I am a new member and am hoping to get some advice. I have a 2005 Accord with only
16,000 miles. My clutch has gone bad very quickly over the last week. Withina very short
time, the engagement of the clutch has gotten very short (only the last 1 inch or so of pedal movement)
and the clutchbegan slipping when I accelerated when in gearwith the clutch pedal totally
released. I was able to limp the car into the dealership and they took apart the transmission
and found nothing wrong(other than the wornout clutch plates, flywheel was overheated)and say that it is a wear item that is not covered by the warranty. I have a meeting with the local Honda rep on Friday but was told not to expect any help from him. The dealer saidthat since they couldn't find anything else wrong with the transmission, the clutch wore out from normal use or perhaps poor shifting/clutch use of the driver and that the cost of the repair $1,500 dollars is going to have to be paid by me.

I can somewhat understand where they are coming from but on the other hand 16K seems awfully short for a clutch to wear out. Granted it was mostly short distance driving but I live in Michigan and it is flat here and the only uphill driving is going up my very gently sloped driveway. Also, I hada Mustang in the 1990's with a manual that I drove 90,000 miles without changing the clutch that was an 8 cylinderwhich I drove fairly hard. I could tell from 70K on with the Mustang that the throw of the clutch was slowly changing as if the plates were wearing out. With my Accord however, the feel of the clutch changed very rapidly over a period of a day or so.

I have the 4 cylinder Accord and am in my mid 40's and drive conservatively. My wife drives the car occasionaly but I have driven with her and sheshifts and uses the clutch fairly well. She also drove myMustang(more often than the Accord). I would welcome any advice or thoughts. Could a clutch wear out so quickly under normal conditions? Wouldn't it take quite a bit of abuse or very hard driving to cause a clutch to go at 16,000 miles? Any advice on how I can put pressure on the Honda rep or dealer to cover this item if it is justified? Thanks!

Dave Adams

 

Yea, or just driving normal with your foot resting on the pedal can do it too. $1500 is a little steep I think.

 

agreed. It really shouldnt cost more than 600-700 for a clutch job at a dealer.

when the clutch in my M3 went (catostrophically, I might add), it wa sabout 750. Luckily, it was covered by the mainteance.

 

Sounds like there was no gap/play between the flywheel-clutch disc-pressure plate assembly, hence the overheated flywheel. I did not see a mention of the clutch adjustment mechanism in your description. Were the clutch hydraulics inspected as well by dealer??

Have you had any clutch adjustments/repairs done prior?

There should be a 5.6 - 5.9" pedal travel when adjusted correctly, if not the stroke needs adjusting. Wrong adjustment will cause clutch wear.

You said the stroke changed to a very short one. One possibility is the adjusting mechanism over-compensated and took the free play of the clutch to zero. Another case may be the master cylinder failed to return after pedal press due to some malfunction in the return circuit (obstruction).

The effect on the clutch would be the same as riding the clutch pedal (and high wear), and also will give a short pedal travel like you mentioned.

 

Thanks for all the responses and the clutch has never been adjusted or repaired before. I got a call from
the dealer later in the day today and the local rep has said that they will replace the clutch at no charge to me. I am grateful for their help. Hopefully this new clutch will last much longer. I am still at a loss for exactly what happened, but all the responses have been helpful. Thanks!

Dave

 

Ah yes Dave , that is great to hear that they will be taking care of the problem for no cost. That makes everything seem much better for you now...Good Deal [sm=yeahsmile.gif]

WheelBrokerAng [sm=americanasmiley.gif]

 

did they tell you what they found? they had to have found something to change their tune like that.

 

For your sake I sure hope they fix whatever caused your clutch to go out so early. If not, you could be looking at the same problem in 16k more miles[sm=headbang.gif]
It's great to hear they will be doing the right thing & performing the work free of charge though

 

Your car has the new style "self adjusting" system, part of the system is a small orfice in the clutch slave cylinderto release pressure slower. It might be the pressure is bleeding off too slow and allowing, the clutch to slip too much.

 

Thanks to everyone for their replies. Is there a way to check the performance of the orfice with the transmission put back together?
My bad for not checking the forums here while they still had the transmission open. The car is running in great shape as far as I can tell. Wouldthere be any way to tellby the performance of the car if theorficeis not working properly? Thanks.