alowe336

On my 2003 Honda Civic Si hatchback, I just finished installing an Exedy OEM clutch kit and Chromoly flywheel. Now, the clutch has little to no resistance, and at first the pedal stayed on the floor. After pumping several times it came up further each time. When I shift, it feels like the shifter is making it into gear, but it doesn't go. Does not want to go in reverse, but I forced it and it went, but with some slipping. I heard a little pop when it went into gear, didn't sound very loud, but loud enough that I did hear it over the exhaust.

I had a friend help who claimed to be a mechanic for over 10 years, but when he insisted that you do all 3 bolts on one side of the clutch first, and then torque all 3 on the opposite side, I realized he doesn't know as much as he thinks (but he sure stripped it down quicker than me). But there were some things that I worry he may have messed up, or that insisted was the right way that may have been wrong...

​​​​​First he insisted there needed to be a solid bead of grease around the release bearing, not just a normal greasing, but like a bead like you would use when caulking and same on splines and pilot bearing. Is this right?

Next, does this sound like the clutch plate could have been put in backwards? I know we had trouble getting the tranny back to the engine all the way. We got it within about a quarter inch, and then tightened the bolts to pull it the rest of the way. We may have been able to get it together, but every time I asked him to help me lift and push on 3, when I got to 3 he just stood there looking at me like I was stupid. So we used the bolts to pull it the rest of the way, but I was very careful not to use hardly any force tightening the bolts (avoided using more than about 10ft-lbs of pressure) and we got it in like that. Could that have caused problems even though we were using that little amount of torque on the bolts?

He put the actual clutch plate in while I had stepped away, and had the bottom 3 bolts on the pressure plate nearly torqued down without any bolts in the top 3 holes. Does this sound like the clutch plate could be in backwards with the springs against the flywheel or that he may have warped the pressure plate?
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While doing the repair I noticed a lot of residue buildup on the transmission directly below the clutch line. I'm assuming it's a very slow leak in the clutch line. Going to replace that and work on that tomorrow.

The contact surface of the actual clutch plate did not feel like the old one, it felt a lot like a hard plastic-like styrofoam material, but the EBAY seller has excellent feedback, so I went ahead and installed it. It's supposed to be an organic clutch I think, so is this normal? Or did I get a fake knock off?

I know the slave cylinder spent a lot of time above the reservoir so I think any air in the line is stuck there.

But does this sound like I could be over reacting and it might just be a lot of air in the lines causing all of the problems? It feels like it's going in gear when I shift, just absolutely no pull in any gear except reverse.

Thanks so much for advice and helping figure out what to do differently. If I redo this
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bbarbulo

sounds like the clutch disk went in backwards. i boned myself once changing the clutch in my 2003 pathfinder, i looked at the disk, determined which way is correct, put it on my chest and slid under the car, except when I picked it up off my chest I picked it up backwards and thus... installed it backwards. same as you, had trouble getting it started, went in a little bit, so I 'pulled' it tight with the bolts - HUGE MISTAKE. it goes together without the bolts, THEN you put the bolts in. anyways, after all was said and done, I had to remove the trans again, and I found that the trans input shaft caught the splines and when I put the bolts in, the clutch disk bent and cracked. So new clutch disk again, and all was well.

bbarbulo

also, a BEAD of grease????? fu(k NO!! absolutely not! a light smear of grease, barely a film otherwise you risk contaminating the friction disk, pressure plate, or flywheel.

alowe336

What about the clutch material feeling like a hard plastic styrofoam-like material. It feels like the stuff they use for the soles of walmart tennis shoes. Like a cheap imitation rubber.

alowe336

UPDATE -- pulled it all apart, and I do not see anything wrong... clutch plate was in correct direction, and no grease on flywheel or pressure plate' contact surface. Please help!

bbarbulo

look at the clutch disk carefully. mine looked ok too, but when i looked closely it was bent and had cracks in the plate. post some pictures. is the hard plastic styrofoam packaging material meant to protect it? have you tried pulling it off?

