Herky-Jerkies Revisited

[Lord Grey]

Something happened a few days ago to my clutch that I want to run by you guys. First, though, a bit of background:

I have manual SS, delivered last August (#20355). From the first day I'd had (very) minor difficulties with the clutch: It simply was not as smooth as I'd like it to be. I chalked it up to just being different than my old Integra and moved on. By "smooth" I mean cleanly shifting up and down in the lower gears (1st through 3rd, mainly). There was always a small surge when the clutch engaged, no matter what I did. Still, I just chalked it up to learning a new car. The second bit of background involves the infamous "herky jerky" threads from a few months ago. My car definitely had that for first 2-3 minutes of driving (when cold) and it did that from day one. Within those 2-3 minutes, a constant pressure on the accelerator in 3rd gear would result in the car surging and slowing slightly as you go down the road. Everything smoothed out perfectly, though, within just a couple of minutes and I again chalked it up to just being a different car with different characteristics.

Now: A few days ago as I was winding my way out of the parking lot at work, a buddy of mine was outside smoking a cigarette. He waved and, in response, I pushed the clutch to the floor (I was in 2nd gear) and revved the engine once (to 3k or so). When the RPMs came back down I threw it into neutral and coasted to the end of the driveway.

This is when things got weird.

Pulling out of the driveway, I noticed that my friction point had moved closer to the floor. I could still shift fine, no grinding or anything, but the clutch felt different. Then I noticed that the clutch pedal wouldn't return all the way; it was 2-3 inches lower than it should have been. So now I'm cruising down the road in 4th, estimating if the clutch was going to die or not and whether I could make it to a Chevy dealership before then. My foot was resting lightly on the clutch pedal and -- wonder of wonders -- the pedal simply releases and comes back to where it's supposed to be.

It's now been three days and I've noticed two interesting things:

1) The herky-jerkies are completely gone. The car cruises perfectly when cold, with zero surges.

2) My clutch is now smooth as silk. The friction point is about an inch higher (away from the floor) than it used to be, and the entire assembly seems to move smoother. More importantly, I can now cleanly shift in those lower gears without feeling it.

In retrospect, I realize that what I now have is a fully-functional clutch and what I had before was something that needed fixing/adjustment. The Question Of The Day is: What do I do now? Take it in to a dealer and have the clutch looked at, or simply enjoy it and wait for a potential disaster to strike? Any ideas on what the problem was (is)?

[SSMickey]

If you feel that there is a potential problem, by all means, take it to the dealer and have it looked at.

[AdnanHfuda]

sounds like something ugly showing a pretty face, get it checked out

[Lord Grey]

It's been five months since my first post on this topic. Here's a brief update:

About a week after the first post in this thread, my clutch returned to its "normal" behavior. It was a gradual change, lasting several days. Eventually, though, it went back to acting like it always has. The herky-jerkies were back as well. It was, however, just as drivable so I planned to take it to a dealership at some point.

Fast forward almost five months, and I finally get the damn thing into the dealer.

Because the car was drivable, I had a difficult time convincing the service guys that anything was wrong at all. The best I could get, initially, was them agreeing to apply a TSB concerning the bolts on the clutch plate (re-torquing them). However, when they got the car up on the lift, the tech discovered that my clutch slave cylinder had an internal leak.

Ta-da! That was the problem.

Once the we got that puppy replaced, everything became silky smooth again, and no herky-jerkies when the engine is cold.

Anyway, I thought I'd update this thread in case these symptoms seem familiar to anyone else and they were wondering what to do. I hope it helps someone.

[kilzfire]

I wonder if that could cure my issue. I don't have all of the problems you listed just 2nd and 3rd when the car is cold either for the first two min of driving:

1. Make a little brrrr sound like something spinning when you put it into 3rd(people say hey your synchro needs adjusted)
2. 2nd and 3rd are "clunky" not smooth like after its been driven for 2 minutes or more
3. the worst of them 2nd gear GRINDS like "if you can't find them grind them" or "that guy needs to learn how to drive a stick" and this is clutch to the floor place in 2nd and LOUD noise from the trans. (more rare but embarresing as all hell)

Dealership kept it for 2 days tried it periodically the first day and early cold morning attempt the second day. Said they cannot reproduce the problem. On their side driving it away it was fine. The next two days, fine. Then it was back to normal stupid crap that I shouldn't have to deal with for 40,000 dollar new car.