The_Honda_Guy

I was driving the car yesterday back to my apartment from the store. On the way back I decided that I'd like to see how much different the car is at higher RPM's than my girlfriend's 97 DX MTX (had never driven a VTEC EG before). I took off slowly from a stop sign, revved it up to about 6,000 RPM's, and then proceeded to shift to 2nd. I shifted into 2nd a little harder than I normally do (most of the time I drive very conservatively - shifting around 3,000 RPM's) and when I let out the clutch it felt like something let loose. I pushed the clutch back in but was unable to shift between gears. I realized then that I'd have to power shift it (run it to higher RPM's to try and mate the gears better) without using the clutch since I didn't have any other choice. I was able to do this and get it back to the apartment.

Once I was back at my apartment I let the clutch out in all the gears but the car wouldn't move. I noticed that the pedal felt really funny and looked down to see the slave cylinder spewing fluid out of it. I figured that possibly the slave cylinder had gotten stuck and was holding the plate away from the disc which was allowing me to let the clutch out in all the gears. I went ahead and changed the slave cylinder with a new one and bled it all through (old one was definitely shot, would not retract or extend correctly). Started the car and put it in first gear but still no movement in any of the gears.

My thoughts at the moment are that the disc pretty well exploded. I had noticed lately that I could feel the clutch chatter slightly when taking off in 1nd gear and that the release point seemed kind of high. Also, I thought I could see a small piece of the clutch material near the clutch fork and I could sometimes smell burning clutch. I figured if I had destroyed the transmission, differential, or driveshafts that it would have made some much uglier sounds whereas I had no bad sounds.

My question is this - is there any way to tell if it's the clutch for sure without pulling the transmission? Anything else I could do to diagnose the problem?

92ehatch

if you are seeing clutch material and smelling a burning clutch then that should clue you in to a destroyed clutch.

what probably happened is, that slave cylinder failed and burnt the clutch up.

just put a new clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel in. or if its a stock flywheel you can have it machined

itsmejto

check the slave push rod is actually moving the clutch arm (look under the rubber boot)
Does it feel ok to your foot or different to usual ? it may just be ajustment now, hoping your clutch is still ok. I'ts odd a leaky slave would cause your clutch to dissintegrate.
But then if you don't normally high rev your engine, it just may have fallen to pieces from centrifugal forces and the slave leaking was just a coincidence.

The_Honda_Guy

I'm wondering if the clutch was just getting weak and that final hard shift is what killed it. Like I said, I noticed lately that it had been chattering when taking off in first gear and that the engagement point was starting to get high, indicating that the disc was worn down. I could have very well been the original clutch in the car. I don't think the slave failed and caused the clutch to burn up, I'm thinking more that the clutch somehow got stuck and ****ed the slave cylinder up. The pedal seems to feel fine, but I've got no engagement between the motor and trans. Before I changed the slave the pedal felt really mushy, obviously because it was leaking hydraulic fluid. Yes, the slave is moving the clutch fork in and out, I can see that by taking off the boot. I'm hoping it's just the clutch and not the trans, but like I said, if it was the trans, diff, or axles that had broken I would have heard some bad sounds. I'm thinking that probably what happened is that the hard shaft basically just shattered the disc since it was so worn. I'm going to do some more investigating today.

EG_Warped

I'm retarded to some degree *** Reading is fundamental *** sorry lol i got ahead of myself... based on what you described its probably the clutch...

when you try to put it in gear does it grind quite a bit?

The_Honda_Guy

No, no grinding going into any gears. It's shifts smoothly with no problems. You don't need to touch the clutch pedal to shift between gears, and you can clearly tell it's going into different gears by the sound when shifting. Like I said, I'm believing that the disc basically exploded. I'm pretty sure I saw a piece of the clutch material laying near the shift fork when I changed the slave cylinder.

Now my next question - which clutch kit should I go with? I'm thinking I may go with an Exedy OEM replacement clutch. I used that setup in my RX-7 and had good luck with it. I know that if I was going to turbo this car or add a lot of HP with it I would need a stronger clutch, but I plan on doing simple bolt-ons since this car will be a daily driver and needs to remain reliable and good gas mileage. If I were to turbo it that would be a long time from now, not to mention that if I did, I would be pulling the stock motor and replacing it with one built for a turbo setup instead of the 190k mile motor that's in it now. I know that higher stage clutches are usually a copper face instead of organic too which causes accelerated wear on the flywheel and have a much harsher engagement. Also, aftermarket flywheels generally are less weight, meaning that the transmission has to suck up more of the impact from clutch engagement. Thoughts?