Hey guys I need some advice.

At Summit Point-JC (Speedtrial USA track day) I started to have some clutch issues. On my second run on track(with Warren instructing) I was having difficulty shifting. So much so that on my next two runs I just left the car in 3rd gear. I was able to drive it home, still having difficult shifting. Today, when I tried to go to the market I absolutely couldnt shift into any gear and had to leave it in a parking lot. A friend and I came back for it later and started in 1st and drove it home in 1st. We bled the clutch to see if it was just that there were air bubbles in the lines but we still had the same problem. One thing I found weird as we were bleeding the clutch was that when I'd let off the clutch when my friend closed the bleeder valve, it didn't spring back up. I'm not sure if that's relevant.

The best way to describe what I'm experiencing is that the clutch will not fully disengage when I put the pedal in. It isn't slipping because when I have been able to get it into gear I accelerate without incident. Could it be that I need to adjust the clutch pedal? If so could any of you describe how to do this.
At any rate I'm wondering if any of you have an idea of what the problem is, and whether or not I could fix it myself. I guess now would be a good time to order the factory service manual...

Thanks in advance,
Gerald

I had a problem with my GSR that I guess sounds similar. I had to push the clutch further and further to get it to disengage (over the course of a week), then one morning driving to work I would push it to the floor and I couldn't get it into gear. Took it to the shop, and I think they said it was the clutch slave cylinder (something like that, I don't know crap about clutches ). Apparently they go out more in hot weather, as the shop does one or two a week in the summer. It gets a little warm in Arizona during the summer months.

yep sounds like master or slave cylinder has gone out.. many times when one goes, you have to replace both.. depending on its condition, since you'll be plunking down money anyway, you might want to replace your clutch too.. anytime you change the amount of travel the master or slave piston sees through its cylinder, you run the risk of tearing the seals, and it therefor going out on you..

I think I have bad news for you; I have seen this happen to 3 other Hondas at the track; all three times it turned out the same; one of the springs that is part of the clutch disk assembly has ripped out and is jamming your clutch up..... ask Matt Bookler; I think his Prelude was one of the ones I saw do this up at the Glen...

good luck

Todd

The release spring has gotten stuck in the throwout bearing. THis is not related to the hydraulic system at all. Go get a new clutch. This happened to me as well. 2/3rd of the friction surface left, too.

Argh, my clutch had so much life, so much ahead of it. Alas, it must go .

You guys and the guys in the Integra forum and vtec.net all said something similar so I imagine that is my only option. I took the car to the Honda dealer in town (Harrisonburg) and they quoted me at $270 for the labor on a clutch replacement. I want to order an ITR clutch from thepartsbin.com since I have to do it anyway. I wonder if the ITR clutch is demonstrably better than the GSR?

Although I was kinda sad that I broke something at my first track event I don't anticipate breaking anything else anytime soon. The car had 116K and never had the clutch replaced so I guess i was due.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out, thanks for the help.

-Gerald

I don't believe it is your clutch. I just had the EXACT same problem as you listed, I replaced my master and slave cylinder and removed air bubbles. I also used STP DOT 3, works well. No more problem, shifts nice and runs great! I could not get my tranny into gear until' my engine was at idle. It then was hard to shift, check for leaks in either of these parts, use nissin, best parts... Good luck!

116k is good =~) Bryan (VAtypeR 00) has gone through 1 stock and 1 exedy clutch and his car only has 14k on it =~) Damn drag racing

Only 14K and a new clutch, someone should teach that crazy bastard to shift faster. Just kiddin', I am sure he is a good driver. Maybe he should do some leg exercices to gain muscle so he can press the clutch... Haha.

did you figure out the problem yet?

interested in knowing. thanks.

Well, one critical factor that I missed in my original post was that the clutch was stuttering on engagement. It wasn't so bad when the problem first arose but I decided to go back to the dealer to examine the car further and it was more noticeable.

We tried to bleed the clutch again in the parking lot and the service manager yelled at us so we decided to take the car to a friend's apartment. On the way there I was able to shift but when I gave it some throttle the clutch stuttered and slipped at right around 6500 rpm. Again I couldn't shift so I had to turn the car off and restart it, but at this point I know the clutch has to be replaced. It seems like maybe some of the pressure plate fingers got bent. I don't know if it is due the plate already being worn (116K mi) and the heat created by shifting hard on the track caused the failure.

Really, I would have let my Honda dealer replace the clutch last week if they gave me a better explanation of what was going on. "Uh, the clutch needs to be replaced," is not a satisfactory diagnosis for my tastes, especially when I'm going to spend several hundred dollars because of it. And I still think they're wrong when the say I need to replace the flywheel. They say that the reason the clutch is stuttering is because the flywheel has hot spots on it. I've never heard of that before and its much more feasible that the pressure plate fingers are bent in my mind. Furthermore, everybodys been telling me that I do not need to replace the flywheel, that I could just have it resurfaced and Honda (and the nearest Acura dealer) insists that I buy another flywheel ($300).

I'll be calling them again today to try to resolve everything and I'll let you guys know what happened.

You don't need a flywheel, just get the one you got turned (like brake rotors_.. But when you do the clutch, its a damn good idea to put a lighter flywheel in at the same time, you can get a good one for 300$

Well, you are luckey it lasted that long. I would recommend an ACT performance clutch. Maybe stage 3 or 4? That would be nice...