Car trouble after oil change

[Drew99GT]

Yup. Globalization at it's finest. Get used to it!!!

 

[fpny]

I finally got the estimates from the garage and also 2 Honda dealers in town. The garage price turns out to be the lowest as expected. The main differences are on both the parts and labor. It takes 6 hours labor to replace the clutch, they have to pull the transmission in order to get to it. The parts (the clutch kit) goes for about $235 to $297. The labor cost goes from $420 to $588 plus another $65 to $80 to resurface the flywheel. So the total replacement cost for the clutch range from $720 to $965 plus tax. I guess at this point its nothing I can do about it, got to get it fix somehow. Happy holidays.

 

[JohnBrowning]

I had a clutch just go out all of a sudden once. Two or three of the fingers on the presure plate broke from metal fatigue. The clutch slipped alot due to lack of clamping force. I nersed the car home as I was within 9 miles of home. The car was 17 years old and had the OEM clutch still in it. I replaced it and all of the other pieces a few days latter and it has been a happy camper ever since.

 

[Quest]

...They seem to make the quality cheaper and cheaper. My previous two Accords (both 1989) clutch last a lot longer. They both have the original clutch on them when we traded them in (one had 145K and the other had 187K miles on them) for a 1999 and a 2000. Just like everything else, price keep going up and quality keep going down. Pretty sad if you ask me. ...


OK, no offense but the longevity of clutch components (friction disc, pressure plate, throwout bearings, etc.) are fairly close between OE and aftermarket (except valeo and plse don't ask me why) has very little to do with how long your clutch lasts.

Factors that would affect the service life of your clutch (ignoring manufacturing defects):

(a) stop-n-go traffic: obviously the more you use your clutch the sooner it wears out, just like your brake. Conversely, your clutch pack will lasts considerably longer if you do a lot of highway driving with minimal shifting required.

(b) bad driving habits: I know many drivers would "ride" their clutch pedal w/o completely taking their feet off the clutch pedal after the shifting action has completed. Guess what? That heats up the pressure plate, wears off the clutch and also burns out the throwout bearing.

(c)improper shifting behaviour: the proper way to change gear is to get a proper "feel" for the point where the clutch plate engage/disengage, and perform a quick yet smooth shifting to avoid excessive clutch slippage.

Many a time, I saw MT drivers gingerly engage their clutch slowly(letting it slip unnecessarily)in hopes of avoiding the cause of "jerking" or "stalling", which, in reality, cause excessive yet unnecessary wear (and they wonder why they need to service their clutch ever so often)

Lastly, no clutch packs will last forever. Blaming on quality of clutch is like blaming the rubberband on your boxer shorts for not lasting longer.... (downright silly, again, with the exception of aftermarket brand valeo).

BTW: Most of the Japanese cars clutch friction disc supplied by Dakin which is famous for their quality (from A/C compressor clutch pack and pump to various friction materials used in automotive industries). I don't see why you would want to lay blame on quality of clutch materials...

Q.

***been driving MT for 18yrs+ and counting...***

 

[fpny]

I think you got it all wrong, I am not blaming anything at all. My point is we bought two 1989 Honda Accords back in 89 and they both have 5 speed manual transmission with the same two drivers, namely me and my wife. The clutch on those 2 Accords last a lot longer than the one that just failed. As I said on my last post, I think Honda's quality went down quite a bit over the last 10 to 15 years. Their cars or the components that they used on their cars are not as good as what they used to be. I am not talking about OEM vs. aftermarket parts. I am talking about the Honda quality in general. We bought our first 2 Honda Accords back in 1979 and 1980. We replaced both of them again in 1989 and then agian in 1999 and 2000. We usually keep them for about 10 years. We have owned and drove Honda Accords for over 26 years. During these years, with each newer generation of the Accords, I can see the quality goes down with each generation because parts need to be replaced faster and wear out quicker. Don't get me wrong, I still like Honda but I just a little disappointed about their quality now as compare to 10 or 20 years ago.