I hate being "that guy," so first off I did searches for shifting problems, and will get through the check list shortly.

About two weeks ago Friday, my car was driving fine. I reversed into my spot and noticed it smelled like I smoked the clutch some, though I don't believe I did. The next day, I went out to drive and found the clutch was not operating correctly at all. Shifting was incredibly difficult in any direction. I would call shifts "sticky," and often resulted in grinding of gears.

I went hunting for problems on this forum via search. From search I came up with:

1. I did a clutch fluid change. No difference.
2. Replace clutch slave cylinder. No Difference.
3. Replace clutch master cylinder. No Difference.
4. Inspect clutch nylon hose under pressure. No Bubbles, bulges or noticeable leaks.

It feels like the clutch actuator isn't fully disengaging; sometimes it sounds like the clutch is dragging (If you've ever driven a car with a clutch pack LSD it sounds like that under low speed, tight cornering).

What's left to look into or figure out?

Any help is appreciated.


Things done recently at 100,000 miles:
Diff fluid change.
Transmission fluid change.

 

what fluid did you use in your tranny? if you didn't use gm synchromesh I would highly recommend it. if a shop used crappy trans fluid it could have caused wear on the synchros.

 

When I changed it, I used Honda's Manual Transmission oil.

 

It could be a few things listed easiest to hardest:

1) clutch fluid not bled properly
2) Clutch master cylinder not adjusted properly
3) nipple formed between clutch slave and fork (probably not since you changed your slave)
-heres where it gets harder
4) clutch fork worn out on pivots
5) throwout bearing on its way out (probably not, it'll make lots of noise if this were the case)
6) Pressure plate fingers worn(?)
7) Splines on input shaft gritty/dirty

Anything after "3" will require at least cracking apart the trans from the engine block.

Anything after 4 will require removing the entire transmission.

I'd try to rebleed everything, check your master cylinder adjustments...and then if those dont work out for you, pick up a new clutch kit and get to work!

 

My money is on 1.....but 2 is an option as well. How soon after the fluid change, Honda MTF is fine by the way, did you start noticing the issue? Did you check the fluid level in the reservoir?

Utah

 

I always post on the ap1 trans issue threads because i have a sticky issue too but really only when the car is cold... anyway, how you mentioned you may have slipped the clutch a by accident? I read a thread saying when a guy did that some debris came off the clutch and created a block of somesort where the clutch disengaged. He said a mechanic pulled the trans, cleaned it and it was perfect...

 

Well, given the fact that I've bled the line three times and did the Master Cyl install per the FSM it is most likely the clutch. While shifting, it got particularly bad today when the disc decided to engage the flywheel partially causing an upset in the back-end (wet as hell today) and almost caused me to wreck.

So she's going into storage until I can drop the bank to do a clutch.

 

if you tackle the job yourself with a few friends, its possible to do it for as little as 500 bucks (flywheel, exedy clutch kit, bearings). There is a good DIY on the sticky at the top of the forum for it.

Good luck, hope you get it sorted out

 

My money is on choice "1" Its not hard to accidently let those bubbles in and they can make shifting feel weird.

 

if you bleed master slave cylinder and let the cylinder go empty, that will introduce more air into the system.