I have 7200 miles on my 08 Fit Sport MT and it has developed a clutch shudder/chatter almost everytime I start out from a stop in 1st gear. It seems to be getting worse. Is anyone else having this problem, and if so what have you done about it?

 

Hi,
My 08 Fit Sport did this from day one. 4 trips to the dealer and 30k later the dealer gives me the famous "they all do that". Absolute crap. The base model I test drove did not do this but the one I wanted was on the showroom floor and I could not drive it.
As you might suspect I am really frustrated.
Gene

 

Hi Gene,

Brought the car to the dealership. They replaced the clutch disc, pressure plate and throw out bearing. It was good for about 2,000 miles. Now, with 10,100 miles it is shuddering just as bad as before the replacement. I don't believe that the problem is in the clutch. I think that it has more to do with the hydraulic slave cyclinder. On the 2009 and newer models they changed the design of this. It was probably changed because of the realized problem with the clutch shudder. I don't know for sure that this was the reason for the change. No one at Honda will acknowledge this as the reason for the change. I will be bringing it back to the dealership again to see what they plan on doing next. By the way, this is not the dealer from whom that I purchased the car. But this dealership (Friendly Honda of Poughkeepsie, New York) has been really great so far. Hopefully, they will continue to pursue the problem. I have talked to a couple of other owners of 2008 Fits with the manual transmission and they said that they also have the shudder problem. They also were told that they all do that, by their dealers. It is not normal and if enough owners made a complaint, Honda would most likely try to correct the problem. I also showed the manager of the service department the posts from other owners that were having the same problem. I think that also made a stronger case. Also, the dash rattles and clicks in cold weather. Other 08 Fit owners have also complained about this.

 

Thanks for the info.

I was going to simply insist that the clutch be replaced but after your experience that may be only a temporary fix. The service manager at the dealership told me that they had a one model of 4 cyl accord a few years back which did this as well. He said it was "just a characteristic of the engine/transaxle combination".

Did you get a look at the clutch they removed? I was wondering if it looked unusual in any way. I have pretty much babied mine and I got it with 7 miles on it so it is hard for me to believe that this did not come from Honda like this.

I have worked on cars since I was 16 and have replaced probably 50 clutches over the years for other folks. If I was to guess, I would probably say that the clutch disk is warped. The other thing which does effect this is that the car is so light. On a heavier car you would probably never feel this because the car would not even try to move.

Anyway, please come back and tell me what they say. My warranty is up in a couple of thousand miles so when that happens they will probably say the clutch disk is bad...

Gene

 

do a search on the clutch delay valve, and clutch hardline diy... they should help quite a bit...

 

Hi Scott,

I am not sure I understand? Are you saying that the CDV is responsible for the shutter?

I can let the clutch out as slowly as I want and it still does it. From what I read the CDV really only effects the way the clutch works when the pedal is released quickly.

What do you think?
Gene

 

I've been dealing with this since.. 2015? When i got my GE8 it had 35k on it, M/T uhcourse.
it was my first manual if you dont count bikes and i had to learn on it, always blamed myself for the 1st gear shudder. Did the CDV delete. It made the clutch better, but didnt help the shudder. Grippy 205 tires, (yokohama S drives. Seriously best bang for your buck, i was a regional tire warranty inspector for discount tire for a year prior to being a tech. Porche worthy super summers for 89 doll hairs a piece.) Tangent over. Didnt help.

Just figured it out, thanks to my dudes at evans that is. Told me i had a bad strut on the front right. I thought they were full of sh*t cuz there was no evidence of leakage after my personal inspection, and the corner felt firm.
still, they wouldnt align it til i did a swap so i figured if nothing else itd be preventative.

i botched the install first time around by lubing mounts in attempt to prolong rubber life.. the slippage of the top mount caused a mild thump at all speeds, even going straight. It took quite some time before it got loud and i had to disassemble it again to fix said issue (and figuring it out took forever and baffled everyone.. always been told i had a *special* brain)

just finished the install today, this time using some ptfe threadlocker on the top nuts to make sure i retain the honda recommended 44mm length of stud + topmost nut sticking out into the engine bay.

its fixed. I wasnt even trying to fix the shudder, i figured when i had the money id try the innovative poly engine n tranny mounts to hopefully reduce any potential vibration between the power wheel n the tranny.
well, getting the struts right fixed it. Thump that became a knock, and the shudder which I now assume was wheel hop caused by leakless strut failure

GOOD GOD I hope this helps someone. Even just one person. The shudder was driving me nuts for years, and was present with only 35k miles on the car!! I switched to some upper end KYBs from rockauto, and she handles so much better now. No more bump steer, no more arm tiring resistance in the steering wheel. I apologize for being long winded and bumping a dead thread, but im just ecstatic.
hit me up if you got any questions

 

Thank you, I was planning on doing a full suspension on my car and was hoping it would fix this. I had the clutch replaced 15,000 miles ago, and this started about 6,000 miles ago, I've noticed my suspension popping more and this just confirms it. 2008 Fit Base. So glad 🙂 I'm part of this forum.