I have a 1990 civic si with a b16 swap in it. I have had the motor swap for probably 1 year 3 months, and have had 0 problems with it. I noticed a problem that has suddenly occured lately.

-When I am at a dead stop and begin releasing the clutch while in gear to take off, I get a hard smack as soon as the clutch begins to engage. I feel it is not a clutch issue, it feels like something in the tranny is fuxored, or possibly an axle.

The problem could be described like there is play somewhere within the driveline. When the front end is in the air, and the car is in gear, you can rotate the tire back/forth about 5-10 degrees before any engagement hapens withing the tranny.

The only thing I can think of is a bad axle, my passenger side is pretty shot, but I have had bad axles before and never encountered this prob. I also noticed that my car has quite a bit of gear noise, especially in 1st gear. Possibly low tranny fluid?? I really hope my tranny isn't screwed, especially something like my differential.

TIA

-Aaron

UPDATE-I am almost positive now that it isn't a clutch problem. When the car is in gear, and not running, you can push the car back and forth about 3-4 inches before the tranny begins to turn the crank over. It almost seems like it is in neutral until you move it some more.

Damnit, this sounds expensive



Modified by AaronJ at 5:01 PM 11/10/2005

 

bump-I need help on this guys!

 

bump for an answer I have the same problem

 

Inspect the clutch cable, that sounds like the culpret.

 

broken or loose motor mount can cause this.

 

I really don't think it is a clutch problem, the pedal feels good....The motor mount would sound more like it, but I really hope its not something in the tranny.

If I am backing up it really does it, very hard

 

I am almost positive now that it isn't a clutch problem. When the car is in gear, and not running, you can push the car back and forth about 3-4 inches before the tranny begins to turn the crank over. It almost seems like it is in neutral until you move it some more.

Damnit, this sounds expensive

 

in gear it is normal for the car to roll a couple of inches before it starts to turn the engine. sounds like an axle problem. something is loose from the tranny to tires.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TurboEM1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">in gear it is normal for the car to roll a couple of inches before it starts to turn the engine. sounds like an axle problem. something is loose from the tranny to tires.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hmm..I know that most cars roll a little, but mine rolls quite a bit. Also, the tranny makes a loud whine in 1st gear, and very small noise 2-5. Is this abnormal?

I have been searching around and found that it might be the pin in the differential...but I don't know.

Also, all the motor mounts seem to be alright

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AaronJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Hmm..I know that most cars roll a little, but mine rolls quite a bit. Also, the tranny makes a loud whine in 1st gear, and very small noise 2-5. Is this abnormal?

I have been searching around and found that it might be the pin in the differential...but I don't know.

Also, all the motor mounts seem to be alright</TD></TR></TABLE>

Id say if it rolls under like 3 or 4 inches each way youll be fine.

As far as the whine, my 1991 crx si with 200,000+ miles does that exact same thing except i can guarantee much worse. It does it really loud in 1st, pretty loud in 2nd and barely in 3rd,4th or 5th. Its been doing it for over 50,000 miles. Its not normal but i dont think its that bad.

as far as ur other problem im not to sure. ill give ya a free bump

 

bump for any input

 

you said when it is up in the air you can turn a tire and the tranny doesnt engage till alot of rotation.. what about the axels. put the car up in the air and spin the pass side axel the one in the tranny not the half shaft make sure the car is in neutral.spin the axel spindle or what ever that big round thing is next to the tranny(not the boot or axel shaft) and look at the other axel spindle the one in the half shaft. if it turns right away you know it is in the axels, if it takes a half of rotation to get it to spin it is in the tranny

 

my old prelude was doing the same thing. it almost felt like the motor was moving back and forth, but the mounts were fine. when i got it up on the lift i could move the axles around in the transmission, which wasn't good. after taking the tranny out and disassembling it, i found out that the pin that goes between the spider gears was almost severed into three pieces. that was causing the problems. the pin by itself through the dealer was $200, and a tranny from the junkyard was $250. i went with the whole tranny. not sure 100% if that is your problem, but it sounds like you may have the same problem with your tranny. good luck with fixing your problem.

 

Yeah, i will have to try spinning the axles. I will just go ahead and replace them since they are clunking, and then see what happens.

Thanks for the input-i'll try to keep you guys updated for future people with this problem