Honda clutch assembly issue (CR-V and the like)

**rpacis** · June 11th, 2009 09:52 AM

Hello Everyone,

I am an owner of a 2008 model CRV (2.0L manual transmission) and in as short as two months (almost everyday use from home to the office and back) experienced judders when accelerating from a full-stop position (in first gear of course). Upon sending it back to the dealer for check-up, they said that they just adjusted the clutch and the problem seems to have been solved.

Then, the judders returned a month later, and since it was nearing the six-month maintenance schedule (PMS), I decided to delay reporting it and just mentioned it during the PMS. They said that the clutch assembly was corroded so they replaced it (under warranty). After that, the problem seems to have been solved.

AGAIN, a month later, the judders returned (still when moving from full stop and at 1st gear). Since the judders were not that bad, I delayed reporting it until the 2nd PMS and by then, they told me that the flywheel had burn marks. They told me that the warranty no longer covers the repairs since these parts were consumable items, they resorted to grinding a layer of the parts since they were still "thick" enough (my apologies but I am not really well versed with the technical details). They told me to monitor the vehicle for a month and then return it to them for further evaluation, which I did. They did replace the pressure plate (under warranty) and I haven't felt the judders since getting the unit back from the dealer (on my third day now).

Has anyone encountered similar issues with the transmission or clutch of a gen 3 MT model?

Thanks in advance for the response!

**niky** · June 11th, 2009 10:50 AM

Very hard to assess transmission issues like this, as many variables (traffic, heat, driving style, etcetera) can cause something like this... but at the second instance, where they had to replace the clutch assembly due to corrosion, they should have replaced the flywheel... as juddering is a sign of flywheel imbalance... or, if not, is a likely cause for flywheel imbalance.

Weird case. Might be an assembly issue... moisture in the transmission bell-housing during assembly.

**rpacis** · June 14th, 2009 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by niky

Very hard to assess transmission issues like this, as many variables (traffic, heat, driving style, etcetera) can cause something like this... but at the second instance, where they had to replace the clutch assembly due to corrosion, they should have replaced the flywheel... as juddering is a sign of flywheel imbalance... or, if not, is a likely cause for flywheel imbalance.

Weird case. Might be an assembly issue... moisture in the transmission bell-housing during assembly.

Yeah, they should have replaced the lfywheel back in October as well. Oh well, so far the problem has not re-surfaced and I am hoping that it won't until the normal replacement cycle.

Lemon unit talaga...

**ans_lim168** · June 14th, 2009 11:02 AM

From the looks of it the flywheel was the main reason for the judders. Just observe your transmission , but since they replaced the pressure plate and grind the burned part of the flywheel see if the juddering occurs again after a few months.

**rpacis** · June 14th, 2009 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by ans_lim168

From the looks of it the flywheel was the main reason for the judders. Just observe your transmission , but since they replaced the pressure plate and grind the burned part of the flywheel see if the juddering occurs again after a few months.

Yeah, that's the plan. The last time that they replaced the clutch assembly, it took a little less than a month before I started to feel the judders again. Hopefully it was just a matter of quality issues with the batch of parts that were used to replace/assemble the unit.