"Elle" <honda.lioness@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3mszg.547$xp2.310@newsread1.news.pas.earthlin k.net...
> "Michael Pardee" <michaeltnull@cybertrails.com> wrote
>> A factor often overlooked is engine health. If the injectors are dirty or
>> the ignition needs tune-up the clutch release can often be the first to
>> suffer. Try a bottle of injector cleaner (most people favor Techron,
>
> Michael, can you explain this? Do you mean the stuttering (or whatever
> irregular gas/air flow/spark at the cylinders) sort of fools the driver
> into thinking it's a shift problem? E.g. As the gas pedal is pressed
> during up shifting, engine RPM does not change the way it should, so the
> shifting is not all that smooth?
>
Yes - the engine bogs down easily and becomes ragged. I think it may go into
a subtle "pilot induced oscillation" where the engine starts to rev and the
driver's foot lets out a bit more, only to put more load on the engine than
it can handle. I could be wrong about that. I've noticed it in my older
Volvo (1970) when the points needed attention and in an '84 300ZX when I ran
it on cheap gas too long. My son's '94 Acura also started doing that, and a
bottle of Techron improved it about 60-70 percent over the course of a week.

The first time I encountered it in the Volvo I assumed it was the clutch -
until the morning the engine wouldn't start. After filing the points the
clutch was magically smooth again, and the light came on over my head.
"Sayyy...." After that, whenever the clutch got touchy I would rework the
points and be stylin' again. OTOH, I had a work truck that wouldn't start
one morning (you'd think it wouldn't need a tune-up after 150K miles/9
years!) and it never got "grabby." Huh.

Anyway, in the spirit of "make everything right first, then troubleshoot" I
like to rule out tune-up issues.

Mike