Have any of the Australian members had any of the TSBs done on their cars (1-2 grind, clutch replacement) or had a recall for any problems other than the seat belt replacement?

I have had two services now (1 and 6 month) and have mentioned the 1-2 grind to my dealer (Rick Damelian) both times. Both times they said they could find no problems and I haven't had the time or patience to argue.

For those of you, Australian or otherwise, who have had this or other fixes; what rationale have you used to convince the dealer that there is a problem (even if it is only an intermittent one)?

 

I don't know if this will help your case down under, but here's a copy of TSB 055:

 

Johnny,

I have had only rare instances of the grind but I have asked the dealer to note my concern in my file.

He assures me that this has been done. Probably would have been smarter to send a registered letter if I really wanted to be sure that concerns are recorded.

By the way, they talked it down when I mentioned it, at first saying they didn't know much about it and then saying that it was almost unknown.

HHS

 

lvs2k: Thanks, I've seen that at s2ki.com
It's issued by AHM though so I'm not sure whether or not Honda Australia (or Honda Worldwide) have an equivalent release to dealers outside of the US.

hiho-silver: My impression is that dealers will not do anything unless they absolutely have to do it. The thing is if the dealers are aware of the potential problem via some sort of official communication from Honda then they should not question our claims and should just fix it. I am not crazy about the number of kilometres the dealer put on my car last service because I am also wary of the fact that many of these k's would have been testing 1-2 at high rpm.

I had a family emergency to attend to when I picked the car up so I didn't have time to chew the fat over these issues but my reasoning is that if Honda knows there are potential problems then it shouldn't allow dealers to stand in the way of delivering remedies to these problems.

Intermittent problems are still problems, whether or not the mechanic servicing our cars at the time experience the problem first-hand should be irrelevant.

I doubt that my dealer would admit to having any release from Honda Australia similar to TSB055 because to do so and not deliver the remedy would show that they were keeping this from us. If they haven't had the release, is it because my transmission is grinding because or some other wholly unrelated and incidental problem? I doubt it, so there is probably some underhandedness to this whole affair: either from Honda or my dealer or both.

 

I also use Rick Damelian because HSCC members get a 10% discount. They know nothing of TSB's and have only been aware of the seatbelt recall.

I've ground 1-2 gears, but I believe it helps if I use the clutch. I say this because reading a US TSB doesn't mean the problem exists. Repeated grinding when you are properly operating the clutch does.

If you really have the issue, take it to them and use the TSB as back up. But I'm afraid many of our complaints are autohypochrondria induced by US TSB's.

It's a well known fact that all the dud cars are sent to the US. It's obvious because they get all the ones with the steering wheel on the wrong side.

 

I have had a few grinds because of bad clutch work but I have also had a few while the clutch was fully pushed in and it wasn't until I'd experienced a number of these grinds that I started to think I may have a problem.

The fact that I haven't had the grind happen on any other change other than 1-2 makes me think it may be this TSB055 problem. Of course, I do make more 1-2 changes than any other changes so it could just be another incidental thing.

I will leave it be for the moment (haven't had the grind for a week or so) and see if it becomes a more frequent problem but I am curious as to whether there are any other Australians who have experienced an unexpected grind and what their dealers have done/said about this.

 

JBG, the grind is real and exists. In Melb, TWOK (a regular poster here) was the first S2K owner in the world to have his vehicle fixed - mind you his was in pretty bad shape and ground every time, even at 4k revs.

I find I get the grind if I really push the vehicle (like trying to get the fastest shift possible at stop light grand prixes). It takes a lot of lustre off the vehicle.

I have had Honda check it out 3 times and claim there is no problem. I finally wrote to them 2 weeks ago - they politely called me back but told me their techie (who had looked at my car last time) was on leave until 18/3 and I have to wait until then.

I hope this problem is fixed quickly because the Vic HSCC has a track day at Calder on the 25th and I want to ensure the vehicle is right before then.

 

how do you access the TSB's?

 

Just to let you know, I recently had my short block replaced due to the porous block problem.

At the same time I mentioned my clutch rattle and sent a copy of the US TSB. They replaced my clutch plate when they did the short block.

 

An update for you folks. Honda Australia is still refusing to do any work on my gearbox. On the day the Honda representative came out I was able to demonstrate multiple 2 - 5 grinds (yep, the gearbox won't engage 3rd and slides into 5th with a graunch) but couldn't demo a 1-2 grind even though I had had one on the morning before taking the Honda technical representative out in my car.

Because he was unable to cause the 2-5 grind when he was driving he refuses to action the problem. However, Honda is prepared to replace my clutch (as a result of the deceleration vibration my car experiences). This will hopefully happen soon. I believe Honda are hoping that the gearbox grinding problems will go away once the clutch is replaced.