My clutch isn't engaging!

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MarkJimenez99

Senior Member
I was at a complete stop at the stoplight today. When it turned green, I stepped on the clutch, shifted to first and started to gas to get the car moving. I slowly released the clutch and started to gas some more. I released the clutch completely and gas up and next thing I know, a large "pop" is heard. :eek: My car couldn't accelerate further so I had to stop.

Now, I cannot shift my car into gear. If I shift my car into first gear and release the clutch without gasing, my car does not die. You can hear my transmission trying to engage but it can't when I do this. I'm guessing that my throwout bearing blew. It was making a squeaky sound before. Perhaps it was because my flywheel was exposed. My tranny didn't come with a flywheel cover when I bought it. I doubt that my clutch is the problem.

Any thoughts or suggestions? What do you think the problem is? I wasn't even driving it that hard and I have a stage 2 Exedy clutch installed this year. I've never installed a clutch before and I'm thinking about fixing the problem myself. I just need some help and guidance.
 
ya, no flywheel cover will not do that.
and it was squeaking before? probably blew. i changed mine when it was squeaking and when i took it out one of the tabs on the throwout bearing was cracked, almost ready to break off. might be what happened to you. but did you check to see if your fluid level is still ok?
 
It could be the throwout bearing, but it could also be the clutch itself. My clutch blew on my escort in nov of 01 and luckily I still made it home 9 miles away... :eek:
 
Originally posted by B16@Dec 12 2003, 12:43 AM
and it was squeaking before? probably blew. i changed mine when it was squeaking and when i took it out one of the tabs on the throwout bearing was cracked, almost ready to break off. might be what happened to you. but did you check to see if your fluid level is still ok?
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How do you check the fluid? I'm pretty sure that it's not that because it made a loud pop like something broke. The Throwout Bearing was VERY squeaky so it has to be that.

Also, I highly doubt that it's my clutch because it's rated for 250 hp and my car isn't producing that much power yet.

Let's say that the throwout bearing broke. I wouldn't be able to move since the clutch isn't engaging, right?

How long does it typically take to replace the bearing? Do you know how much a throwout bearing costs?
 
Throw out bearings squeek like hell when they begin to fail! Yes you can still get the tranny of to replace the bearing. Go to honda and ask about getting a new bearing. I would recommend doing a flywheel and clutch at the same time(since it will be all apart anyhow)!
 
sounds like a bad axle, I had that problem, passenger side axle was fucked, would go in gear and if i did get it in gear then it would just rev like its in nuetral...forget that if you have LSD
 
Yeah but right when the axle goes you can hear it clicking and grinding. He never stated that. Its the throw out bearing, trust me!
 
Originally posted by 92civicb18b1@Dec 12 2003, 08:27 AM
ight then, well if it is the throw out bearing..get the flywheel cover and a new clutch.
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Do I really need that flywheel cover? I don't think I need to get a new clutch-just replace the throwout bearing or whatever's broken. I don't smell that burnt clutch smell and I just got it early this year. It's X-mas time and I still haven't done any shopping. hehe.

I appreciate the help guys.
 
i've been driving around with no flywheel cover for about 6 months now, i know many other people that do also, you don't need it.
 
Dude, I don't think I have time to work on this. I've got homework to work on this weekend. I'll probably pay someone to do it. Anybody in the bay area interested in making some money? It's cheaper paying someone to do it rather than a shop or I can buy you lunch. Let me know.
 
Who wants to make some money? I'll pay you at the very least $250. Of course we can negotiate and maybe bump that higher. That's some nice X-mas money in your pocket. Just give me a holla ASAP or I'll just take it to a shop and pay them instead of you.
 
what kind of car is it?

Hydro or cable?

If its hydro your master/slave might have gone. If so, you can verify it by looking down by the clutch and feel the carpet, if there is an abundance of brake fluid, your master is gone.

And If i were you I would go check out some junkyards for the clutch cover, its there to keep debris out and such, remember there are moving parts in there, sand/dirt etc can cause alot of problems.

I'd check the master/slave and if those are good 9 times out of 10 its the throw out bearing.
 
Originally posted by sisteve@Dec 12 2003, 12:32 PM
what kind of car is it?

If its hydro your master/slave might have gone. If so, you can verify it by looking down by the clutch and feel the carpet, if there is an abundance of brake fluid, your master is gone.

