I have a 1992 Accord I bought used 1.5 years ago. I'm trying to figure out what the real problem(s) are. Here are my symptoms:

1. On only certain mornings (seems more frequent when the weather is humid), when the engine is cold, if I try to shift into 1st around 15-1700 RPM, the entire car shakes HORRIBLY - like I'm in the middle of an earthquake. If I shift around 2000-2200, the car doesn't shake like that as much but feels like when it does shift into first like it grabs really hard - it kind of lurches into gear - not smoothly. This only happens until the engine warms up. Then I can't reproduce it (i.e. to show a tranny shop). Car drives fine when warm.

2. When the clutch is engaged but the tranny is in neutral, I hear a whirring sound which goes away when I disengage the clutch.

3. Lately I've been noticing the idle has been dropping when warm. It's always had a pretty bad vibration in the steering wheel at idle but now the idle often times is running slower - around 600 RPM (few times seen it as low as 550ish). I've read it's supposed to be more around 700.

4. When trying to shift in Reverse, I sometimes can't get it to engage the first time and have to depress the clutch and try again a couple of times. When I come to a stop at a stop light I also have the same problem trying to shift into first gear when the light turns green. So I've resorted to shifting into first while slowing to a stop. But when it the car slows down to allow the shift lever to move into 1st, it doesn't move smoothly. Instead it engages halfway, then fully - in two stages.

5. Don't know if this is related but I have a problem where no matter if my wheels are completely balanced, the car has a slight vibration at highway speed around 70 mph.

Here's what I've done:

1. Changed the transmission fluid right after I got it.
2. A shop has verified I have enough fluid

What two different shops have said:
1. Shop 1 has said I need a clutch. They said problem 1 could be due to a leak in system. But I don't appear to be leaking fluid. They said problem 2 was probably the throw out bearing. They quoted me something like $1100 or $1300 to do the clutch and a bearing kit.

2. Shop 2 (Cottmann Transmission) the guy drove it (when warm) and said he couldn't find anything wrong with it. But he through the problem #4 was due to warn gears in the gearbox and that I could pay them X dollars to drop the tranny and figure out what needs to be done (sounds expensive to me)

Here's my questions:
1. Which is it? Tranny? Gearbox? Master Cylinder? Slave Cylinder? Leak in the System? Or All of the Above?

2. On a 1992 Accord that has rust, the trunk leaks, the front shocks "crunch" when the temp is below 40 degrees, and I have a wheel bearing going bad, is it worth the money to drop $1100 on a clutch?

3. How likely is it that the problem doesn't turn out to be a complete drive train rebuild? I don't want to agree to spend $1100 only to find out the car needs a new gearbox too and have it turn into a $2,000 repair bill on a car only worth $800.

Any thoughts?

 

You likely have a rear main seal leak, my old accord had the vibration symptom you mention, when cold the car would shake but once warmed up all was normal.

I were you I would drive the car as is, just baby it. It's obviously a beater and as long as the clutch isn't slipping I would not botherwith a costly repair. I drove mine with the symptom I mentioned for a good 3 years until I had an accident and we parted ways.
Now if things take a sudden pessimistic outcome then you'll need to make a decision.

The wheel bearing can be fixed by yourself granted you are mechanically inclined and if you are, remove wheel bearing/spindle take it to a shop and get new bearing pressed and re-install, easy as pie.

 

Thanks for the reply! What about the fact that the idle seems to be lower than it used be? Is that clutch drag? That problem just started recently.

Also, what would be causing the two stage / difficult shifting into gear?

 

Anyone have any other thoughts on this?

 

What fluid did you use when it was changed.

I'm sure it is a miss-type but why are you shifting into first at 1500-1700 rpm's? "when the engine is cold, if I try to shift into 1st around 15-1700 RPM" or is this a downshift?

Anyway, I'm back to asking about what type of fluid was used when it was changed?...MTF, motor oil, gear oil-weight, API, ect?

 

Id be willing to be your pressure plate is broken. When mine broke, it acted fine except for the "whirring" sound you said, then it slowly quit going into gear...

I would recommend that you do the work yourself and save a good 600-700 bucks. And save yourself the trouble, buy an oem clutch from honda. 150-200 dollars.

 

The shop that replaced the fluid for me told me it was brake fluid I think. I didn't do it myself so I don't recall exactly - it was 1 1/2 years ago when I first purchased the car.

Regarding the RPM, this is my first manual transmission car, so I don't fully know what I'm doing. I was talking about shifting into 1st gear. When I start the car up cold in the morning, the idle is around 1500 rpm. I then shift into reverse, back out of my parking spot, and disengage the clutch. As soon as I disengage the clutch, the RPM drops down to about 1000 rpm. So I add some gas to around 1500 to 1700 rpm and try to take off and I experience really bad clutch chatter. I've tried shifting around 2000-2200 rpm and the clutch chatter isn't nearly as bad but the clutch still bites really hard and causes the car to lurch when it actually engages.

Are you saying at 1500-1700 rpm is too low for a cold engine? If so, why does the RPM drop down to 1000 RPM as soon as I disengage the clutch from reverse? Is that an engine problem?

 

In a stick, you should be able to release the clutch-SLOWLY-without ever having to touch the gas pedal-this would of course be on a somewhat level road/surface...warm engine around 750 rpm's...slowly let the clutch out, a tad bit of gas at the end and you should be good to go.

So my suggestion would be to not "rev" the engine up to shift or take off but to find that "sweet" spot of a few rpm's and letting the clutch out. IMO holding/keeping the rpm's to @ 1k rpms or less while taking off should be plenty.

These cars will start at about 1,500 rpm's when cold then drop as the engine warms. So the rpm's dropping from 1,500 to 1K after backing up is normal. Eventually is should drop to the @750 range...all normal.