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I'm at almost 100k miles and I still teach people to drive standard on my car and it's super easy to stall in first. I'd hope to get at least 200k miles out of a Honda OEM clutch as long as you make relatively smooth and quick shifts.

While on the subject of clutches, what are the general thought on double clutching? I don't down shift unless on a back road going in to a corner but I do rev-match it first. I'm wondering about just general driving though how many use double clutching?
 
Clutch longevity.............

Brake pads are cheaper than clutch disks!
+1

135,000 on factory orginal clutch, pads, plugs...........

no complaints.

ez
 
If you are putting your car into 1st gear and letting the clutch out all of the way, the car should stall! Are sure sure you didnt test this theory while it was in Neutral?
Nope, doing it all the time when in trafic!

But just to be more precise: If I let go the clutch rapidly, the car will stall. But if I let it go gently and slowly, car will start to roll!
 
I'm at almost 100k miles and I still teach people to drive standard on my car and it's super easy to stall in first. I'd hope to get at least 200k miles out of a Honda OEM clutch as long as you make relatively smooth and quick shifts.

While on the subject of clutches, what are the general thought on double clutching? I don't down shift unless on a back road going in to a corner but I do rev-match it first. I'm wondering about just general driving though how many use double clutching?
I don't quite understand. Are you saying that you never have the need to downshift during daily driving, or that you don't double clutch when you downshift?
 
the original clutch on my car lasted about 171k miles. YMMV.
 
If they are downshifting all the time and letting the clutch always act as the first break (vs. the wheel breaks) to slow down then yea, its possible to get half the mileage out of a clutch?
that reminded me of my 93 civic with 270k miles. i beat the hell out of that clutch, always downshifting to brake and to acclerate on the freeway for 3 years. Clutch still works fine. I drive about 25k a year. But of course on my accord I don't drive that kind of manner anymore.
 
Nope, doing it all the time when in trafic!

But just to be more precise: If I let go the clutch rapidly, the car will stall. But if I let it go gently and slowly, car will start to roll!
The test is actually to pull up the E brake and let it out slowly but by then it's already really bad.I think Eric the car guy has a segment on his channel.
The real test is to drive the car at highway speed while varying throttle for 15 minutes and then WOT the car at 30mph in 5th while watching the tach and speedo.The rational is that a sightly slipping clutch is most likely to appear when hot and varying the the load heats up the friction material if it's slipping This allows you to spot that it is failing early and give you time to affect repair at your convenience or walk away if you looking to by it.
 
Nope, doing it all the time when in trafic!

But just to be more precise: If I let go the clutch rapidly, the car will stall. But if I let it go gently and slowly, car will start to roll!
that sounds about right. if you are letting the clutch out slowly, the tranny will slowly grab the engine, and your car will start to roll. nothing wrong there.

The test is actually to pull up the E brake and let it out slowly but by then it's already really bad.I think Eric the car guy has a segment on his channel.
The real test is to drive the car at highway speed while varying throttle for 15 minutes and then WOT the car at 30mph in 5th while watching the tach and speedo.The rational is that a sightly slipping clutch is most likely to appear when hot and varying the the load heats up the friction material if it's slipping This allows you to spot that it is failing early and give you time to affect repair at your convenience or walk away if you looking to by it.
i actually watched that video before i had my clutch replaced, and compared them to my symptoms.

if the clutch is slipping, yes, the clutch is likely going out. but, before i had to have my car towed, my clutch never slipped. i had trouble getting into gears (having to double clutch or triple clutch) during the last few months of its life. another trait that i saw was with the clutch down and car in gear, car would start to gradually creep in first gear. there was also movement of the car while trying to get car into first from neutral, from a dead stop.
 
I'm around 160,000ish miles on my 2004 6-6. Original clutch still going strong.

If they are downshifting all the time and letting the clutch always act as the first break (vs. the wheel breaks) to slow down then yea, its possible to get half the mileage out of a clutch?
I've been doing this since I've owned the car without any issues. I do rev-match to take the load off the clutch though.
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
Perhaps you guys can give me another piece of advice.. I find it difficult to shift into 2nd gear in my V-6 Accord. I attempt to make the gear change like I would while driving any manual transmission car, but for some reason the car would ALWAYS jerk around when I would shift into second gear.

Anyway, I did find out quickly after I learned to drive my car that the best way to get into second gear smoothly is to shift at a low RPM out of first gear and into second, then while letting out the clutch, take an extra second holding it halfway before letting it all of the way out. I assume this does no extra harm to my clutch, however, I find it annoying when taking off at a stoplight that I cannot get going at a quick rate of speed without sacrificing a nice smooth start and into second gear. I constantly get annoyed when I get passed up by the car that was next to me because I am trying to make my gear change to second nice and smooth.

HELP! :(
 
Rev match. The "rev hang" in the drive by wire system doesn't always (almost never, in fact) match the exact rpm needed. As a rule of thumb, I shift into 2nd at 20mph and rev match to 2100 rpm. So if you were accelerating off the line quickly, you could match 2nd at ~4100rpm at 40mph (end of 1st gear). Shifting at low rpm from 1st to 2nd is smoother because the rev hang takes less time (revs only drop 300-500rpm) meaning that you can shift quicker, i.e. less hesitation before clutch release. I hope this makes sense.

In 2nd,
10mph = ~1100rpm
20mph = ~2100
30mph = ~3100
40mph = ~4100
Etc...


* rev hang being defined as the electronically controlled throttle body holding open momentarily to account for the time to move the gear shift into a taller gear and attempting to engage the clutch without driver input on rev matching.
 
