I currently have a little over 190k on the original clutch. Mostly stop and go/highway mileage. Was wondering if anybody has gotten similar or more mileage? It doesn't slip under load but I can hear the throwout bearing when in neutral during idle.

 

Show off! But good job, did you drive it since new?

 

Just curious, how much does a 200k+ mile S2000 go for? I don't often see sales with mileage that high. What year? How was the condition?

 

I got 330,000 miles on my original clutch before I replaced it. It wasn't even close to being worn out but my throwout bearing eventually froze up and I had to drop the tranny anyway.

If you're easy on your clutch and drive a lot of highway miles, the clutch will easily last for 500,000 miles. However the throwout bearing can only take so much use before it dries out.

 

This is true. I have just 40k miles on my 02 but clutch started acting up recently. Actually the clutch itself works well, but the pedal is stiff and sticky and I am convinced the throwout bearing and the TOB guide are not lubricated the way they should be. I polished and greased the slave cyl. push rod, the clutch fork cup and the clutch fork tips. That seems to have helped quite a bit. But, I have a feeling my transmission is going to be pulled in the not to distant future the fix the TOB and guide.

 

I'm gonna have to be spoon fed. Are you saying there is a way to lube the clutch bearing guide without pulling the transmission? Could you explain a bit more?

 

He is describing a sort of diy orthoscopic surgery rig for your trans.

To use something like a turkey baster or one of those plunger things that looks like an injection needle, with a long, flexible hose attached, so you can squeeze the grease out from outside the trans. You snake the hose through the slave cylinder opening in the case.

You attach the hose to a boroscope. An inexpensive camera at the end of a long, flexible extension, that works with your smartphone. You attach the hose to the camera so you can see where you are snaking things, and to see where you applying the grease.

This sounds complicated and difficult, but doable, and way easier than dropping trans.

 

Ingenious. I'll want to give the fork and bearing and guide a good look see first, before deciding exactly how to rig up the "grease gun." Its been 30 years since I had a transmission off and messed with a clutch and my memory is a bit vague. I've had the slave off twice in the last few weeks so I think this is something to work on for next spring when its warmer in the garage. Not sure I'm ready to get back under there with a project like this right now. But, I think I will get a bore scope and mess around with it now.

Do you think I will be able to see the guide? Is it a matter of putting a small amount of urea on the surface of the guide and reapply a bit to the fork tips and call it good? Does the release bearing rotate at all relative to the guide? Or, is it just forward and back? I have to assume that if you are doing this the right way, with the transmission off, you would be applying a very thin layer on the guide and wiping excess off. If nothing else, that bore scope might be a good way to inspect the bearing/guide to assess and diagnose.

The clutch pedal worked very smoothly yesterday. Its basically back to the feel it had a month ago before all this started. But, I have two S2ks, and I notice that the pedal effort on my 03 is significantly softer than the 02 that I drive all the time. It takes a bit to get used to it actually. I only drive that car once or twice a year so it takes me by surprise when I do drive it. I don't know that either pedal feels better to me, its just very different. So, its not a huge deal. Its just that I am concerned the stiffer pedal feel may be the result of poor lubrication on the guide, or damage to the guide, and that I may be looking at pulling the transmission soon, which I would just as soon avoid. This may be a way to delay, or even eliminate, the need to pull the transmission, at least until the clutch actually goes which should be a long long long while.

Thanks for these ideas. Definitely worth serious consideration.

 

Thanks - this all makes sense. Is this correct: The clutch bearing guide rotates with the flywheel? The inner race of the clutch bearing rotates with the clutch bearing guide (slide as you call it) AND the CB inner race moves forward and back on the Guide when the clutch pedal is depressed and released. The outer race of the CB does not rotate? Am getting this right?

 

I tried the USB boroscope and metal wire greasing from the outside.
Here is a short video I did showing how little of the release bearing guide that is reachable with the release bearing in place.
Really cheap camera so sorry for bad picture quality, in the beginning you are looking at the bearing where the fork sits and then it moves over to the guide.

I struggled a long time trying to get grease where it's really needed and it felt a bit better for a while but in the end I decided to drop the tranny and do it right.
This is what it looked like, nice and greasy at the end but where it really matters bone dry.


Not saying its not worth a try but dropping the tranny might be easier in the end after all, even though its very time consuming