Hi guys, just came into work and as I was turning into the street that leads to the parking lot I felt this horrible lurch as I went into second gears. The car starts driving funny, and as I pull into the parking lot I try to shift into first to get somemore power and I can't get into that gear. That is with the clutch all the way down. I jam and jam it (stuck on a hill with traffic behind me ) and finally get into gear but it feels like it is spinning and not moving. The clutch burning smell is awful. I finally give up and push it into a co-worker's space with a bit of help.

What does it sound like? Burned up clutch? Wrecked tranny?

Thanks guys.

Me =

 

Oh yeah, and when I was trying to shift into first I could hear grinding along with feeling resistance.

 

Maybe it's your main bearing.

 

Does it go into gears properly when the car is turned off? Does the clutch have the "normal" resistence?

 

Clutches shouldn't smell like anything unless there is massive amounts of oil or some kind of fluid dripping on them. I suppose it's possible your clutch isn't releasing all the way, but it's likely the tranny...

will
'98 white gsr

 

First thing to check would be your fluid level. Also check your master and slave cylinders. Thats your easy ticket out...pray to see an empty reservoir!

 

Like he said. Check out this link for some discussion of your potential problem:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=81257

It's most likely your clutch failing to release, and causing the shifting difficulty. Hopefully it's the fluid in your hydraulic release system, if not, it's probably something in the clutch itself.

 

what gave you that idea? The fricton material on a clutch most definitely has a smell if you burn it and slip the clutch long enough. I tried launching my old car one time at 4K rpm (redline only 6K), slipped the hell out of the clutch... after that it smelled pretty bad.

 

Yes ... goes into gear. Normal resistance is a negatory. Feels kinda spongy, I can put the car in 5th gear and drop the clutch and it just stays on.

 

The resevoir was empty (Master). I filled it up to the brim with DOT 4 brake fluid, but the clutch still feels spongy (weak), and like I said it does stall in 5th gear???

Someone told me I need to bleed the slave cylinder as they may be air in the line. I looked for it and I found a big black cyclinder to the left of the throttle body and back a bit. If that is it I have no idea how to bleed it, I don't see a screw/nut/loosing bolt, etc.

 

the same **** happens to me all the time but if i jiggle it a little it usually goes in.

 

Found the slave cylinder ... it is in the front of the transmission next to the VIN tag (which I just notice some A$$Hole must have stolen off my car at the track when I left the hood open and walked off). I have no idea what that other cylinder is down and back from the throttle body, but we will leave that alone.

I assume that the thing that is sticking out in this picture...

copy and paste into URL: http://www.c-speedracing.com/howto/b...s/dsc00017.jpg

...on the right is what I need to turn left to loosen?

 

please help ....

 

Thats correct. Bleed your clutch by placing a rubber hose that will fit tightly on the nipple. Place the ohter end into a bottle or can or whatever you want to catch the fluid. It is best to have two people doing this but you can also go solo, it just takes a little longer. Unscrew the cap on your reservior and make sure you fillled the fluid to the top. Then unscrew the nipple and press your clutch pedal to the groud. You will notice the pedal will stay down. Tighten the nipple back up and raise the pedal back up. Now repeat the previous steps till you see no bubbles. Make sure to keep an eye on the reservior fluid level as everytime you raise the clutch pedal the fluid should get lower. Once you are sure all the air bubbles are gone, place the reservior cap back on and test the car.

I got a feeling your master cylinder is gone, thats why your fluid is low. Go underneath the dash. Look at your clutch pedal and the rod that goes into the firewall. See if theres any sign of a leakage. Goodluck

 

that is exactly what you need to do, it takes two people.

on the bellhousing, should be towards the front of the engine, there will be something sticking out, attached to it should be what looks like a brake line, with a bleeder valve attached to it (10mm).

fill the clutch reservoire all the way to the top, have someone pump on the clutch till it gets firm, then they stand on it, you release the pressure through the bleeder valve.

do this multiple times, until the guy pushing the clutch feels that it is normal, and doesn't have to be pumped to get more resistance.

 

Ok, probably some sort of hydrulics problem like everyone else on here stated (clutch master, clutch slave, or hydrulic line). The smell could be attributed to the pressure plate not completely releasing the clutch disk causing it to slip (a lot), over heat, and smell...

 

Didn't get a chance to try that yesterday. I don't think that the is actually a problem with the master cylinder, I just don't think I have been doing the right maintenance (checking fluid levels). I went through and check all the fluid levels a couple of months ago, but I didn't even realize that where was another master cylinder hiding back there, so who knows how long it has been low.

I picked up an 8mm box wrench today so I am going to have my wife stand on the clutch and bleed that sucker. If that doesn't work it is going to have to go to the shop.

I will let you know how it goes.

 

Did the bleeding, clutch stuck to the floor after each bleeding.

Like this:

Clutch down, Bleed, Close Slave, Clutch on floor, pull up from floor, pump clutch.

Repeat X3 ...

No more air in slave cylinder, clutch still doesn't work.

i.e. does do anything to let clutch out while revving.

Auto fix-it-shop across the street so I pushed it over there with a co-worker, we will see what the damage looks like tomorrow.

That clutch sticking to the floor normal when bleeding?

 

Ok ... all fixed now. It was the clutch. The pressure plate was WASTED. It could not have gripped if it wanted to. I have a new clutch now and it feels strange. Really easy to operate, almost effortless. It almost makes me wonder if the other one had been bad for a while, but I got used to it.

New clutch =

New bills =

 

what kind of clutch did u end up putting in the car?

 

Generic, I didn't want to foot the bill to have a towed all the way across town to get an after-market clutch from a speed shop.

The only one remotely close to me is VSV Performance in Carrollton, and there was no way in hell I was going to let them work on my car.

To tow it to JoTech would have cost a fortune.

Unfortunately the price I will pay in the future is having to redo this job if I end up keeping the GS-R and adding a power adder.