90 EX D16Z6 swap tranny issues

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nhgarcia

New Member
I have a 90 Civic with a D16Z6 swap. Still have the stock 90 ex tranny. I replaced the clutch a month ago and after about 500~600 miles i started noticing that the car stays stuck in 1st and 2nd gear sometimes....even 3rd. I can stop and push in the clutch but the car keeps moving. It will not die but it is almost like the clutch will not disengage. I have to shut it off and pull it out of gear or just yank the shifter really hard or i will not stop at stop lights. The transmission does grind a bit especially when downshifting. Also noticed that when i shift hard into second the clutch appears to slip but it never smells like burnt clutch...i am kind of stuck.

When i changed the clutch I changed the flywheel and both bearings too... I have checked the clutch cable and it seems to be ok.

Any ideas?
 
It could be over tightned.

Get two people, one on the car and one adjusting the clutch cable, loosen it off really good, then slowly make it tighter while the person inside tries it once in a while.

In my opinion I really I think it has to do with the clutch cable.

In my dads EF we had to buy a new cable because his was streched and it wouldn't engage the clutch enough and he had the same symptoms you have.
 
checkout your linkage. also do you hear any excessive noise when the clutch is engaged? Potentially throwout bearing maybe? i don't know if that would cause that, but was it replaced when you did the clutch?
 
Yeah, bearings were replaced. Would a bad tranny cause the gears to stick like that? It grinds...
 
it really sounds like something loosened up or fell out causing some sort of jam. keeping you from disengaging the clutch.

For me I have little experience in that area. Checkout that cable to make it dint stretch out or something.

I honestly wouldn't know to go from there everything else checks out. Pulling the transmission would be my next step then inspecting the clutch/flywheel. Then moving to other parts of the transmission. I know on most cars if you have the drive wheels in the air, the wheels will slowly spin with the engine running when its not in gear, but do not have enough power to really move the car. This is due to the normal friction in the transmission.
 
Well the only thing that was kind of wierd when I put it back together is the spring on the shift linkage in the transmission (not sure what to call it). Is is where the throwout bearing goes. Anyway it was kind of tricky getting it to go together. You think that could these symptoms.
 
Put new cable on. Clutch feels different but still does the same thing.

Also found a thread about a broken clutch pedal but I checked and everything is ok.
 
Now I can barely push the damn clutch in. This is pissing me off. Any clues as to what may be wrong? I am probably going to drop my transmission tomorrow.
 
Maybe you out the clutch disc in backwards. Not the pressure plate but the clutch it self, there is a front and back to it.

When you pull the tranny inspect that before you buy a new tranny.
 
I didn't know you could put them in backwards. Then again I always made sure to put things back in as it was recommended. That too I haven't had to replace a clutch in quite a while. I'm really thinking it has to do with something with the pressure plate.


Come to think of it. what clutch flywheel and pressure plate are you using.
i know the d series are interchangeable. but if you are using the z6 flywheel use the z6 clutch and pressure plate. and if you are using the a6 flywheel use the a6 clutch and pressure plate.

I keep hearing there are differences and never bothered to check since I used all my A6 components when i did the swap.
 
Using all A6 components. I am pretty sure I looked at the clutch and it said what direction to put it in but I can't remember. I will find out later today. Gonna drop the trans this evening.

I parked my car last night because the clutch will no longer move right. If I push the clutch in (really hard) the pedal gets stuck and releases slowly...takes like 3-4 seconds.
 
if your having to press hard there may be some odd obstruction or some issue with the lever itself on or in the transmission.

Wish the best of luck on getting this fixed. I'm pretty much out of suggestions.
 
It's fixed. The spring on the release arm was broken so the throwout bearing was getting stuck. I did go ahead and swap out the transmission because I already had one and it was from an Si.

Since the release arm wasn't working properly, could that have done any damage to the new clutch that only has <1000 miles on it?
 
if anything i would say there would be more potential to damage your transmission syncros and gears.

the only way I can think of to mess up the clutch really would be if there was excessive pressure or lack of pressure. and it doesn't seem like either one was present. Inspecting the fingers on the pressure plate would be a good idea, make sure none are bent up or missing, even though I doubt it happening.

glad to hear you got it straightened out though ^_^
 
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