Hi guys,

So the 94 EX Accord has a serious clutch problem. I will explain the symptoms and how it happened and I'm hoping one of you guys can help me determine what the problem is.

The clutch is not engaging. Currently, the shifter will go into all gears with the engine off normally like it should. With the engine running the shifter will go into the gears with minimal resistance with the clutch pedal UP. You can also push the clutch pedal down, put the shifter into a gear, let up, and nothing happens.

The clutch hydraulics are all sound, no leaks, everything fine. The slave cylinder retracts and extends fully. The shifting linkages are all fine too, so the transmission is going into the correct gear.

When I bought the car a year ago I noticed a slight chirping noise coming from the bellhousing. With even a slight amount of pressure, like resting your foot on the clutch pedal, the noise would stop. I noticed in the last week that sound was louder. Would that be the pilot bearing?

There were no symptoms of any sort (other than the chirping noise) before this happened. The car was driving completely normally until one time when it was stopped, put into gear, and when raising the clutch pedal the car just did not go.

Can anyone verify that this is a bearing or broken release fork or something? I'd like to have a good idea of what the problem is so I can decide whether to do it myself or find a mechanic.

Anyone know a good Honda mechanic in the downtown Atlanta area, by the way ?

 

Oh boy. Where to start. The noise you heard is in fact the throwout bearing. The pilot bearing is the one in the flywheel. There are quite a few things that could have broken or gone wrong with the clutch set-up. Here are some possible problems that could have occurred. The release fork spring broke not allowing the lever to move. Your clutch disc needs to be replaced. Your pressure plate needs to be replaced. The flywheel is so glazed that the clutch plate cannot engage against it and slides. The only way you will be able to really tell is to disassemble. You never mentioned how many miles. If you have about 200,000 miles, more than likely, replacing your clutch and flywheel components will solve your problems.

 

Cool, thank you for the ideas. The car has about 125k. Original clutch as far as I know. If the release fork spring broke, would this cause the above problem? Would that not cause the clutch to be unable to disengage?

 

Not all the time. Friend of mine had his clutch components go but the car still would feel like it was shifting correctly. I hate to say it but in order to correctly diagnose this problem, taking out the transmission might be in order.

 

http://bestroadsideservice.com/?lacee

get it and never be stranded again!

-lacee

 

no need we drive Honda's,

 

i feel it can be narrowed down more than that. and yes, be prepared to install a new clutch kit nonetheless.

you should be able to see and feel good fork movement by just pulling the dust boot off and poking around a bit. if the spring-retainer for the fork had come loose, it would have to "fall out" of place or off of the pivot stud to cause the condition you're describing. otherwise the pressure plate springs and the slave cylinder should hold it steady.

pilot or release bearing could be your noise (or as i found out on my car last night... could be internal trans bearing failure...) but again, unless it's magically found it's way off of the guide boss and input shaft it'll still do it's job. just more loudly.

i'm thinking a glazed flywheel on it's own won't cause this. maybe glazed flywheel combined with shot disc...

so i'm thinking focus on possiblity of a broken or otherwise failed disc. it would also be good to rule out a broken CV axle. i've seen similar (though not identical) symptoms in that case.

 

This is likely a noisy throwout bearing. They can sometimes make slight noise until you apply slight pressure to them at which point they get squeezed between the fork and release spring. I dont think this is your main issue though.

If you can put the car into any gear with the engine on and clutch pedal up that means your input shaft is not rotating or something internal in the trans is gone. Could be that your release spring is broken. I doubt the input shaft is broken.

Since you say there weren't any symptoms previous to this I'm ruling out a worn clutch. You will notice a clutch getting to the unuseable point over a few months.

My bets are on something internal in the transmission.....