MoogieBoogie

Hi,

I have a 96 Civic LX 5speed sedan. It has about 265,000 miles on it. It's still on the original clutch, flywheel, etc. Nothing has ever been changed in the transmission, aside from the oil.

Yesterday, while driving home, the clutch would engage lower than where it would normally. By the time I got home, it was engaging nearly at the floor. There was little resistance pushing the clutch in to the half-way point.

Any idea on what this could be? I didn't hear any weird noises. I'm guessing that my throwout bearing is bad? About how many hours of labor am I looking at for this (from the dealer)? How much in parts (genuine Honda)? Anything else I should have fixed while they take the transmission out?

Sad to say, but I'm not sure if I should dump this car and get a new one or continue to fix it. It's been a good car and still runs great (aside from the current trans issue), but if I'm looking to spend over $1000 on this, I might just look for another car. Advice?

Thank you.
-Brian.

Syndacate

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MoogieBoogie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hi,

I have a 96 Civic LX 5speed sedan. It has about 265,000 miles on it. It's still on the original clutch, flywheel, etc. Nothing has ever been changed in the transmission, aside from the oil.

Yesterday, while driving home, the clutch would engage lower than where it would normally. By the time I got home, it was engaging nearly at the floor. There was little resistance pushing the clutch in to the half-way point.

Any idea on what this could be? I didn't hear any weird noises. I'm guessing that my throwout bearing is bad? About how many hours of labor am I looking at for this (from the dealer)? How much in parts (genuine Honda)? Anything else I should have fixed while they take the transmission out?

Sad to say, but I'm not sure if I should dump this car and get a new one or continue to fix it. It's been a good car and still runs great (aside from the current trans issue), but if I'm looking to spend over $1000 on this, I might just look for another car. Advice?

Thank you.
-Brian.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you do have a shop do it, I really wouldn't advise taking it to Honda. They'll do machine work on it....(when they ream out your ******* when it comes time to pay).

Honda trannies are common enough that I'm sure there's a shop by you that can do it for a lot less of the price.

You usually hear a TOB, though you said you didn't hear it.

It sounds as if you're losing clutch pressure and have air in the clutch lines. Possibly a broken clutch line or just got air in the lines by filling it wrong.

Try bleeding the clutch - see if you spot any areas on the clutch lines that are wet or leaking.

Chim Chim

Check your clutch fluid resivior... If it it's low, check for any obvious leaks... You might as well do a flush and fill to knock out 2 birds with one stone assuming there's no leak... See if that fixes your engagement issue before looking into the more expensive items like a failing clutch master cylinder or clutch slave cylinder... A bad bearing is usually accompanied with a grinding/whining noise...

MoogieBoogie

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check out the clutch reservoir first thing when I get home.

MoogieBoogie

The clutch fluid reservoir was a little low. Looking under the dash near the pedals, I can see fluid leaking from somewhere above the clutch pedal. Would this be the master or slave cylinder?

Thanks guys. You just saved me a whole ton in labor costs. If you're ever in the NYC area, drinks are on me.

hatchi

clutch master cylinder needs to be replaced.