My 2001 S2000 has just turned over 5,000 miles and the clutch seems to be slipping already!! I know how to drive a stick - I have had a manual Civic and a Mitsu Eclipse GSX before the S2000 and put over 60K miles on both of those without needing a clutch replacement. In fact i NEVER replaced a clutch on either of those! The Eclipse drove very much like this car. It too had to be revved up some to accelerate quickly from a stop and I drove it that way a lot with no clutch problems over an 8 year period.

Last night merging onto the interstate in traffic I left it in first till the red line, shifted to second, let out the clutch, and the clutch seemed to slip for a little while. The rpms dropped due to the shift, then rose up without the car accelerating, then slowly the rpms dropped and the car started accelerating normally. Checked it again this morning coming to work and experienced the same thing.

Does cold weather have anything to do with this? I can't believe the clutch is going out already! Has anyone else lost their clutch this soon? Any suggestions/comments invited and appreciated.

 

I had my clutch burn out at 8404 miles. Honda replaced it under warrenty as a "goodwill gesture" since they don't normally warrenty clutches. This was before the Clutch TSB. If I were you I'd take it to the dealer, complain of clutch rattle and refer them to the TSB. Have the work done under warrenty and get a new clutch at the same time!

 

If your tires were cold and you were shifting quickly you may have been spinning your tires on the shifts. It happened to me a couple of times yesterday and it I hadn't felt the car slip sideways I might have thought it was the clutch. The S02's can be silent when they spin. Cooler temps and cold S02's don't go together very well. BTW, the temps here are pretty much the same that you have in Laurel.

On the other hand you may have a bad clutch.

 

I think it might have been your tires slipping, unless you've been doing 8k RPM clutch drops. S2000 has a hydraulic clutch, which tends not to slip, unless its at the absolute end. For example on my Civic it slipped twice then it was gone.

Sports cars will burn clutches faster, but not that fast. Remember the S-02s are a summer performance tire, so when its cold they don't heat up much.

 

Another symptom/clue: When brand new, the clutch engaged very close to the floor. If I didn't depress the clutch FULLY, I would have trouble getting it in gear. Now, the clutch doesn't engage until the pedal is almost all the way up.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sharp Chuter
[B]Another symptom/clue:

 

I think it's time for warranty work as well ...

 

it could be a problem with the clutch mechanism so that it never really grips very tightly and has been slipping a little all the time thus used up your precious clutch prematurely. i don't have any good suggestion other than find a reputable dealer and technician and hope they will be honest with you.

 

No high rpm clutch dumps for me! I haven't babied the clutch, but I haven't abused it at all either. Just good clean fun and mildly agressive driving. VTEC a few times a week.

 

i do abou 1 clutch dump a week and so far with 7k miles on my 01 S it seems to be still gripping good.