For the love of ***... not again, (Clutch) Please help.
If anyone knows any reason why our clutch would fail besides wear please let me know. (I have an SH) This is the second time my clutch has gone out and my car has 22000 miles on it. It is extremely fishy to me for many reasons:
More importantly: If anyone has had good expirences with the any of the dealers in San jose please let me know.
1. I am almost 21 years old now and my first car when i was 16 was my dad's old 93 hatchback si. I started driving it, and i drove it hard from 70k Miles to 120K when I sold it all on the first oem clutch the car came with from the factory.
2.When i got my car a 2001 SH, it was purchased as a rollover, I was lied to at the dealership, they said they didnt know all of the details about the situation, but later they gave me all of the work orders. Basically after 500 miles there was a loose flywheel bolt from the factory something else went wrong and the motor blew, so they at the GM/honda (mainly GM) dealership replaced the shortblock, clutch, flywheel, and pressure plate. This is when i bought the car with a supposed extended 7 year 100,000 warranty, which i never have recieved doccumentation.
3. My car makes a noise every 2-5 minutes for three seconds WHEN IT IS OFF. The noise sounds like the abs pump when you first turn on your car. BUT IT IS NOT THE ABS PUMP. I had this checked out at the dealership and they said that it is normal and nothing to worry about.
4. Furthurmore as proof that the dealership f**** the installation when the odometer read 2000 miles my shift cable broke, luckily they fixed it for free.
5. The first time my clutch went out i knew something was wrong for a while. If i would cost with the car in gear but the clutch petal to the floor trying to diengage the clutch my car would make a rattleing scraping noise that came from the tranny/clutch. It did this at least since i noticed it at about 4000 miles. The clutch went out at 12000 miles. (4000 of which was long trips between santa cruz and san diego) I asked for the stock clutch back and i still have it, 2 springs (EDIT: thanks 71dsp) were blown, and they said the clutch was worn down to the rivits. Now, I gave them the benefit of the dobt and thought okay maybe this was my fault, 1300$ later and after inspecting the clutch, there was wierd scrapes on it, the clutch appeared as if someone had put it in a blender or if there was like a foreign object scraping around with the clutch. I measured both the clutch disc thickness, and the rivet depth and they were both within the Standard or new specifications dont remember exact numbers but it was around >8.3mm and >1.2mm i will get the exact numbers when i get home. ANyway I have no explanation for why the springs (EDIT) were blown other than it was my fault, but why would they lie to me about my clutch being worn down to the rivets.
6.Okay so it went out again. 10000 miles later this time... my car still makes that funny noise... but think about the moral hazard for a second here. I clearly did not enjoy my clutch going out the first time, all of the time my car was in the shop, distress, and 1300$. SO why would i want that to happen again. IF anything i drove the car even easier. I did not spin my tires once, slip the clutch. Since i had the clutch replaced i have done nothing but granny shift. (literally like 1-2 seconds in between shifting and very smoothly.) I havent taken the car into the dealership yet, but i am almost positve that the clutch is gone again.
If anyone knows anything that I dont please tell me.
Originally posted by LudeSlip 2.When i got my car a 2001 SH, it was purchased as a rollover, I was lied to at the dealership, they said they didnt know all of the details about the situation, but later they gave me all of the work orders. Basically after 500 miles there was a loose flywheel bolt from the factory something else went wrong and the motor blew, so they at the GM/honda (mainly GM) dealership replaced the shortblock, clutch, flywheel, and pressure plate. This is when i bought the car with a supposed extended 7 year 100,000 warranty, which i never have recieved doccumentation.
If the flywheel and clutch were properly installed, this would more than likely have no bearing on your problem.
Quote:
Originally posted by LudeSlip
3. My car makes a noise every 2-5 minutes for three seconds WHEN IT IS OFF. The noise sounds like the abs pump when you first turn on your car. BUT IT IS NOT THE ABS PUMP. I had this checked out at the dealership and they said that it is normal and nothing to worry about.[/b]
That's the EVAP purge system, and it's completely normal. Every 5Gen does it. For once, your dealer is correct.
Quote:
Originally posted by LudeSlip 5. ... I asked for the stock clutch back and i still have it, 2 bearings were blown, and they said the clutch was worn down to the rivits.
Eh? The clutch does not have any bearings in it. Just the friction plate and the springs!
Quote:
Originally posted by LudeSlip Now, I gave them the benefit of the dobt and thought okay maybe this was my fault, 1300$ later and after inspecting the clutch, there was wierd scrapes on it, the clutch appeared as if someone had put it in a blender or if there was like a foreign object scraping around with the clutch.
You might have had the same problem that Andy (red baron) did. A piece of the clutch around the springs broke loose, but he had no damage to the pressure plate or flywheel. His car had over 100k miles (IIRC) when we did his clutch.
