EDIT: The above Title should have read, "Clutch is always disengaged"

I just picked up a hf crx with a ls swap for a good price, mainly because the prior owner didn't want to put any effort into fixing the car.
Anyways...The issue: the car will move upon startup if its in gear with the shift lever in the upward position. I didn't play around with the clutch cable adjustments yet, but I can easily hold the shift lever on the tranmission's bell housing in the upward position without any effort (same as depressing the clutch pedal if it was hooked up). Btw, it's a cable transmission.

Just wanted some insight and other possible outcomes to look for when I pull the tranny off. My best guess is that the spring for the throw-out bearing assembly is not connected correctly or either the flywheel bolts have backed out causing a restriction for the clutch to disengage.

TIA, I'll post the outcome once I have the time to figure it out, but if you've experienced a similar problem I'd like to know the cause.


Modified by Nisif at 1:49 PM 10/31/2007

 

If you can easily move the clutch release fork, it's simply out of adjustment. Why did you jump right into taking the transmission off?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gibsanez &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you can easily move the clutch release fork, it's simply out of adjustment. Why did you jump right into taking the transmission off?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I didn't take the transmission off yet. The clutch release fork moves freely up and down without the cable installed, shouldn't there be tension on the clutch release fork? I also thought that if the clutch release fork is in the upward position that the clutch should be disengaged, right?

 

I had like a full 3-4" of play in my arm before it touched the pressure plate fingers.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gibsanez &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I had like a full 3-4" of play in my arm before it touched the pressure plate fingers.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sounds about right, I just took a look at my civic's (other car that runs fine) clutch release arm while I had my friend push in the clutch. And I also tried moving the clutch release arm to the upward position with my hand and there was an extreme amount of tension.

Whereas the crx I'm working on has no tension at all on the clutch release arm, so obviously something isn't right with the clutch assembly. It has nothing to do with the cable adjustments. Time to pull the tranny.

 

Bolt that holds the clutch release fork onto the cable lever arm inside the bellhousing has backed off and fallen out.

 

i have seen spring being very loose and can cause this

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jaker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bolt that holds the clutch release fork onto the cable lever arm inside the bellhousing has backed off and fallen out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mcleod &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have seen spring being very loose and can cause this</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the input guys, I should have the transmission pulled hopefully by tomorrow night depending on what time I leave work. I'll keep you posted

 

I should of updated this sooner, fyi for anyone experiencing the same problem...

Turns out the original pressure plate was shot, because somewhere along the way the prior owner didn't torque the flywheel bolts to spec and they backed out onto the pressure plate.

I replaced the original p/p and clutch combo with an ACT setup that I had lying around and re-torqued the flywheel bolts to spec w/ loctite for added reinsurrance. Haven't had any problems since...