My wife's 95 Civic (manual) has been acting up on her. She said the pedal goes way down without much resistance and it's hard to get it to go in reverse. I drove it about a week ago and the clutch seemed fine, but went down to the garage and pushed in and it almost dropped right to the floor. What is causing this? Dead clutch? lack of fluid? Any help would be appreciated...and about how much does and OEM clutch cost (including installation labor)...thanks.

 

Check for leaks, bleed the fluid.

If the master cyl is bad you will see it leaking fluid inside the cabin by the floor under the dash or in the engine bay where it is mounted. If its the slave then its obvious, pull the boot back covering the clutch fork and peek inside @ the slave cyl boot and pull it back a little bit to see if its leaking.

 

usually if it wont go into reverse within 10 seconds the disk isnt being fully disengaged from the flywheel. the way to test this is start the car and let is get to running temp, then depress the clutch pedal and wait 10 seconds and try to put the car in reverse. that should give plenty of time for a smooth shift into reverse. most cars only take 3-4 seconds for the disk to stop spinning. a dragging clutch can be due to a bent clutch disk, the clutch bearing retainer, or to a slightly rusted input shaft. the pedal symptoms you are encountering are also common with a dragging disk. hope that helps.