"Michael Pardee" <michaeltnull@cybertrails.com> wrote
> "Elle" <honda.lioness@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote
>> "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.
for brevity snipped the usual good anecdotes; please look
back

I buy it. I also googled and this came up on at least one
least web site, too.
See http://www.knight-rider.org/mn-dsm/tips/Spark.html

JT, I concur.

It's a very good point, IMO. Plus, one is not throwing money
away by doing a tuneup, either.

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

I agree this is a proper troubleshooting approach.