albertdominguez

OK... So I have a 2002 Civic with a manual transmission. Would not engage into gear with or without clutch. Mechanic said it needs a clutch. Weird, but OK. Bought a clutch kit and began the job. Removed the hub bolts and LCM bolts. Can't separate the lower control arm ball joint. Tried a pickle fork, trashed the boot, tried a hammer, no good, tried the rachet trick, nothing. Need help. Don't know what to do next.

Please help,

Albert

lazlong

Best ball joint removal ever (no special tools needed): https://honda-tech.com/forums/acura-integra-6/popping-front-lower-balljoints-other-random-observations-887859/

It Wasn't Me

Ha! Nice find, lazlong.

lazlong

^^ Yeah, wish I had seen it about 20 years ago. lol

albertdominguez

I tried it. Not with a Craftsman rachet like i've seen but not working. I've been working on this for a few days now and still looking for a solution. Tried the BAH method and nothing. It's been sitting for 2 days with PB Blast soaking on it and still nothing. May work on it some more today.

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

Have you tried using a torch? It's kind of a "last ditch effort" move, but it could free up the seized components.

albertdominguez

Not yet. Gonna go pick up a soldering torch this week if I can't get it done today. (Waiting for payday). I hope it'll get hot enough.

It Wasn't Me

One of these?



Should work just fine. (by that I mean it should get hot enough)

albertdominguez

That's exactley was I was thinking. I'll try that and let you guys know. I think that'll do it but know I don't know. never had to go that far before. Thanks for the assist.

albertdominguez

Done. And I separated to drivers side also without damaging the boot or the joint. Now I can't get the damn transmission away enough to work on the clutch. Don't know how the hell I'm going to do this. I'll be working on this part for the next couple of days, I think. Oh well. I'll figure this out. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks

It Wasn't Me

From the FAQ's..

Not sure what happened to the alldata pictures, for some reason they're not appearing. (maybe it's just me?) But it does give you an idea of what you're supposed to do.

If I ever get around to changing my clutch, I'll try to keep it in mind to make a new DIY with actual pictures.

albertdominguez

Ok.. So I must have made a retarded move somewhere. I began reassembling the car today. (I don't have much time so I do it little by little) Would have been able to fire it up, but ran into a snag. After connecting the clutch slave cylinder, I pushed the clutch pedal and it didn't come back up. I decided to quit before I called a wrecker to take this POS out of my garage. So, I work tomorrow and get off on Thursday morning. I'll continue then. I would like to find out if I have to take the damn thing apart again, or if it's something I can fix without having to do that crap again.

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

Did you bleed the clutch line? You need to re-fill and bleed the clutch line, if you haven't yet. It's tricky to bleed, but is necessary to get proper pedal response.

albertdominguez

I didn't disconnect any of the clutch lines. In an effort to avoid having to bleed it. I may go ahead and try that prior to disassembling the tranny all over again, but I don't think that's it. I think it has something to do with the throwout bearing and the lever it mounts to. We'll see.