My first post - please excuse me if lenghty but wanted to paint my clutch problem in full - thank you in advance.
A tale of woe - a clutch of problems.
Honda Accord 2.2 i-ctdi sport tourer. 55 plate.
During May of 2007 we purchased a Honda Accord 2.2 CTDi Sports Tourer from the local Honda dealer in Bedford.
We actually live in the West Country ? Weston-Super-Mare ? and spotted this car in the showroom whilst visiting our son in Bedfordshire.
The purpose of the purchase was to upgrade our car for a more suitable towing vehicle for our newly aquired caravan.
This particular model had recently been reviewed by the Caravan Club as Tower for its year.
Although it had a ?55? plate it only had 6,000 genuine miles on the clock having been used as a Demo car.
Within a few days of taking delivery, and prior to any towing, my wife and I took a short trip to Cornwall. It was on this journey that I experienced difficulty with building up revs, - for example after slowing down for roundabouts and then pulling away.
On our return I took the car to our local Honda dealer and mentioned this problem to them. Their response was that I was probably not used to this car. I then asked them if they could road test this car for me and was told that they could but it would cost me £80 or so. I was reluctant to do this and resolved to mention this to the selling dealer on my next trip to Bedford. Needless to say none of this was recorded and in fact the problem seemed not to reappear.
We then had a towing hitch fitted and happily went caravanning.
I had researched the Kerbweight of the Accord as 1575 Kilos with a maximum towing weight of 1500Ks. Our caravan was a 2005 Lunar Lexon EB with MTPLM of 1400 Kilos.
In January of 2008 with 12000 miles on the clock I was returning the car to the Bedford dealer for its first service.
On this trip, minus the caravan, without warning, the clutch played up and I barely made Bedford.
Of our 6,000 miles of ownership we had towed for a maximum of 1,000 miles ? this is being generous ? and had not had any indications of any problems.
I battled my Warranty corner with both Honda and the dealer but without success. However Honda did provide the clutch and the dealer and I shared the labour costs.
All seemed well.
Now in February 2010 and 24,000 miles later (total of 36,000 miles on the clock) I take up the story of the present day problem.
The clutch has failed again !!!
Of the subsequent 24,000 miles - at the extreme - we have towed 4,000 miles ? and again this is very generous. 80% plus of our towing has been either motorways or ?A? roads with minimal town work or traffic jams etc.
We have had no warning of any problem and in fact have not towed since October 2009 ? for over four months - and in fact have not done any journey more than 40 miles since then.
I have been driving for almost fifty years and towing caravans for more than seven.
I have only ever experienced one clutch failure and this in a diesel car with over 120,000 miles on the clock.
I am seeking advice and comments on my latest problem.
Obviously I shall have to have the clutch replaced ? again.
Two clutch replacements in 30,000 miles of ownership.
I am not very familiar with mechanical problems.
However I am told that diesel cars generally have a poor clutch record.
Also that there may be a problem with the Dual Mass Drive Wheel ? all foreign to me.
Could the problem be with me and my driving or with towing weights etc. or is anyone aware of any history attached to Honda or Honda Diesels giving similar problems.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone on this matter.
Thank you in advance.
Naturally I have lost confidence with this car.
I intend to replace it with a ?tank? of sorts. We are keen to continue caravanning.
Could anyone comment on automatic gearboxes for towing.
Again, Thank You in Advance.
Best Wishes and Happy Everythings,
Len Bullock, Weston-Super-Mare, Summmmerset.
{post amended to remove SHOUTING!}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 09/02/2010 at 19:01
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I have a diesel tourer 07 plate which is now requiring a third clutch!
I have done 120K and the clutch is slipping intermittently even on a level road in top gear with no load. There is clearly an issue here. I have again been told by Honda engineers that a switch needs adjusting. I could be wrong but how can a switch affect a clutch when it is engaged?
This is my second Honda diesel. The first had a turbo failure, oil pump chain drive failure (damaging the head), two injector failures, air con failure, rear damper failure.
Why did I buy a second one?
I certainly wont be buying another. The reliability factor is very low.
John Deeprose, Worthing
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I'm afraid you are not alone with this sort of problem and its not confined to your make/model of car, most modern cars are far less durable than those made in the '90s, which is why I run Citroen XMs. The last one I sold had covered 292,000 miles and the clutch was just beginning to slip, I have one now that has covered nearly 200,000 with the original clutch, in fact almost the original everything. I have three of these cars and one for spares and I intend to run them for as long as I can still drive. For the first time in my life I could afford a new car but I'm afraid that nothing would induce me to buy one.
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John.
Thank you for your response and interest.
Apart from the clutch problems we are generally pleased with the car and will be sorry to loose it.
LenBo
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Hi Len,
When we first started towing it was with a 97 Accord, we never ventured too far as the kids were only very young, and apart from being a bit soft in the rear suspension it proved a reasonably good tow car. We have since towed with a number of other cars, and now own a 2009 2.2 deisel Accord (manual). If you look at my post (re haeting system)you will see how unhappy we are with the new car, and Honda's lack of customer service in particular. Anyway enough of my moans.
I spent a number of years selling caravans, and as such spent every day talking to caravaners about towcars, not that this makes me an expert, but does give you a wider outlook on the subject. I would suggest that the match is fine, and I would be very surprised if your issues relate to either the additional stress of the caravan, or the fact that the car is an automatic. Many, many caravaners tow with automatics, historically the only issue was that the gearboxes were prone to overheating with all the additional changes. This issues was and still can be easily overcome. I have never came across a customer who has had problems towing with any Honda, but to be fair they are not the most common towcar.
We now take the van to lower france each year, driving from Scotland and back each trip, I will be very dissapointed if I suffer the same issues as you have. The car is used first and formost as a day to day driving car. We have only had the car for 3 months and did a 500 mile round trip to Inverness with the caravan over Christmas. To be honest it was not good in the snow to the point that on our return and a mere 20 miles from home we were very nearly forced to give up. Not really the cars fault as it is not designed to tow in the snowy conditions we experinaced, however the more I read and the more problems we have with the car the more I think this one has been a big mistake.
Sorry I cannot be of any more help.
P.S. If your a member of either of the two big caravan Clubs it would be worth contacting their technical department, if you have not already done so, to see what they say on the matter.
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Thank you Culmore.
I have indeed contacted the C.C. and also Caravan Forums. It would appear that the car should easily tow the van I have.
Best Wishes,
LenBo
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