I don't quite understand. Are you saying that you never have the need to downshift during daily driving, or that you don't double clutch when you downshift?
Unless I'm in stop-and-go traffic, I double clutch almost all the time.

And during daily driving I almost never downshift except for hills, but not many here, we just blast through hills and make flat roads. I leave enough space that I can normally pop it in neutral and let the car slow down naturally and if I have to slow down faster then I just start breaking early but gently.

The only time I downshift is when on back dirt roads or camp roads that are windy or hilly and that's more for just fun.
 
Unless I'm in stop-and-go traffic, I double clutch almost all the time.

And during daily driving I almost never downshift except for hills, but not many here, we just blast through hills and make flat roads. I leave enough space that I can normally pop it in neutral and let the car slow down naturally and if I have to slow down faster then I just start breaking early but gently.

The only time I downshift is when on back dirt roads or camp roads that are windy or hilly and that's more for just fun.
I just don't get it. Are there not times where you have to slow down significantly and not stop but keep on rolling. I find myself downshifting quite often. I will only coast in neutral when within 100 feet of a stop sign or red light, otherwise I stay in gear. As long as you are matching your revs well enough when up or down shifting you are not hurting the clutch. I have gotten pretty good and can smoothly shift back and forth between gears without changing speed. Also, what do you do for speedbumps? Do you stop completely before going over them?
 
that sounds about right. if you are letting the clutch out slowly, the tranny will slowly grab the engine, and your car will start to roll. nothing wrong there.



i actually watched that video before i had my clutch replaced, and compared them to my symptoms.

if the clutch is slipping, yes, the clutch is likely going out. but, before i had to have my car towed, my clutch never slipped. i had trouble getting into gears (having to double clutch or triple clutch) during the last few months of its life. another trait that i saw was with the clutch down and car in gear, car would start to gradually creep in first gear. there was also movement of the car while trying to get car into first from neutral, from a dead stop.
That doesn't sound like friction material it sounds like syncros,slave cylinder or the pressure plate.Under normal operating conditions the friction material should wear before anything else.As such the mechanical components failed first.When you ask how long a clutch should last the inference is with regards to the friction material only.Mechanical failure is considered and abnormal wear/failure for whatever reason and cannot be speculated upon.When the friction material is replaced the entire system is inspected and brought back to spec so the next failure should again be the friction material if the car lasts that long.The reason for this is the labor expense.
 
I just don't get it. Are there not times where you have to slow down significantly and not stop but keep on rolling. I find myself downshifting quite often. I will only coast in neutral when within 100 feet of a stop sign or red light, otherwise I stay in gear. As long as you are matching your revs well enough when up or down shifting you are not hurting the clutch. I have gotten pretty good and can smoothly shift back and forth between gears without changing speed. Also, what do you do for speedbumps? Do you stop completely before going over them?
To add to this:

Letting the motor/car idle down in gear does not hurt the clutch, and it actually saves gas. When the throttle is at 0%, and the motor is above I think its 1100 or 1200 RPM, the fuel injectors are shut off.

Also, if you are in neutral, I would let the clutch out so your throw-out-bearing is not spinning with the transmission to save its life.
 
Also, if you are in neutral, I would let the clutch out so your throw-out-bearing is not spinning with the transmission to save its life.
+11ty. Having had to tear into and replace the throw out bearing on one of these FWD masterpieces, I DO NOT EVER care to do that again. Yes, I went ahead and did the whole clutch works while I had the trans out of the car....
 
That doesn't sound like friction material it sounds like syncros,slave cylinder or the pressure plate.Under normal operating conditions the friction material should wear before anything else.As such the mechanical components failed first.When you ask how long a clutch should last the inference is with regards to the friction material only.Mechanical failure is considered and abnormal wear/failure for whatever reason and cannot be speculated upon.When the friction material is replaced the entire system is inspected and brought back to spec so the next failure should again be the friction material if the car lasts that long.The reason for this is the labor expense.
i will have to look at my paperwork again. what i do know is when the clutch went out, i was no able to get the car in any gear from a stop. when they pulled it into the garage to repair it, they had to start it, roll it into the bay, and shut it back off again.

all necessary parts were replaced.
 
i will have to look at my paperwork again. what i do know is when the clutch went out, i was no able to get the car in any gear from a stop. when they pulled it into the garage to repair it, they had to start it, roll it into the bay, and shut it back off again.

all necessary parts were replaced.
From my experience the friction material (plates) would have been checked and replaced if they thought It going to go anytime relatively soon or it was oil contaminated since the labor to get at it is so expensive.I'm thinking the main issue was the pressure plate or the slave cylinder and the disks were done as preventive maintenance or damaged from the failure.Clutches are a PITA regardless of whether front or rear wheel drive but front wheel drives especially **** to work on.If the Accord was rear wheel drive it would be the perfect car IMO.I just plain hate front wheel drive because they cant take any real abuse,are expensive to repair and handle like crap.This why the police and any real high performance cars dont use it.I also wouldn't have bought an Accord if there was a comparable car with rear wheel drive on the market but there isn't so i had to bite the bullet.
 
~ 165,000 km (~103,000 miles): original clutch

>90% city driving. Hoping it lasts like the energizer bunny.

Condition: clicking/creaking noises when engaging, or disengaging clutch pedal. Apparently common on the 7th generation Accord.
My mechanic suggested replacing the clutch master cylinder but based on readings here, I'm not sure that would actually solve the interior clicking noise.
 
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