Hi I have a 1993 Honda Accord Wagon with 235,000 miles on it. The original factory clutch was replaced at 227,000 miles on it. They machined the flywheel instead of replacing.

Clutch
After they replaced the clutch I drove around 1.5 gas tanks worth (450 miles or so) and the clutch started acting funny. These were mostly high way miles (I was driving basically 6 hours straight without disengaging the clutch). When I got there the clutch wouldn't engage without bucking (like it was lugging out) and I would have to give it extra revs to engage smoothly. I drove like that for a few hundred miles like that until I drove 2 hours 1 day, and at the end, it simply wouldn't engage (acted like a completely worn clutch) until I let it cool down, and then it would engage tentatively. I brought it back to where I got the clutch replaced, had it repaired under warranty. Now around 2000 miles later it is exhibiting similar behavior. The clutch won't grab at lower rpms (1.5k or so), or it lugs out. When I try to engage at 2k rpms it starts moving smoothly then suddenly grabs and bogs/lugs out. I have never had these problems with the old clutch which I drove for 227 thousand miles. On top of this these problems are not constant, but vary day to day. Temperature effects it (colder the worse it gets) but it happens randomly during warm days as well. Any ideas on what could be the problem? TIA

Engine
This generally doesn't have problems, and it has only had this problem around 4 times since the winter started. During the winter it wouldnt' start around 3 times (I think its an old battery, since its the original). It would turn over, start, and then sputter and die. I thought it was a cold engine having trouble starting in 5 F weather, although it had never happened before. Now it has started happening in 60-70 F weather. This might belong above in the clutch problem but there is a squeeking that is coming from the engine bay. At first I thought this was one of the belts, but searched around and it wasn't coming from the direction of any of them. But when I depress the clutch around 1 inch the squeeking goes away, and when it is fully engaged the squeeking returns.

My question is, is this the car just getting old, or is this something easily fixable? If it isn't something that could easily be fixed, or its just the inevitable then it might be time for a new car.

TIA

 

What repair was done after you brought the car back? Your clutch master cylinder or slave cylinder may be going out.

 

I called them today, and they said that they just adjusted the pedal travel, clutch engagement point. After that it was driving great for around 100 miles. then went slowly down hill from there until as I said before its acting like this. If the clutch cylinders were going wouldn't there be a loss of clutch fluid?

Now if it were just the engagement point I would say its just me being inexperienced...but I've been driving manuals for hundreds of thousands of miles with no problems, including switching between different cars, and never have had a problem.

Thank you

 

There may be a small loss in fluid, but minimal. Look under your dash at the seal on the clutch master cyl, see if it looks wet around there.