Shuddering NSX

[GStanley]

A friend of mine imported a 91 manual NSX about 3 months ago.
When he got it the clutch was slipping so he booked it into the main Honda dealer over here in Cork in Ireland.
They replaced the clutch with a genuine Honda replacement, did the timing belt and changed oil & filters.

Since he got it back it is very hard to get it into 1st gear and reverse. The gear stick is very reluctant to slot into place. The car also shudders and he gets a shuddering up through the steering when releasing the clutch in 1st and 2nd when city driving. Once the clutch is either fully on or fully off there is no shudder but inbetween it shudders a lot.
When he drives it hard or in the other gears the car is grand.

He has said it to the Honda dealer and they are trying to tell him that it is just the new "fancy" clutch. I personally think that it could be that the drives are not alligned properly or the clutch is not centered right.

Has this ever happened to anyone, or has anyone heard of anything similar?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[blue5]

He needs to take it back and get them to sort it out.

I have not experienced judder on an nsx, but i have on other cars including my race car which does have a "fancy" clutch.

When i bought the race car it juddered as you described including difficulty gettin into gear and reverse but was ok when on the move. When i stripped it down the problem was a faulty driven plate and a mis aligned release mechanism.

One other thought is that if it is a high miler or has had many owners where it willl probably have been thrashed, the flywheel might be damaged in some way but i am told that a honda oe clutch conyains the flywheel as well.

But from your description of the judder it sounds like either a duff clutch component or a misaligned release mechanism.

It wont get better.

Let us know what it was when its fixed.

[GStanley]

It is a very low mileage car and it was fine before the new clutch.

So would it be a safe presumtion to make that it is the release mechanism?

I personally think that the Honda dealer over here don't have a clue about NSX's, so prob better off not going back to them. They charged him €4,200 for the work they done, and they did a bad job. Does that sound very expensive to ye? I
If he was to get the ferry to the UK to get it sorted. Where do ye guys bring your NSX's?

[NSXGB]

If he paid that sort of cash for the job, I personally would keep taking it back until they got it right or gave a refund.

[GStanley]

If he paid that sort of cash for the job, I personally would keep taking it back until they got it right or gave a refund.

Was on the phone to him explaining the above possible reason, and he said the same thing too. He's going to keep on bringing it back till they get it right.

He is only the 2nd owner of this car too, so it hasn't been abused. If you saw it you'd believe it too.

Anybody with any other possible reasons for the juddering? Would help him give areas for them to look over.

Cheers for your help so far lads.

Graham

[NSXGB]

From what I've read (and I've not experienced this), it sounds like the clutch may have been fitted incorrectly. Something to do with greasing certain shafts correctly. Sorry to be vague, but been down the pub...have a look on www.nsxprime.com (http://www.nsxprime.com) under replacing the clutch (in FAQ) and it will answer your question better.

[WhyOne?]

First and foremost, in you friends situation there is no question he has to take the car back to the workshop which did this expensive work.

However, in more general terms, clutch shudder on NSX's is not a particularly unusual occurance - this link to 'prime' contains a wealth of useful and interesting information on all things clutch related - including, about half way down, a specific discussion of NSX clutch shudder.

http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Troubleshooting/clutch.htm

Hope you find this helpful.