Take the guess work out of snap ring problem nsx's

[nilest]

I had this idea the other day on my boring commute home. The snap ring problem with some 91 and 92 NSXs is probably one of the most troublesome problems for any current or potential NSX owner with a 91-92 NSX. Obviously if you have a NSX outside of the trouble run numbers then your fine but what if you have a NSX or are thinking of buying a NSX and it falls with in the problem numbers. It could have a problem down the road or be fine forever.

From my understanding the whole snap ring problem is traced back to a 3 piece tooling unit which would start out within tolerance and over time slowly work out of tolerance. Then it was readjusted and the process would repeat over and over. Some people got cars right after it was readjusted thereby getting a quality reliable product and others got cars which will or have run into problems with the snapring breaking.

I have to believe that if enough NSX owners with vehicles in between the trouble run numbers send in the following info then it could be graphed and eventually a cyclic pattern would emerge providing an educated guess on which production numbers are more likely to have a problem.

Production number
year
mileage
trouble with snap ring yes-no
what mileage was the trouble discovered

Does this sound like an idea that makes sense. If the webmaster could set this up and collect the info I could make graph.

 

[Briank]

Good idea but I would be very surprised if the transmission # are in the exact order that they were machined.

FYI Snap ring transmission # range

J4A4-1003542 to J4A4-1005978

2436 transmissions

 

[nsxtasy]

It's been suggested before. However, as a practical matter, the chances of coming up with anything meaningful are virtually nil, because (a) you would probably need well over 90 percent of the responses - and that's worldwide - highly unlikely that you could get even a fraction; and (b) you still won't know about the ones that might eventually fail but haven't done so yet.

However, the snap ring problem is really not that serious a problem. You have lots of good options:

1. You can fix it forever for around $2000 ($700 parts, $1300 labor) by replacing the case and ring;

2. You can wait until you need transmission work anyway, and do it at that time for the $700 cost of the parts; or

3. You can become familiar with the symptoms of failure; if and when they occur, you can park it and pursue option (1), otherwise keep driving it.

No big deal.

 

[Joe Gliksman]

Maybe Honda Could do it?

Collecting the data seems like a great idea, but as was posted, it is unlikely that a meaningful amount of data can be collected this way. Maybe Honda could do it however. They must have data on how many snap ring failures have been repaired at dealers and the numbers..................the question now is, why would Honda do the analysis? It may point out who they should offer warranty extentions............

 

[sjs]

OK, so maybe it won’t work, but I like the way you think.

I was also under the impression that they were said not to have been machined in strict numerical sequence. But theoretically, do you really think it would take over a 90% sample rate? Say you got just 10% but they were in clusters roughly every ‘x’, then you might reasonably conclude that ones in the center between those clusters were safe even if you couldn’t clearly identify the good/bad transition points.

 

[nilest]

SJS,
That is what i was thinking too. I figured it was only necessary for probably 100 or less people to give feed back because you would only be looking for a rough pattern, nothing to exact.