And If i were you I would go check out some junkyards for the clutch cover, its there to keep debris out and such, remember there are moving parts in there, sand/dirt etc can cause alot of problems.

I'd check the master/slave and if those are good 9 times out of 10 its the throw out bearing.
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It's a 99 civic with a b18b motor and b18b tranny. I'll check the clutch area under the carpet and the fluid level too when I go to my friend's house.

I might as well get that flywheel cover too.

Thanks for the help. :)
 
:lol: I finally decided to work on it myself along with a couple friends. I just finished my finals today and now I have time to work on my car. Some other friends (I'm not really close to) worked on it for awhile and managed to remove the axles. I was gonna pay them $200 for the whole job.

After while, they got stuck because they didn't have an air compressor and gun to remove a bolt. They bounced and said they would come back this Tuesday. I managed to find some tools and borrowed them from my friend's dad.

So I thought to myself, I should ask my close friend and bro to help me with the install now that we have the tools. So we worked on it for awhile and managed to get the tranny off.

:p Guess what we found out? The clutch was entirely burnt up. It was literally smooth. Geez, I better change my driving habits and try not to slip the clutch as much. Well, the clutch I had was an Exedy Race clutch and it wasn't meant for street use because it used a thinner layer of friction material(which half the thickness compared to stock).

I went with a way better clutch from ACT. It's the "ACT Performance Organic Street Disc with the Xtreme Pressure Plate." It should be way better. I'll let you know how it feels. I paid $449 for it.

We got the clutch on. Now we need to put everything back together. I hope we can finish it tomorrow.(I still gotta do X-mas Shopping). :eek:

Oh yeah, how much should I pay those other guys(3 of them)? All they mostly did was disconnect everything up to the axles and it took them about 2-3 hours. Let me know guys. Thanks. ;)
 
pay them a drink....they didnt do much..what they jack the car, take the wheels off and then the axles?
 
Um yeah! Stage clutches are very bad for the street! Yeah you can run them... but do you really think your cooler when you have a 6 puck disk! um nope... They burn up very quick! Hence the idea RACE CLUTCH. Anyways good job.. glad you got it fixed! Go with the full disc from ACT youll be happy!
 
don't over clutch a car and also consider that it could be your slave cylinder gone bad - we just had the same problem on our SCCA car, slave went poo poo.
 
Originally posted by h22bubbleback@Dec 21 2003, 01:51 PM
pay them a drink....they didnt do much..what they jack the car, take the wheels off and then the axles?
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They did that and disconnected some wiring harnesses from the tranny. It did take them like two hours to do that. I was in school while they worked on it. I feel kinda guilty so I feel obligated to pay them something. I haven't told them yet that we worked on it. I was gonna give them like $75. Is that too much? They really didn't do that much and they even removed some bolts that didn't need to be removed.

Anyways, we finished putting everything back together. I'm not too sure if we connected everything properly in terms of wiring. There are a couple wiring harnesses that are not plugged in. I remembered that there were a couple harnesses not connected before the swap.

Here's what we did: I grounded the chasis to the tranny, hooked up 2 harnesses to the tranny and connected the O2 sensor wiring harness from the cat. Does that sound right? Anything else that I should be hooking up?

Also, we are clueless to where we are supposed to ground the wire coming from the battery so it's just hangin there for now. Hehe, I need to replace the battery too. It's dead! :lol:

Do you guys know where that goes to? I would like to complete this project today. I miss driving my car. <_<
 
Originally posted by 92civicb18b1@Dec 12 2003, 07:20 AM
sounds like a bad axle, I had that problem, passenger side axle was fucked, would go in gear and if i did get it in gear then it would just rev like its in nuetral...forget that if you have LSD
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We finally managed to get the car running. The clutch seemed to have been working right. I shifted into gear, released the clutch and that sound was still there. Unfortunately, we were left back at square one. The car still wouldn't move. The problem still existed! :huh: The sound seems to have been coming from the left axle. So I removed the control arm and pulled the axle out. To my surprise, I looked inside and found that it was broken. What's weird is that I only found two bearing in that mess of grease. :eek:

It looks like you were right, buddy. Damn! Now I need to replace it. Where can I buy an aftermarket axle or should I buy a new one from the dealer? My b18b turbo is killin me. I'm just gonna buy one for the left side for now.
 
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