I will Paypal the guy who figures out what is wrong with my car $5 bucks!

The car is a 1988 crx si w/JDM B16a from Hmotors/Hasports/Exedy S1 clutch

Now with that said here is the problem;
The car does not want to go into gear, its like the clutch is not fully letting off. In the past I would just tighten the clutch cable and it would work just fine, however now the clutch cable is so tight that it really can't tighten <u>any</u> more.

Now I do not know what to do. The only way the car drives now is if I put it into gear when the car is off, and even with the clutch petal all the way down when I start it the whole car moves forward.. also if I loosen the clutch cable adjustment nut the car will not go into gear AT ALL. Please help!

A picture of the clutch pivot arm

Here are some pictures of her.

 

What clutch cable do you have ? And the car won't go into gear while the car is on, but does it go in when the car is off ? We just finished a swap and the owner used the stock si clutch cable which was causing a problem, I would try the 1990 integra clutch cable, if you don't have it already.

 

What clutch cable are you using? In my car, using a 90-93 Integra clutch cable, it's adjusted almost all the way down (opposite of how yours is adjusted). I've just never seen a clutch cable adjusted to pull that much up on the arm before.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What clutch cable do you have ? And the car won't go into gear while the car is on, but does it go in when the car is off ? We just finished a swap and the owner used the stock si clutch cable which was causing a problem, I would try the 1990 integra clutch cable, if you don't have it already.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'm using a 90 Integra clutch cable. At first I thought it was a streached cable so I replaced it with a new one, same problem.

Keep them coming guys, thanks for the comments!!

 

Go underneath the dash and make sure your clutch pedal is not bending, I would also inspect the clutch cable bracket.

 

put a ratchet through the arm and have someone pull as hard as they can and see if it works. and was there any shaft play in the input shaft? might be the transmission...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Go underneath the dash and make sure your clutch pedal is not bending, I would also inspect the clutch cable bracket.</TD></TR></TABLE>

+1

 

Yeah, sounds like somethings bending.

 

you probably popped a spring out of the clutch disc

 

yeah i am thinking you might be dropping the tranny and you will find the culprit.

Throw out bearing

 

Pop the hood and have someone watch the clutch cable as you feather the clutch on a slight incline or with the e-brake on, you may see that the clutch cable seperates the rubber sheathing from the cable end and the slides back when the clutch pressure is released.

Replace the clutch cable / swap it out with a spare. Thats alot easier than dropping the tranny.

 

You guys are close but the problem is the throwout bearing arm. It has been damaged or is rusty and over time has been bending untill he has no more petal.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speed--Freak &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You guys are close but the problem is the throwout bearing arm. It has been damaged or is rusty and over time has been bending untill he has no more petal.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The black arm outside the trans, or the arm that actually pivots the throw out beaing ?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EFbomb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Pop the hood and have someone watch the clutch cable as you feather the clutch on a slight incline or with the e-brake on, you may see that the clutch cable seperates the rubber sheathing from the cable end and the slides back when the clutch pressure is released.

Replace the clutch cable / swap it out with a spare. Thats alot easier than dropping the tranny.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

He bought a brand new cable.

 

The problem is inside the trans.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speed--Freak &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The problem is inside the trans.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That narrows it down.

To the original poster, did this problem slowly happen over time, or just boom one night you can't shift ?

Few ways to find out if something is going on inside the trans, first off see if the car will shift while not running.

Second start the car and have someone step on the clutch pedal, see if the black arm on the outer part of the trans is moving up and down. If it moves up and down, listen for the engine to either rev up a tad or rev down, when the load is taken off the engine, the engine idle should change a little bit.

Also when you start the car, step on the clutch pedal and see if you can put it into any gear, if you can't then the clutch is not disengaging.

If something was broke inside the trans ( the throw out bearing fork itself ) you would hear the throwout bearing rattling like crazy.

 

throwout bearing. i dont have paypal so just keepthe 5 dollars and if i ever see you, you owe me taco bell.

 

I had this exact same problem...my pressure plate screws came loose. The other guys could be right also but if nothing bending or broke, take your starter off and check all the pressure plate.

Another thing that can cause this but I can't remember if hondas have them or not, is your ring gear might have popped out. While the starter is out move the flywheel with a screwdriver and see you can feel compression.

 

I hope it's not the pressure plate getting lose but I guess it's a possibility. I thought about that and don't know if the bolts could back out far enought to take up the length of travel that the throwout bearing fork has.

 

it did on mine so I just torqued them 3 lbs more than whats asked and never had a problem since. Of course, it could have been a fluke too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That narrows it down.

To the original poster, did this problem slowly happen over time, or just boom one night you can't shift ?

Few ways to find out if something is going on inside the trans, first off see if the car will shift while not running.

Second start the car and have someone step on the clutch pedal, see if the black arm on the outer part of the trans is moving up and down. If it moves up and down, listen for the engine to either rev up a tad or rev down, when the load is taken off the engine, the engine idle should change a little bit.

Also when you start the car, step on the clutch pedal and see if you can put it into any gear, if you can't then the clutch is not disengaging.

If something was broke inside the trans ( the throw out bearing fork itself ) you would hear the throwout bearing rattling like crazy.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes it did keep getting worse over time. It has been weird since day one of the swap.

The car can go into gear when it is not running, but it will be very hard or impossable to go into gear with the car running. Then when it does get into gear the car idle drops and wants to die, it has always idled low. If I rev it up some it tends to want to go into gear better.

It's not just going in to gear, it is also hard to get out of gear.

[b]You guys have been SOOOO helpful! Words can not decribe it. I'm trying to narrow it down the best I can before I take it all apart.[b]

 

Throw out bearing, had a 90 crx that did the EXACT same thing, turned out one of the spring "legs" of the throw out bearing was broken, you'll know what i mean when you get in there.

 

Sounds like something is up with the clutch cable still, inspect the pedal and make sure its not bent or even broke.

 

what happens if you put it in gear while the car is not running THEN start it up? That will tell you if it is not dis-engaging the clutch or if the clutch is part of the problem. Technically, if you can shove it in gear while its off when you start it, it's gonna launch forward if the clutch is engaged. I had a buddy with a sort of similar problem (it was a b series cable tranny) and it was the spring inside the tranny that held the fork with the throw out bearing. Its hard to describe but it has 2 sides of the spring and on his, one side broke so it didnt have enough strength to do its job... maybe if someone can find an exploded diagram you can see what I'm talking about.HTH

*edit*
if this pic works, I'm talking about #5



Modified by The AntiRice at 12:20 AM 8/1/2006