Sottilde

Crossposted this at T-I. I need some opinions on this.

Got a good scare today in my 94 LS - 186k miles.

Over the past few days I've had my 2nd gear grind a little when shifting into it. No big deal, I thought, maybe I didn't have it in gear all the way or just shifted badly - let the clutch out too early. Didn't let it worry me.

I was taking a small turn and shifted into third and it grinded. Badly. I quickly hit the clutch, made sure it was in 3rd all the way, let go, and it grinded again. I did it again, still grinded, so I put it in 4th and kept going with a bit of sweat. From then, 3rd was just fine. Scratched my head on that one.

Was leaving the place I was at just 10 minutes ago and I turn the car on and there's a noise when the clutch is let out... sounds like a different sort of motor noise, or perhaps the kind of noise that two disks of sandpaper rubbing against each other very lightly would have. That noise always comes when I'm in a low gear, 1st or 2nd, and I let off the gas. Figured it was just normal, but I've never heard it when in neutral. I put the clutch in, still in neutral, and the sound spun away... it sounded like whatever was rubbing slowly stopped spinning.

Clearly disturbed, I was determined to limp it home. All gears were a tiny bit difficult to get in to, and 2nd made an increasingly high-pitched noise as rpms rose. It's the same sort of noise that the transmission makes as you accelerate faster in reverse... or at least that mine made. Now with all these problems (never owned an integra before this one) I'm beginning to think these noises weren't normal.

So 2nd was kind of fucked and kept making that noise... and going around a corner and downshifting to 3rd, the clutch seemed to slip and the car bucked. I stopped the car by the side of the road, turned it off, and ran the gearbox through all the gears three time without the clutch in, motor stopped. Car started coming behind me so I turned it back on and kept going, and there were NO problems from then on - even the noise when idle and in neutral was gone.

So I'm confused. I know there's something definitely wrong in that transmission, but it seems to go away with time, whatever that means...

What should I look at first? Fluids? Bearings? I don't know much of anything about transmissions or how to check anything so give me a newbie's response if you could.

Thanks guys, I appreciate this and hope I can get a quick reply. This is my only car :S


-Sam

Sottilde

Strange. I went to check the tranny fluid (which I have no idea how to do, and I didn't figure it out) and decided to turn it on and see what happens again... and nothing did. It's fine. It drives like always, I took it out for a few miles.

But I'm worried as to what this could've been, and if it might mess up again when the engine's cold. Keep those ideas coming, guys...

Dogginator

Have you checked the fluid level in the clutch master cylinder? Have you bled the system?

Sottilde

Wouldn't know how to do either of those...

Dogginator

Open your hood and look at the reservoir on the far right (drivers side) on the fire wall. It is smaller than your brake master cylinder. The cap is about 1.5" in diamater. Check the fluid level.

Sottilde

Unfortunately, it's nighttime... I'll get to it tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the help so far.

J-Coop84

after reading this post and notice similar symptoms. I discovered that I have the same probelm.

IT WAS THE CLUTCH FLUID.

IS IT BAD TO JUST FILL IT UP ONLY? (or should I just bleed the system out?)

I thought it was time to get a new clutch (125k on tranny & motor)

boostednlinefor

If the fluid got below the base of the reservoir then air probably got in the system and you would need to flush the system. If the fluid level is just down a little bit, adding some is fine.

Flushing it is very easy. Simply locate the bleeder screw (it may have a small rubber nipple on it) on your slave clutch cylinder (located under and just to the left of your exhaust manifold, on the front of the trans facing the front of the car. It has a small hard line going into it. If you followed the line it would go all the way back to the master cylinder [the thing with the small clutch fluid reservoir on top of it]). Loosen the bleed screw and fluid will come out. Keep the fluid reservoir full while someone pumps the clutch from inside the car. When all of the old fluid and air is out, hold the clutch down and tighten the bleeder screw. The clutch should now be at normal stiffness. Use a small piece of clear tubing from the hardware store to fit over the bleeder so you can see when there are no more air bubbles in the fluid (air in the system is bad and very hard to see without the use of a tube).

Low fluid or air in the system will not allow the clutch to fully disengage and will grind when you shift.