Extremely soft new clutch
 

Hey guys, have not been on here in a while. I have a 1996 Civic DX that I just did a clutch job on as the old clutch was starting to slip under hard acceleration. The vehicle has 160k on it and this is the first clutch job I believe. I installed an Exedy clutch and flywheel kit, nothing fancy just the OEM kit.

It took me about 8 hours (its my first clutch job) but everything went together pretty easily. I noticed that the pedal is extremely soft and engages fairly high. It is actually quite difficult for me to drive it. I flushed the hydraulic system as the fluid was completely black. I used a pump to suck about 1.5 of the small bottles through the system until it was coming out clean. This slightly helped the feel of the pedal, but its still very soft and engaging high.

The CSC was replaced last year I believe. The CMC has never been replaced to my knowledge, I purchased this car with 70k miles on it. I checked the whole system and cannot find any leaks. I checked behind the clutch pedal, around the CMC both inside and outside of the car, the lines are all clean, the CSC has no leaks.

Could the CMC be failing without any external signs? I purchased a new one and will try installing that this week. If the CMC was failing and not creating the right amount of pressure, would the car still shift and drive fine? There is no slipping or grinding, it is really very smooth and seems to drive fine except the pedal feels extremely soft on the way down and on the way back up.

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

sounds like mine which for me is normal i have a stage 2 clutch and it does not engage until the top 1/4 inch of the pedal and when i push the clutch in it disengages in the same 1/4 inch im not sure if the oem clutch is the same or not it was a pain in the ass to get used to but alot better after

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

if it drives fine, I wouldn't worry about it. every civic/integra I have driven has had a high pedal.

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

I installed an exedy OE clutch and a competition flywheel on my 98 ex. I was extremely unsatisfied by how late it let out. I adjusted the petal as far as I could without having to lift the petal with my foot to let cruise control work and it still disappoints me. I asked a friend who has dealt with anything from a k20 swapped hatch to mostly stock civics like yours and mine. He said it was a mistake going with the exedy clutch. All he uses is Competition clutch products. He said they grab much harder and earlier than exedy. I even wore mine in for 1k miles and I still felt like I made the wrong move buying the exedy...

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

btw I also bled the heck out of my system thinking that must be it! I was wrong, the oe exedy clutches are just crap :(

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

Man that sucks Gplus. I read online and spoke with people and everyone seemed to agree that Exedy made the best OEM clutch and flywheels. I will try adjusting the pedal and see if I can get it decent.

So am I correct in assuming that if there was something actually wrong with the CMC or the clutch or anything else in the system, it would probably have more severe symptoms? Such as slipping or something? I drove it around for 10-15 minutes, trying to accelerate as hard as my little D series can and even drove it up a mountain to try and see if it would show any other issues but it performed just fine. I may replace the CMC, hose and reserve tank anyways since I have the new equipment, its all looking really rotted and dirty.

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

lol. there's nothing wrong with their clutches, as they are the OE manufacturer. Grabbing hard has nothing to do with the brand. You bought an oem style clutch. That's your fault if it's not what you're looking for.

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

I would completely agree with you if the factory clutch felt like this but it didn't which tells me that something might be wrong with the system. I'm not complaining about how it feels, I am just trying to figure out if it is functioning properly. I do not want to have an issue with it a year or two from now because it hasn't been disengaging fully or something.

Did you read all the posts here Kyden? No one said anything about it grabbing hard, it just feels extremely loose and grabs high...

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

I've installed multiple exedy clutches in civics and integras, they are great but like others have said if you want a stiffer pedal feel you should have gone with a more aggressive pressure plate and disc setup.

There is some pedal adjustment just don't go overboard
https://i42.tinypic.com/23jihee.png

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

did YOU read all the posts? someone else mentioned it.

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

There is a reason why people say to go with an act or competition clutch. Many of my friends have found the same. I will agree their stage one feels stiffer, my friend has it in a 99 sedan, but it still lets out high. I installed a "Federated auto parts" oe replacement clutch in my old 96 coupe and it let out better and sooner. All I'm saying is that I'm not a fan of exedy clutches.

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

Try adjusting the pedal like "HondaPartsHero" said. That will make the pedal throw smaller which will make it seem like it lets out lower. It's really best to keep the throw and height as close to the suggested measurements as possible. I tried to adjust mine down so it would grab lower and I was having to pull the pedal up with my foot to get cruise control to work..To much freeplay. Good luck!

Re: Extremely soft new clutch
 

If the CMC is failing, a simple way to check is to put the car in neutral while running, pump the clutch pedal rapidly several times, then put the car in 1st gear and take off. If the clutch engages at a much lower pedal level then you have a CMC problem. If it feels exactly the same then the CMC is fine. *BTW the soft clutch feel is fairly normal and should feel better after some driving, its the high engagement you should mostly be concerned about and should be corrected by playing with the adjuster rod.