It's been about a month since I picked up my 2002 S2000. I've been lurking around this forum for about the same amount of time, and I have been using the search as much as possible to gain some insight into the car. I have gained a lot of knowledge about the car through this forum, and I'm wondering if you can help me out with a couple of questions.

If I start the car when it's cold and let the clutch out while it's in neutral, it will stall. I probably sit with my foot on the clutch for ten seconds before releasing. Then, the car shudders a bit and stalls. Is this normal? Should I gently rev the car before letting the clutch out even though it's at "cold-start" idle over 2k RPM, or should I have it looked at?

I'm over the 1k mile mark, so I tried my first clutch dump at 4500 RPM just to try a good launch. I was surprised by how much clutch slippage there was. It was bad enough to release the dreaded clutch stench. I know that I was out of the clutch almost instantly, and I've had a lot of experience with sticks, so I can't see driver error playing a major part. Also, people have mentioned launching this car at insanely high revs on this forum, so I don't see 4.5k being that bad. I never had the clutch slip like in my 2000 Prelude, so I'm wondering what could have caused it. I'm also worried that that short amount of slipping could have glazed the clutch. Is this something to be worried about, and if so, will a glazed surface heal itself?

One last thing... How long till the new exhaust smell fades away?

Anyway, thanks to anyone who replies. I am pleased to be part of your forum.

Regards,
Nicholas

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by grizwick
[B]
If I start the car when it's cold and let the clutch out while it's in neutral, it will stall.

 

"As for RPM, If you don't dump the clump up in VTEC land you are going to abuse the clutch. Something has to give when you do a clutch dump, either tires or clutch. If you get up far enough in the power band the tires will spin a bit and save your clutch. "

Really? That high? I would think that, in the event that the tires don't spin at that RPM, it would fry your clutch even more. Especially if the tires are really warm.

 

The stalling does not sound normal to me either, I'd have that looked at. As for dumping the clutch, personally I would not recommend it at any revs unless you have money to burn up.

 

My car has done the "stall" many times, and almost stalls on a regular basis. It's just after start-up, the revs fall down to nothing and the car shakes or dies...dunno what it is, short term fuel trim mabye.

When you read about high-rpm clutch dumps keep in mind temp. Simply put, the way you want to launch this car is to be in VTEC at launch, I don't care if it takes dumping the clutch at 2K or 9K, when you take off you need to be in VTEC. Having said that, it's cooler now, so the tires aren't as grippy so you can get away with a lower launch as pertaining to spin, but if you are anywhere other than VTEC when the tires stop spinning you can forget about 0-60 in 5.2...more like 6.0 or worse. Do not let-out on the clutch, side-step it as affore mentioned.

Welcome aboard.

Rev to the Red


Andrew

 

I start my car in extremely cold weather and it has never stalled when I let the clutch out in neutral. The revs dip slightly but never stalls. It would seem that either your tranny is offering too much resistance (check oil level) when cold and/or your computer is unable to compensate for the idle speed quickly enough. Try letting your clutch out a bit slower so the computer has time to react and hopefully in time it will learn what it must do to prevent stalling. You can also try to counter the rpm dip by giving it just a bit of gas as you let the clutch out after a cold start (an old motorcycle trick - have a brake applied). I always let the tranny spin around in neutral for about a minute after an extreme cold start to get its juices spread around before I take off. The other thing about cold weather starting and immediate stalling has been discussed here many times before. Mine did it the first few times during its first winter. Then it "learned" and has never done it again. At first I could prevent the stalling by keeping the starter cranking about 2 seconds longer than I normally would. This would take the engine past the time that it would have stalled and it was fine. After doing this for a couple of times, I didn't need to anymore because it adapted.
As for the exhaust smell, if that's what it is, it should have stopped by now unless of course, it's been very cold where you live and all your trips have been too short. The exhaust system has to heat up to normal operating temps for a total of about a hundred miles or so before it will burn off the newness. All those manufacturing welds and bonds will linger for a while.
As for the clutch drop, it's harder to do when the tires warm up than when they are cold. In winter, even on dry roads, I can dump the clutch at 4000 rpm or less and get the tires to spin. Normally I don't do clutch drops in the summer. Too much hardware going up in smoke, not to mention wear and tear. (It's not a Mustang, you know! )

 

WOW! This is what is meant by a clutch dump?? That sounds so bad for the car! I've had my car for only a week so I don't think it's quite ready for that but even still, I'd be scared to try it. Sounds so violent. (Yea, I'm a big wussy! )

 

I have to agree with daveg27

 

I dont know what the deal is with that "stall" but i had been experiencing that from day one in my car and i though it was just something common....Now my friend just got the tsb-0054 on his 2001 (BTW tsb-0054 is a recall to fix a vibration problem on MY 00-01) and he just told me that he didnt eperience that till now. Hmmm you should sheck into that before it probably cost a clutch like it did to me (suposedly wasted a whole entire clutch disk in 3000 miles mostly highway) now i have replaced the disc with a custom bronze material clutch (trying to go the cheap upgrade way) and now i think im the only 2002 that needs a TSB-0054 .

 

Is it possible that maybe you accidently used a lower octane fuel? Or, in the winter if you don't keep your tank full, it will draw condensation on the inside of the tank void area.....and we all know what some water in the gas does. Beyond this, I just don't know..... Kevin