** Update a little ways down **

I have never installed a clutch before but I figure if I can build and install a turbo kit I can probably tackle a clutch installation...

Last night I started taking things apart following my manual and the tutorials I have read on the internet...

I noticed that the bottom of my trany is an oily mess...





It has been like this for a long time and I have never been able to figure out where it's leaking from... I am not loosing any oil from my engine and my transmission was plenty full.... so I don't know where it's coming from.

Since I am pulling the trany to do the clutch, are there any seals or gaskets that I should be replacing in the process? I would like to stop this leak if I can!

I also noticed that I am missing the boot that goes over the "bitch pin"...



Could the leak be coming from there? I wasn't planning on taking the pin out, I was going to just leave the shift linkage connected to the tranny.... would it be worth it to replace the pin and get a new boot? Is it possible for the tranny to leak right there?

There also seems to be quite a bit of play in my shifter... and I would like to take care of that problem as well... I know my bitch pin is fine because I replaced it right after I bought the car three years ago... what else would be causing excessive play in the shifter?

Lastly, I got the passenger side axle out with no problems, but I'm having problems getting the driver's side ball joint free from the arm... I have a pickle fork that I shoved in there and tried to get it loose with but I think I might have damaged the ball joint in the process! ... you can see where the grease is coming out now...



So, does my ball joint look damaged? If it is, how do I replace it? And, do you have any helpful tips for getting that sucker free? I tried hitting the arm with a hammer, didn't work, and I tried using the pickle fork but I just damaged the ball joint. I don't really want to have to buy one of those fancy ball joint removing tools if I don't have to, but I guess I can if I can't get it any other way...

Sorry for the long post but I don't have anyone around to help me other than good old Honda-Tech!

**Cliff Notes**

- Any gaskets or seals to replace while doing the clutch?
- Should I replace the boot that goes over the bitch pin?
- Ball joint removal tips?

Thanks!


Modified by EJ1 wilcox at 3:43 PM 2/12/2005

 

1. There are no gaskets to replace when replacing the clutch. Do you ever have to fill up the tranny fluid? From the first picture it looks like tranny fluid, maybe it's the seal between the tranny housing and clutch housing (right where the drips are). Try cleaning everything off, then drive it for a day or so and check to see if you can pinpoint better where it's leaking from.

2. As far as the boot over the bitch pin is concerned, I wouldn't worry about replacing it. I'm pretty sure no tranny fluid can leak out of there.

3. For the balljoint problem: I always smack the side of the arm that reaches around to the bottom of the balljoint, then get a breaker bar and wedge it in between the arm and the metal part that the balljoint sits in. Wedge it in just to the right of where the balljoint is, it will just barely fit in. Then push up and down on it until it breaks. This way you don't have the touch the joint itself, and you won't damage it. However, do not hit the end of the bolt with a hammer. I've seen many people do that and mushroom the stud for the balljoint.

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=887859

This thread may be of some assistance.

 

That oil could be coming from the speed sensor located on top of the tranny towards the firewall. Im assuming this is a single cam, my old single cam did the same thing. Oil all over the place. Check your cv boots too could have leaked from there too.

 

check your rear main seal, its behind the flywheel

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ironcheftony &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check your rear main seal, its behind the flywheel</TD></TR></TABLE>

right. you should replace it when doing a clutch job. cheap insurance

 

How much play do you still have after replacing the spring pin?? I'm having the same problem but i just have a bolt and nut going through there right now. I was hoping the spring pin would solve the problem but now i'm not sure because of what you're sayin

 

Thanks for all the responses and advice!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by flood &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=887859

This thread may be of some assistance. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Kick ***! That's exactly what I was looking for...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LS95eg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That oil could be coming from the speed sensor located on top of the tranny towards the firewall. Im assuming this is a single cam, my old single cam did the same thing. Oil all over the place. Check your cv boots too could have leaked from there too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

There is no oil on the top of the transmission, and none around the VSS so I don't think it's coming from there... and my CV boots are good, I replaced both axles about a year ago...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ironcheftony &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check your rear main seal, its behind the flywheel</TD></TR></TABLE>

How can I know if it's leaking from there? Will it be obvious once I get the flywheel off? Would the oil be leaking onto the flywheel? When I installed my turbo I pulled the oil pan and had to remove the dust cover... I could see the flywheel and it was dry, there was no oil on it... If the rear main seal was leaking where would the oil be leaking to?

How hard is it to replace the rear main seal?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ****** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...From the first picture it looks like tranny fluid, maybe it's the seal between the tranny housing and clutch housing (right where the drips are). Try cleaning everything off, then drive it for a day or so and check to see if you can pinpoint better where it's leaking from...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Would this kind of leak cause the shift linkage to be all oily? You can see in the picture of the pin that there is oil all over it...

