GSaura

I love my car, but I think it hates me. I've never heard a clutch die nor have I had one give out on me, so I don't know what it sounds like or feels like.

My car didn't want to start today when I got in it to go get a haircut. It's a 1995 civic coupe with a 1998 b18c1 motor and transmission in it. There's about 55 grand on the transmission and I've never had any problems with it. I almost always baby the car, though I have raced it a couple of times - none recently.

When shifting into second the car kinda bogged a little bit, and I was like, what is going on? I got all the way to the procuts, got my haircut, came out, and started the car. It started right up but stalled out in first gear. Just kind of bogged. I started the car again and it seemed to idle fine in neutral. Everything sounded cool with clutch in and out, but when I put the shifter into any gear, the motor would bog and die, even with the clutch pedal to the floor.

When the car died it made this nasty death groan sound, so I decided not to drive it anymore and got it towed to my house. Do these symptoms sound like my clutch is dead, or could it be something else?

Bense

to see if your clutch is bad, go up a hill while going like 30-40 mph and put it in 4th gear and push the pedal to the floor. If your RPMs climb while your MPH stays the same, you need a new clutch.

00Red_SiR

Almost sounds like the clutch isn't fully dissengaging when you have you clutch pedal all the way down, causing the flywheel, clutch disk and pressure plate to make enough contact to stall the car out. I had something like that happen to me before but I use to have real difficulty getting the car into any gear while the car was running but you said you don't??

GSaura

No trouble getting the car into gear whatsoever. I have no idea what is wrong.

I hear what you're saying about the rpms going up and the mph staying the same, but since it happened in a parking lot and died, there was no way I could test it out. It doesn't feel like a clutch. I think something is seriously FUBAR because the car didn't want to start.

Y'all think this is a transmission issue or an engine issue or maybe both? Blech.. I don't even want to think about this anymore.

GSaura

Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I said I had the car towed to my house a couple of hours ago. Well, it hadn't been towed yet. I was setting it up. I just didn't figure it would be a problem, but it took two hours and two different trucks. Rush hour sucks

The guy in the first tow truck didn't speak english very well, so he was trying to push the car back by pressing on the carbon fiber hood. I was like,"Don't push it from there!" And he was all like, "I don't speak English so I'm going to keep pushing on your hood until it breaks."

Then the idiot pulled part of my bumper off trying to get it hooked up to the truck. I just want this to end.

00Red_SiR

If you're not having any trouble selecting gears then I doubt it's a tranny problem. I would have a look at the ignition system....the ignitor and/or coil tend to be troublesome in Honda's as they age and can cause trouble similar to what you've described. Good luck

GSaura

I have an MSD 6a ignition system, MSD cap and a Blaster coil or something... can't remember. I was thinking that it might be something faulty in the ignition system. It felt sort of like REALLY fouled plugs when it was bogging in gear on the road, that watery hrrrrrn sound?

Basically, I think we can agree it's not the clutch, so I'm not even going to mess with it. I'm gonna go pull my plugs, check all the connections to the ignition system, and see if there are any glaring errors. If I can fix very easily it tonight, sweet. If not, I don't even want to mess with it.

Redline96LX

TO check if your clutch is bad:

Put the car on a slight incline, put it in 2nd gear, with the clutch in (right foot on the brake of course). Dump the clutch. Your car should jerk and stall. Thats for testing if your clutch is slipping, looks like your problem is elsewhere in the transmission, but might want to check your Idle Air Temp and IACV, etc.

GSaura

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Redline96LX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">TO check if your clutch is bad:

Put the car on a slight incline, put it in 2nd gear, with the clutch in (right foot on the brake of course). Dump the clutch. Your car should jerk and stall. Thats for testing if your clutch is slipping, looks like your problem is elsewhere in the transmission, but might want to check your Idle Air Temp and IACV, etc. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'll check that stuff out, but I don't think those are the problem. I hope it's nothing too difficult to diagnose. Do the IAT and IACV receive signals from the transmission? The car will idle just fine (clutch in/ clutch out) unless the car is in a gear (clutch in). Then it dies.

I would do the slight incline test if I could, but the car won't idle in gear.

Thanks for your help

I am mystified. How do the engine and transmission communicate? When you put the car in gear, how does the motor know? Is there only a mechanical connection (clutch, pp, flywheel) or is there an electrical connection that lets the engine know which gear it's in via a sensor? There's no vacuum connection right? There isn't any more of a load on the engine at idle with the car in gear or out of gear.

I cannot figure out while the engine responds so much to the transmission if it isn't the clutch.

EDIT: I just clarified my post a little bit. and added a question.


Modified by GSaura at 7:25 PM 8/30/2004

sacicons

i had a similar problem with my b16 swap. i was driving home from work and when i pushed in the clutch and pressed the brake, it tried to stall. i figured out that the clutch wasnt disengaging pretty quick and popped it into neutral and coasted into a parking lot. when i tried to start it in gear with the clutch pushed in, it would jump forward. so i limped it home and took out the tranny. as i was checking the torque on the pressure plate bolts, i was rotating the flywheel and heard something make a *tink* inside. well, i took off the pressure plate and sure enough, one of the springs had broken out of the hub and fell down and locked the pressure plate and clutch together. I would check that out if i were you. if you can afford it, i'd just throw in a high-po clutch and see if anything was broken in there.

Redline96LX

There is no computer controlling the tranny. And none on the engine, except the idle air control, and it controls the fuel, basically what I'm sayin is that its obviously a physical problem you've got. Sounds like the clutch. Could be friction somewhere, hows your tranny fluid? Maybe its not the clutch disc, could be the clutch, maybe pressure plate, bearing, fork, i dunno. I'm not a professional mecahnic yet, without lookin at it, I dunno. Ask a expert on B series trannies I guess. Sorry I can't help.

dpw41285

def not your clutch, almost sounds like your starting out in the wrong gear (although i am sure your not) with the motor bogging like that

GSaura

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Redline96LX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There is no computer controlling the tranny. And none on the engine, except the idle air control, and it controls the fuel, basically what I'm sayin is that its obviously a physical problem you've got. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah. I figure it has to be a purely mechanical issue, so it's in the trans. It's just that it's such a strange problem -- seems like no one's had these exact symptoms before. I've calmed down a bit, and I might just pull the tranny tonight since I'm gonna take the day off from work tomorrow.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dpw41285 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">def not your clutch, almost sounds like your starting out in the wrong gear (although i am sure your not) with the motor bogging like that</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah. That's kind of how it acted except for the death groan when the car died, but you were right about me being in the proper gear. Thanks for the input, though.

sinister2c

low on clutch fluid?

CaTiRo

is the clutch fluid brake bluid?

CaTiRo

is the clutch fluid brake fluid?

GSaura

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00Red_SiR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you're not having any trouble selecting gears then I doubt it's a tranny problem. I would have a look at the ignition system....the ignitor and/or coil tend to be troublesome in Honda's as they age and can cause trouble similar to what you've described. Good luck </TD></TR></TABLE>

This guy was totally right. My coil was bad and it was killing the car when just idling in gear. Weird problem but it's all ironed out now. Just figured I should finish this off in case somebody searches for this crap.

Muchas Gracias, 00Red_SiR

chad

i replaced mine when it went out.....exedy organic....love it!