Clutch chatter

Joined
2 January 2005
Messages
117
Location
Daphne AL
As some of you know I recently received my 2005 Red NSX. Although I had it checked out by Acura of Peoria who said it was perfect when it arrived I noticed the clutch chattered at take off. I took it to the local Acura dealer and he said it was either caused by a warped flywheel or a glazed flywheel and it may not be covered under warrantee. Mind you this is a honda with 26k on it. They said they will have to consult with the factury rep and would get back to me. My first honda was an 85 Prelude that I drove for about 150k with no clutch problems. I drove my 95 NSX for 85k with no clutch problems. To think Honda would balk at fixing a flywheel problem on a $90k hand built Honda with 26k on it is rediculous. Beleive me if they don't repair this under warantee they're going to hear form me all the way to Japan.
 
An NSX Clutch could fail at 20K if driven hard by the first owner or 100k if pampered. Could be dust or oil causing the chatter or possible motor mounts?
 
How bad is the chatter? This is not uncommon for NSX clutches to have a slight chatter with age, especially taking off in first gear. It is typically caused by clutch dust on the disk spline and the only way to cure it is to clean this area, which is not possible with the trans in place, it must be pulled.

If the flywheel is warped or glazed(which I doubt), I can see why they would not cover it. Remember the clutch is a wear item, and IF the diagnosis is correct about the flywheel, it was caused by the previous driver, using the clutch incorrectly and overheating it.

If you are a longstanding customer of this dealership (in other words have spent a lot of money with them), they may consider about a good will repair, but this is less common for NSX's these days.

HTH,
LarryB
 
While this may or may not help. After I bought my car last year I had it on the lift cleaning the under carrige, I removed the small inspection plate and took a couple of cans of brake cleaner and sprayed up inside the clutch area until all the black dust stopped coming out. Maybe I should'nt have done it but the slight chadder was completely eliminated. Still no probs. {knocking on wood}:smile:
 
The chatter is really not bad at all. In fact it's barely noticable, but I guess I'm used to my 95 which was as smooth as glass. After 85k there was no sign of chatter or slippage. Just grab and go. If it were to cost me anything I wouldn't spend it since it's so minor but I thought since my 95 was so smooth maybe there was actually something wrong with it that could be a bigger problem later on.:rolleyes:
 
I honestly do not think you really have any long term issue to worry about. If it is slight, you can work that out with your release pressure after getting a lttle more used to it:).

Regards,
LarryB
 
Tony/ Larry..... My cousin bought your car Tony and youe right it is smooth..I have the same issue as your 05 on my NSX slight chatter at times and after it heats up getting it into reverse is IMPOSSIBLE especially if im using the clutch alot in a parking lot... I have under 20 k and Im thinking it may be time for a clutch whatta think Larry?
 
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