I honestly hope its not the clutch - the last mechanic did say its fairly new and in very good working order.

Ive already wasted £150 on nothing!

This doesn't compute, how did the mechanic examine the clutch without taking the box out and dismantling it, if he did that and supplied and fitted a new slave cyl for £150 all in he won't be in business for long.

Civics are good cars, my daughters on her second previous gen (2000/2005) 2.0S and despite her best efforts she can't destroy it, the second one is now on 140k had a new clutch last year and feels like its got at least another 100k easily.

Well done for being on the ball with doing the checks.

I'd tend to agree with GB. It's most likely something inside the clutch, so the likely culprits are the clutch itself, the DMF, or the release bearings.

As to how to go about the fix, it's a difficult one. I'm always tempted with clutches to say to people to just keep on using it until it actually fails. You aren't likely to damage anything further down the drivetrain, and the expense to fix it now, or eventually (when it does fail) will be the same.

But if you want to get it done now, then, as GB has said, make sure that you are getting decent components fitted. The labour charges are bad enough paid once !

One of our works pool cars is one of these too, and I'll agree. Lovely to drive, quiet, absorbs bumps nicely, and not lacking in power either. Add in the 50mpg economy on a run, and it's a car I'm happy to get the keys for when I'm working away.

Theres several garages that do Clutch checks for free. Worth taking it to them? Theres, Halfords and Mr Clutch. Im assuming they are reliable.

I will buy the parts independently from Honda as I want have some form of control.

I wouldn't go to either of the two, but would get a quote from Mr C so you have a figure to compare to other quotes...remember to make sure (re Bolt's post below) that any quote includes the cost of new DMF so you're comparing apples and apples.

As for buying the parts yourself and getting someone else to fit them, thats not the ideal way, if you get a subsequent part failure its going to present problems and you'll be responsible for labout again, if you get someone to do the job and they supply the parts they guarantee the whole job, parts and all.

If you tell us roughly what area you live in, someone here might be able to suggest a localish decent indy, but do get a quote from Honda too once the vehicle has been diagnosed correctly.

Edited by gordonbennet on 22/10/2015 at 14:56

I had the clutch and flywheel on my 2.2 Civic replaced under warranty in 2010 because it was slipping.

The new clutch requires more pedal pressure and the bite is harder- as bolt says it takes some time to get used to it

There were 2 problems on the Civic over the years one with the clutch(i think the clutch was the wrong one for the car and couldn`t take the torque)

The other was a problem with the Dual Mass Flywheel (not sure what it was) but I can tell you the clutch bite point altered according to how long the pedal was pressed down for, ie, more than a couple of seconds and bite point was just as pedal lifted from floor

but if you quickly pressed pedal, changed gear asap, then released pedal as normal, you was ok, if however you got stuck in a jam and held pedal to floor, when you released pedal the bitepoint was at the floor and couldn`t change gear

In the same situation, ie, jam, if you did as before, quick pedal press and put into gear,clutch released ok, but you had to make the move press pedal to take out of gear all in one move if you get me?

to confuse matters it was worse when the engine got to running temp

Bolt, that must have been very difficult/annoying in traffic, presumably its all ok now and drives the same whatever the situation?

I think Honda should have either recalled them, or maybe better at the very least offered very preferential prices for cluctch/flywheel repalcement when cars came back in with these problems, regular (known?) problem and still extracting near on £2.5k froma customers wallet is not on.

Yes it was, but its all fixed now and actually has improved fuel consumption which I didnt expect about 5 mpg

I cannot complain as it did 100k on 06 plate before it started playing up, It has full service history and their are no signs of it being replaced before, I was at first convinced it was a weak pressure plate but it was too intermitant for that.

At least if someone else has the same problem they will know what to expect and get the job done sooner rather than later,and it seems the prices are dropping (at last)

The original clutch ended in part number 305. This resulting in many failed clutches as it simply couldn't handle the torque of the engine. In around 2008 they updated the design and the clutch ended in '315'. Whilst better this was still failing after 40-60k so the last revision is the 325 clutch fitted from 2010 onwards.

Cox are the cheapest by far, and I have used them in the past for bits and Bob's. I'm actually due to get a SMF conversion on Thursday as even with the 325 clutch, there are reports of it lasting less than 40k miles.

The reason for the high cost is because LUK stuff firstly is not cheap and secondly it's the Labour. The subframe has to be dropped and its a 6 hour job for an experienced mechanic. Importantly, the clutch is a self adjusting one so the mechanic needs a special winding tool when installing the clutch. The clutch is cheap enough to buy at approx £120 and the DMF costs approx £450 if you shop around. Most places will charge £280-400 Labour though due to the complexity.

The 8th gen civic has been known to have a clutch with a weak clamping force. Did you not test drive the car and check for slippage? Max torque on the 2.2 engine comes in from 2k revs so the best way to check would be to find an incline and when at approx 1.8k revs.....floor it!. If the revs rise, then fall again when the clutch eventually bites then you've got a slipping clutch.

The garage you purchased the car from are not stupid and likely know the clutch was gone. Even trade prices for the parts are expensive. A brand new 325 clutch and DMF with trade discount comes to approx £500

Sorry but the problem is not the clutch,its the dmf failing so you can test the clutch as I did when I bought it and their was not any sign of slippage.

The clutch doesnt actally slip at all, it feels like the release bearing is collapsing as it pushes against the pressure plate so reducing clutch pedal travel, so as far as clamping force goes it has nothing to do with it

I have been in the trade since about 1970 and never come across this problem,which is why I thought initially it was collapsing release bearing

Your not the only one to come up with clutch as problem, and everyone seemed to be convinced at the time it was, and I only found one garage that agreed with my thoughts on it, they got the job

Fair enough.

I know Honda, when replacing the clutch on the 2.2 only find that around 20% of the DMF's also need replacing as the amount of play is in tolerance so could it be that the clutch was replaced at some point, but the DMF was not?

It's rare for the DMF to give up before the clutch in the 2.2

Highly possible, on checking with garage car came from(fsh) there were no records of the clutch/dmf ever being done, but thats not to say it may have been done at an indy knowing it would be cheaper

No record was kept though,surprisingly?

I purchased my car from auction and the service book had 6 stamped all from Honda with a couple of invoices for break pads/discs. I rang Honda on acquiring the car asking if any warranty work had been done on the car at all (manifold issues, rusty roof, handbrake issue which are all common faults) and they told me Honda replaced the clutch on the 3rd service as a warranty claim was approved. No paperwork for the clutch change though

Maybe I should have said my car come from Honda MD, but no record, it might have been easier!

Not heard from OP yet either.

Edited by bolt on 27/10/2015 at 22:58