Alright so a buddy of mine drives an EP3 civic and we just had a lot of rain. His car is lowered and when starting out in first gear when leaving a friends house the other night there seemed to be a lot of knocking. Car drove fine to the friends house. Drove it home about a mile. Drove perfectly fine after starting out of first gear. Seemed once the clutch was fully engaged car ran smoothly. No problems or sounds shifting into second or third. Havent driven the car yet. We let it sit over night. Any ideas?

 

Does he have CAI and did he drive through any large puddles?

 

Stock intake. He said he drove through puddles but "nothing out of the ordinary".

 

If the car was hydro locked would it even run?

 

It shouldn't, hence the term "hydrolock", but it might have been less severe still damaging something inside.

Have you checked the oil levels, is it at a normal level? Top dot.

 

No we havent touched the car yet. We are both college students. Currently sitting in the library waiting for next class. All I wanna do is go home and work on this thing lol but I cant right now. Im just hoping its not to severe.

 

Make sure that the knocking is from the motor, and not anything else.

Also check the oil, add as needed.

 

Alright I guess will see what happens.

 

I'm thinking it might be a clutch related item, is the car slower than normal or just making sounds?

 

I mean it was pouring rain so we didnt really look into it too much. The car just had a knocking sound from the right side. It almost felt like we had a flat tire when starting out but like I said once the car got moving we had no issues.

 

Alright so we started It up and when I started it the car kicked almost felt like being rear ended. Seemed like maybe the clutch was still engaged. Reved it up. Sounded fine. Turned it off to start it again and it started up just fine. Didn't drive it cause my ride to go home showed up. Any thoughts at this point?

 

I think your throwout bearing is shot.

The noises you describe, and the "kick" you're talking about is characteristics of that.

Also, try leaving it in N (neutral) and revving it, seeing if the noise is continual or increasing in rapidity.