I've recently finished my h22a swap with new a new clutch. When I finished the swap I went for a test drive. The clutch was really soft but I had bled it before driving out and I thought hey, its an oem replacement maybe its suppose to be this soft. Shifting was smooth with no difficulty/grinding. I made sure to be gentle on it the first time driving it.

I was driving in 4rth gear and downshifted to 3rd, BUT it did not go into gear! I shifted back into 4rth STILL not going into gear! I pulled over to the side and checked what went wrong. Shift link and all was intact. I had to tow it home.

What I notice is that when I'm in neutral and rev it, the speedometer climbs. I can hear slight clattering too from the transmission in the engine bay. When I put it into first gear and "engage" the clutch I hear a very slight buzz but it does not engage. 2nd gear has a similar buzzing sound.

3rd through 5th gear has a louder buzzing/ squeel(?) like the clutch is trying to engage but it doesn't. What can be wrong?? When I put it in reverse and release the clutch, the buzzing is even louder than 3rd-5th gear.

I replaced the slave cylinder today and bled it. The clutch felt considerably stronger than before. I thought I had solved the prob but to no avail. Clutch still did not engage. No check engine lights or anything.

I followed the Helm's manual and made sure I installed the clutch correctly.


edit: I just pulled the tranny and the throwout bearing, clutch, and pressure plate are as I installed them. Nothing looks unusual. Synchros are good.

After searching and process of elimination, can it be not putting the axle back in completely?

Rising speedometer when rev in neutral, but zero when "in gear"-

The rising speedometer when I give it gas in neutral and the chattering noise stumps me.

When I put it in gear and rev it, the speedometer stays flat at zero.

Chattering noise- When at idle when I was on the side of the road and still in the car. I could hear like a clicking/chattering(?) sound coming from the passenger side in the engine bay then it would disappear. When I rev'd it I can hear it slightly.


I didn't hear it again after that unless I try to really listen to it when I rev it.


Please let me know of what it may be. I've searched. All help is appreciated!

 

I would have guessed throwing bearing had something to do with it but since you checked it and didn't notice anything then I guess not. Weird problem considering the speedo. Someone should have some answers

Bump.

 

Hey, thanks for your response. Yeah, totally stumped as to why the speedometer would climb like that when I rev it in neutral.

My situation is similar to this guy's-

https://honda-tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1578182r

except he did not describe the "buzzing" when trying to engage the clutch. Keep in mind, my clutch doesn't engage at all when I do this.

 

Did you order the clutch and pressure plate seperatly, if its still out, i would go over everything with a fine comb, sounds like something is obviously out of wack and your just missing it.. compare to your old clutch if you still have it. And triple check behind yourself.

 

It's an exedy stage 1 and I bought it with the pressure plate. The original clutch didn't even need replacement but I replaced it anyway to be safe or so I thought.

Opened the tranny case yesterday and everything is in place without any signs of misalignment nor damage.

The tranny shifted fine with no grinds or difficulty it was just the clutch pedal was very soft and it won't shift into gear after the incident I described above. I was cruising at about 50mph in 4rth gear and didn't hear any sounds. Even when I put it in 3rd gear it didn't sound like there was a mishap, just won't engage!


I FORGOT to add one thing, when I started the car for the first time when it was on jack stands. The wheel hubs where already spinning in neutral (haven't put wheels back on yet), but when I put it on the ground it didn't even move. I backed out and drove out of my driveway with no probs tho..

What can cause this?? can loose axles?

any idea on why the speedometer goes up when I rev it?

If anyone knows please let me know because I'm going to put everything back again and make sure the axles are completely in to see if this fixes the prob.

 

The wheels/ hubs spinning while in neutral is normal if there is no load on them (i.e. off the ground). The speedometer is driven directly off the differential. If the speedometer is climbing the diff must be spinning. More than likely you didn't get the axles all the way in or have the wrong ones and it popped out.

 

did u install the clutch in back-wards ?

 

Thank you for your responses.

Okay I put the tranny back in. With the car on jackstands I tested to see how well it worked and if the clutch was gripping.

The axles are spinning very slow in gear. Is it because there is no load on them? Even if I rev it when I "engage" it in gear the axles look very slow for what it shows on the speedometer. Is this normal?

I don't hear any buzzing noises nor rattling anymore now. Reverse still does give off the distinctive hum, buzz sound. Again gears shift smoothly with no grinding.

You say for the speedometer to climb the differential must be spinning..This happens because the axle is not all the way in correct?

Does this sound like a normal transmission? Please let me know.

Installed everything correctly. To double check I even put the clutch in the wrong direction which is impossible to put in with the pressure plate.




edits- After test runs on the jack stand, the tach and speedometer no longer works. What happened??

 

The "buzzing" you hear is your synchros when you're attempting to put the car in gear but the clutch isn't disengaged.

 

When I try to engage in gear on jackstands, it does not feel or sound like the gear engages. I can't make gear transitions like I'm when I'm driving. All the gears are at the same RPM. Whether I shift from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and so forth I sense no engagement of the clutch and the RPM is still at the idle 1k (unless I rev it). Is this because there is no load? or is this abnormal and a sign of a prob I'm not aware of?


Any idea speedooo or anybody of those questions I have above and if this sounds normal?

I have no idea since this is the first time I've dealt with this type of problem.

 

Your clutch is NOT disengaging...STOP trying to put it in gear, you are damaging your transmission.

A. You never specified what year your car is...you may have a broken clutch cable or a major hydraulic leak.
B. The throw out bearing is not properly seated on the fork.
C. The clutch is defective or improperly installed.

You better hope it's option A or you're going to have to drop the trans again.

 

The car is a 93 prelude. There are no leaks in the hydraulic system. I've checked the master and slave cylinder they function fine and I get great pressure in the clutch pedal.

Inspected (everything looks normal with retainers still intact) and reinstalled the clutch and flywheel with proper torque specs along with the throwout bearing. I specifically made sure all of these were aligned.

Everything is normal except the not being able to normally shift through gears as in shift transitioning like on a dyno except not on the ground is the best way I can describe it. I can put it into any gear without response (no RPM change) from the transmission (I was wondering if this was because the car has no load or is not on ground). Sorry if this is a dumb question.



What are some possible reasons that can cause the clutch not to disengage??

Please help anybody.

 

Did you reinstall the linkage properly?

 

The very first thing I looked at when my car was down was the shift linkage and it was hooked.

I wasn't aware there was a "proper" way to install it when I reinstalled it this time. How can I properly install the linkage? and does it sound like it affects my situation right now?