I don't know about the material looking like a tennis shoe. every clutch I've ever done has looked the same, like pencil graphite with threads mixed into it and metallic specs.

post pics please so we can try to help

alowe336

Well, I've got it pulled, reinstalled the clutch, and have the engine nearly mated to the tranny now (it's snug up top, but there is about 1/8 inch gap at the bottom). I did it with the passenger side axle still in place, so it seems like the axle and input shaft aren't aligning perfectly, so I'm going to get the driver side motor mount in just finger tight so it has wiggle room, and tap the bottom with a wood block to get enough pressure to get it in place without messing anything up. I compared the material from the new clutch to the old clutch, and they seemed similar, it just seems to be a more finished outside that is a lot more slick than the old clutch, but the material does feel close the the same. This is only my second clutch, and I thought the material was supposed to be closer the ceramic brake pads, but I guess I was wrong.

I gave the clutch and pressure plate a very thorough inspection before reinstalling, and everything looked great. The only sign of use, wear, etc, was a faint line where the release bearing made contact.

I forgot to mention, when I finished the first botched installation, all forward gears were slipping--well the clutch was not engaging at all, but it was very difficult to get it in to reverse, and when I did force it in reverse, the car took off in reverse fairly fast for about 5 ft, and then their was a pop, and then slipping, then a surge for about 5 ft, and then nothing, again...

I'm worrying I may have a tranny problem now. Is there a way to check and see if the clutch is engaging the main shaft at alll? Will this work: manually turn crank pulley nut by hand to see if there is movement in the axle. I tried spinning axle with the shift lever in gear, but I guess the differential just makes the other side spin as of right now. But what would be the safest way to test to make sure this second attempt is not botched before reinstalling everything? I suspect my problem may have had something to do with my slave cylinder--the push rod's natural position on the old one, is about .5 to 1.0 inches further out than the new one. But if I can test the tranny and engine to see if the clutch is engaged, it would be very helpful. Thanks

JPat

Head scatcher forsure. keep us updates

bbarbulo

you are using a clutch alignment tool, right? I sure hope so...

anyways, yes, you can snug up like two bolts between the engine and transmission, remove the spark plugs from the engine to remove compression, then crank it over by hand by the crank pulley while in gear and with the clutch up (rather, slave cylinder not attached). once you are satisfied the clutch is engaged and you see axles turning while cranking the engine by hand, you can install the slave cylinder and bleed it. then have someone push the pedal while you crank the engine and observe the trans disengage.

i don't think your issue in internal to the trans. manual transmissions make a ton of noise before they fail to the point of not moving anything. but that's a just a best guess not knowing the history of your transmission.

alowe336

I've never had any major problems with the tranny. When clutch issues started, it started being difficult to get into 3rd gear, then had to slip shift all gears. When I removed old clutch, it had a broken spring, and parts of the clutch plate that holds the springs in was wedged in and stuck in different places around the clutch plate and pressure plate.

94EG8

No you don't tighten pressure plate bolts like that. Snug them up in a crisscross pattern, then go back around to tighten them to their final torque, again in a crisscross pattern.

You want a very small amount of grease on the input shaft of the transmission, something high temp. And a little bit on the aluminum snout of the bell housing where the release bearing slides. Don't put any grease on the front of the release bearing.

Don't pull the transmission together with bolts unless you're absolutely sure that the reason it isn't moving is because a dowel pin is rusty or there's corrosion in the hole it's going into.

You can't put a Civic clutch in backwards. It is physically impossible, it can be done on some other vehicles though.

alowe336

Ok, after replacing all clutch hydraulics, and scratching my head for almost 2 weeks and pulling it apart and reinstalling, it finally dawned on me that I could remove the shift fork cover and use the camera on my phone to view what was going on in there. It didn't take long for me to recognize that the release bearing had slid too far down the input shafts and was pinched in between the pressure plate diaphragm and the smooth part of the input shaft, keeping the clutch from ever fully engaging. I don't see how I did this twice, considering I pulled the release bearing all the way back towards the tranny before lifting the tranny into place, but I guess all of the twisting and shaking and pushing moved the release bearing towards the end of the input shaft before I got it all together.

bbarbulo

that's a pain in the ****, good job finding that!!

My gas saver

Im having a similar issue. But it doesn't move while in ANY gear. I don't understand how the transmission can "go into gear" without the clutch in the first place??