1/2 in.). We're measuring to the top of the pedal here, because that's what it looks like the manual shows. That's obviously about 25 mm or 1 in. shy of the height the manual shows. Literally the pedal cannot go any high, it is stopped by the pedal bracket itself. My bracket is in fine shape, not bent or twisted in any way. So this makes me wonder if the other measurements in the diagram are worth following as well. They could all be wrong in this instance since this height measurement is not even attainable.
The clutch engagement point is way too high for my liking now, so I will be adjusting the pedal down again. I suppose I will just do trial and error until I like the feel of the pedal and the engagement point because I really have no actual measurements to try and match since the measurements in the manual can't be trusted. I suppose the clutch disengagement/engagement point and pedal free play measurements could still be correct, so I'll try to match those. Alnother thing to point out, pay attention to step 5 in the manual. Once you turn the pedal position switch until it FIRST CONTACTS the pedal, you are then supposed to turn it another 3/4 to full turn before tightening the lock nut.
I'm trying to adjust the clutch pedal on my 2003 CLS6 and need some insight from other manual trans owners.
In adjusting the clutch master cylinder pushrod (in/out) to get the recommended 6" pedal height, there are two nuts on the shaft that are jammed for locking.
I can only get a wrench on the outer nut and thus can't unlock them. What procedure is needed to access and loosen the nuts? (Turning one just turned both).
What is the small gold-ish cylinder between the pushrod and the clevis? I'm concerned that if I turn the pushrod with the nuts jammed tight, which can be done, something inside this cylinder will be damaged.
Last edited by smcafee; 04-15-2019 at 05:59 PM.
Reason: wrong forum
Bringing this thread back, damn! Hopefully someone sees it and this is all worth it.
I'm attaching a new scan of the clutch adjustment procedure from the manual since the previous image links are dead.
I have an '04 TL Sport 6MT with 185k miles on the clock. Trying to keep the thing alive and make it more enjoyable to drive because it is a nice car.
So the reason I've looked into this clutch pedal adjustment is because I recently installed a clutch master cylinder from an 01-05 Civic. Reason being is that clutch master cylinder does not have the triangular delay valve like the stock TL one. I also did the slave cylinder delay valve delete. Overall the clutch engagement is exponentially better. It feels like a regular manual transmission now; not the vague, lazy feeling of the stock TL clutch release system. I guess it's good for old grandmas and grandpas who drive really slow and may not have the proper clutch technique, but for a normal driver who is used to driving with a clutch, the delay valves feel terrible. After installing the master cylinder though, I had some weird clutch pedal issues, mainly that I felt vibration through the clutch pedal anytime I used it and the engine was at decent RPM. The vibration was worse the higher the RPMs. This could be because of a worn out clutch/pressure plate or bearings, or maybe the delay valve in the stock master cylinder just helped mute out these vibrations. Either way I thought it was worth while to try adjusting the clutch pedal.
Here's my main issue - I can't get the clutch pedal height (F in the diagram below) anywhere close to the spec the manual lists. It shows the height should be 191 mm (19.1 cm or 7.52 in.). I adjusted my clutch pedal out to its maximum height, that is until it touched the clutch pedal bracket where the pedal position switch sits. I did have the switch backed off so it was not preventing the pedal from going any higher. As you can see in my pictures, the height is far from the height listed in the manual. My pedal only goes to a height of 165 mm (16.5 cm or ~6 1/2 in.). We're measuring to the top of the pedal here, because that's what it looks like the manual shows. That's obviously about 25 mm or 1 in. shy of the height the manual shows. Literally the pedal cannot go any high, it is stopped by the pedal bracket itself. My bracket is in fine shape, not bent or twisted in any way. So this makes me wonder if the other measurements in the diagram are worth following as well. They could all be wrong in this instance since this height measurement is not even attainable.
The clutch engagement point is way too high for my liking now, so I will be adjusting the pedal down again. I suppose I will just do trial and error until I like the feel of the pedal and the engagement point because I really have no actual measurements to try and match since the measurements in the manual can't be trusted. I suppose the clutch disengagement/engagement point and pedal free play measurements could still be correct, so I'll try to match those. Alnother thing to point out, pay attention to step 5 in the manual. Once you turn the pedal position switch until it FIRST CONTACTS the pedal, you are then supposed to turn it another 3/4 to full turn before tightening the lock nut.
I just had the entire clutch hydraulics replaced & my pedal is at the same height. Seems like the garage adjusted my engagement so it's higher as well. What's been the outcome of your clutch? Thanks.
Since this post, I did away with the Civic clutch master cylinder (that doesn't have the delay valve) and replaced it with a brand new Exedy OEM master cylinder with the delay valve. Paired with the slave cylinder that I took the delay valve out of, it feels great. I too replaced the entire line between master and slave with brand new OEM parts. The old line looked really bad so for around $30 for the two hard lines, rubber line, and clips and insulators, I figured it was worth it. My pedal height is still the same as in the pictures above. It feels great, but yeah cannot get it to match specs found in the service manual. I say oh well. Not sure what the inconsistency is, but I feel like my clutch is engaging and disengaging properly, so I'm good with it.
09-09-2004, 09:26 AM
Good luck ! DanF