If you're paying $1300 for a clutch job, you're seriously getting bent over.
Quote:
Originally posted by LudeSlip 6.Okay so it went out again. 10000 miles later this time... my car still makes that funny noise... but think about the moral hazard for a second here. I clearly did not enjoy my clutch going out the first time, all of the time my car was in the shop, distress, and 1300$. SO why would i want that to happen again. IF anything i drove the car even easier. I did not spin my tires once, slip the clutch. Since i had the clutch replaced i have done nothing but granny shift. (literally like 1-2 seconds in between shifting and very smoothly.) I havent taken the car into the dealership yet, but i am almost positve that the clutch is gone again.
What was replaced when the clutch was done? They should have replaced the clutch, pressure plate, and release bearing. It's not a difficult install, but it sounds like the install might have been botched.
What exactly is the clutch doing? "Going out" is too general of a term to help us help you. Is it not disengaging properly? Is it slipping? etc....
Where are you located? If you're around Texas, I can do the clutch for you for way less than $1,300!
__________________
Billy - 98 Prelude
#27 H2 NASA TX HondaChallenge
#27 PTB NASA TX Performance Touring Racing makes heroin addiction seem like a vague wish for something salty. -- Peter Egan
Thanks for the help. I edited my original post, you were right it was the springs not the bearings, soundls like the same thing Andy had, and as for now the clutch is not disengaging properly. They did replace the friction disc, pressure plate and release bearing.
sounds like you got a good ol' screwjob...that really sucks...it can probally be anything mentioned above and the only way to fix it would to be narrow down the possibilities which could cost $$$
__________________
-Anthony- PSN/Xbox Live GT: Evoking1230
2005 EVO VIII-SOLD/R.I.P.
2000 Honda Prelude SH - Gone But Not Forgotten
They didn't say they did, nor is it on the work order. It says on the work order:
Flywheel overheated/ 430CH-10 (could this be flywheel resurfacing?)
Anyway now that i know that the clutch isn't disengageing, what is that due to? I highly doubt it is worn down again, could it be because of the springs being blown again, or a defective release bearing?
i had the same thing happen to me with my clutch; at about 70k miles, suddenly the clutch just went south on me, like instantly. was soo pissed i took it to honda, thinking that more than likely something in my hydrolics took a sh1t or something. they replaced clutch master and slave cylinder, and that didn't help at all. by the way, i have an sh too and i know how painfully expensive it is to put a clutch in an sh. anyway, they pull the clutch out, and the plate was in spec for wear, but one of the stamped fingers that holds the springs in place had either broke off or worn away. so the spring would just float around in there, and would sometimes catch and the car would shift fine. i had honda install an exedy clutch and fidanza flywheel (even though the oem one was not marred up) when they were in there cuz i thought the oem clutch was manufactured too cheaply. i believe i was quoted at least $800 or soo for labor without parts, and came well over $1400 for labor and parts, so that should put you right on track at $1300 for oem so i don't think you got hosed. or what i mean is, you got seriously hosed, along with anybody else that has a clutch put in an sh. i think it's like an extra $300 labor just from doing an sh over base prelude just cuz the extra work with the atts! i also know that extended warranties don't usually work when dealing with clutch problems, but if you've had 2 go out already, there's some other problem here. if they pull that thing out again, and you've got spring retainters broken, again, you'd better demand that honda takes care of the problem with their checkbook. i would also look into maybe putting in a bit stronger setup, not cuz i think you're hard on your rig, but because i personally think it's a crappy design. ya know, the prelude is a pretty tough car, with a motor that begs to be driven fast and hard, but honda seems to have put kind of a weak clutch and tranny in the 5-speeds, and i'm just glad i haven't had to deal with the problems as the ss crew around here.
i'll have to disagree with qualude about the prelude having a weak clutch (it could just be my own experience though). i've got 118k on my lude, i beat on my car pretty bad. i do both drop-clutch launches and slipping the clutch at 5100rpm quite often. i'm on my stock clutch with no signs of slipping (has not slipped on me once). again this is only 1 lude so i could just have gotten lucky (knocking on wood...)
i wasn't really doing anything exceptional when my clutch "went" on me, and believe it or not i've never revved and dropped to launch faster, and i always rev match to keep from beating up my syncros, and yet my clutch fell apart as did my 5th gear syncro. the dealership told me i had about the right amount of miles on my 5th gen clutch to necessitate a new clutch.....boooooo for honda on that one. i used to own a 91 prelude si, and it had nearly 200k miles on stock oem clutch when i sold it, and it never had any problems short of a clutch master cylinder sh1tting out on me. call me lucky and spoiled, but i think it's a weak design, and an awful big inconvenience of $1300 to get a clutch replaced on a 5th gen prelude!
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