Thanks again!

 

Only 3 possibilities for that oil leakage...

1. Rear main seal (on block behind flywheel #26)


2. Input shaft seal (inside tranny, sitting behind throwout bearing #10)


3. Shift rod seal (#17 in picture below)

 

if it is the rear main seal, after u take off the fly wheel you will see the end of the crank and the seal is aroudn that, pretty visible, i believe its brown, it should be dry and clean looking, if you see any oil on it black oil dirty/ like the bottom of the tranny then replace it, if it looks bad in any way, replace it with a new honda seal

removing it is simple, i just pry and pick mine out and clean the surfaces and install a new 1 with a seal setter to evenly press it in, im sure you can put it in with out one cuz i have on other things, no leaks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ironcheftony &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">removing it is simple, i just pry and pick mine out and clean the surfaces...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wouldn't recommend using a pick as you may score the metal. I usually thread a screw into the seal itself and yank it out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BauleyCivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Only 3 possibilities for that oil leakage...

1. Rear main seal (on block behind flywheel #26)

2. Input shaft seal (inside tranny, sitting behind throwout bearing #10)

3. Shift rod seal (#17 in picture below)</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks, I'll check all of those!

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'll let you know what it was once I get it all fixed!

I hope to get the tranny completely out and the clutch and flywheel off tonight... then I can bring the flywheel into work tomorrow to get resurfaced...

 

mine looked jsut liek that when i did mine and it was my rear main seal that was leaking it didnt leak enough to make a difference when checkin my oil every so often but after tiem thats wat it will look like goood luck to ya

 

** Update **

Okay, so I finally got the tranny off... once I had a friend there to hold onto the transmission while I wiggled it off it was no bid deal...

I just got on my back under the transmission and lifted it off! Wasn't as heavy as I expected it to be...

Anyways, I got the clutch and flywheel off and replaced the rear main seal (once I had the flywheel off it was pretty obvious that the rear main seal is where my leak was coming from yay!)

I drilled into the seal and then screwed a small screw in and pulled it out... then I lubed up the new seal and used the old seal to gently tap the new one into place...

Here's my question! I was reading in my manual after I put the new seal in that I was supposed to measure how far the original seal was in there and tap the new one in the same distance!

Here's a picture of the distance I am talking about...



Is this okay? I just kinda gently tapped it into place and that's where it ended up... did I tap it in too far?

Also, what should I use to clean up the transmission? It's got tons of dust inside and oil on the out side... I want to clean it up really well before I reinstall it...

You can see all the dust and oil...



Thanks for all the help! I hope to get this all put back together with my new XTSS clutch early next week!



Oh, here's a picture of the car I just bought for my wife... just for fun!

 

xbox! brake cleaner should get that dust and crap off the trans.

 

Well next time so you know, you can wedge a craftsman ratchet in between the lower ball joint to get the ball joint apart. I'll try to search and find the topic. As far as the seal goes, remove the hole plate, and then tap it in all the way around.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ironcheftony &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check your rear main seal, its behind the flywheel</TD></TR></TABLE> This seems to be your "oily mess", well put. Have fun with that ****, never replaced one but it just seems like a bitch. I'm personally OCD about missing parts so I would install a new boot on the linkage. Now that I finally read the end of the post I shouldn't have even posted. You can get a small micrometer to take measurements like the one you speak of. The tolerances on Honda's are very tight so I like to put everything back together 100% legit by the book.

 

So, is there no way to make sure it is in there correctly without taking off the oil pan and the plate?

I took the old rear main seal out and put the new one in without taking the plate off... it said this was possible in my manual... I just need to know if I replaced it correctly...

If I pushed it too far in, I am going to have to buy another rear main seal and pull this one out... but I don't want to do that unless I am absolutely sure that I installed it wrong...

 

I remember there being a gap...it looks okay to me...just make sure that it is even all the way around...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by V-Tech Bauley &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I remember there being a gap...it looks okay to me...just make sure that it is even all the way around...</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's even all the way around but I just keep hearing different things and I don't know who's right...

 

** Update **

I got it all put back together and it works perfectly!

The clutch is a lot stiffer than stock and grabs like a ****! I almost killed it pulling it out of the garage!

The clutch is going to take me a bit to get used to but I like it so far. There don't seem to be any more leaks since I replaced the rear main seal but I am going to keep an eye on it just to be sure...

I just want to thank those who helped me out with this. I am happy that I was able to save on installation labor and learn a bunch in the process... Thanks!