I own a 1998 Honda Accord LX 4Cyl 2.3L (manual transmission) that I bought from my uncle in December of 2009. When I bought it, it was about about 175k miles and came with newly replaced tires, struts, brakes, and shocks. The car has run fine from then until now.

I stand now at 215k miles, and while in a bit of a hurry one night, I ground the gears (not my first time having done so) and smelled a burning stench in the cab. Immediately afterwards, I found that while accelerating, my engine would give me far more RPM's than acceleration. There had been some clicking from the engine as well, noticeably when I turned.

After stopping at a few mechanic shops and talking to a few of my Honda friends, the conclusion was that my clutch was burned out and my CV axles were shot. So, after a screw up on AutoZone's part regarding a replacement clutch set, two of my friends and myself managed to replace the clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, and right CV axle. Took about two days and a LOT of aggravation. I'll be the first to say, that when I reassemble something, I come out with spare parts, but I'm dead certain that all of the major and important bolts are in.

My problem, aside from having to wait for more funds to replaces the left CV axle, is that when I accelerate while in 1st and 2nd gear, I feel a rubbing/vibrating sensation coming from the engine. This problem seems to fade shortly after shifting in 3rd, but I'm curious as to if there is something else that I need to do.

The guy that helped with the clutch replacement suggested that it might just be the clutch breaking in and getting use. My grandfather believes that I might need to change the transmission fluid. As for myself, I have no clue, but being that I love this car to death, I would love to preserve it for as long as I can, whether it be by getting it to the point of being able to take care of it normally, or changing something out that will allow it to run much longer without a repair. I've already got a few ideas of what I want replace on the vehicle, but until I get more money, this problem is essential. Any ideas as to what might be causing these vibrations from my engine?

 

What and how many 'spare' parts do you have?

 

I don't like the sound of spare parts. It could be your new axle. Was it new or re-manufactured? Being from autozone and your car manual trans, it could be a bad re-manufactured axle.
I have a 90 accord and it has only 155k miles but I never get spare parts after any job. There's nothing missing from the car at all that I know of. If you love the car to death, you should take your time for any DIY repairs.

 

Well, there are about 6 to 8 bolts sitting on my workbench that go somewhere along the transmission. No spare parts came from the CV replacement.

As for the CV axle, it was re-manufactured, but I don't believe that it's the problem.

 

Almost all of the bolts you remove from the Trans when changing the clutch should be used to bolt it back to the block.

 

When you reinstalled the clutch and trans did you look at the surface of the flywheel? Did you let the trans hang off the clutch while you were reinstalling the case? You may have bent the disk. The extra bolts left over worries me. Did you torque the clutch pressure plate down evenly? Are bolts left out there? Did you get a greasy finger print on the new disk or pressure plate surface? All of these can be a factor.

 

Exactly and if not the trans could be torqing under accelleration and causing that curious rubbing/vibration sound. the reason it doesn't seem as bad in 3rd or 4th ect.. is that the twisting torqing factor is less in higher ratios. That's (6/8) a lot of missing bolts Dude.

 

There are only 8 bolts that bolt the transmission to the engine. Another 8 bolts that attach the flywheel to the crankshaft. I think another 6-8 bolts that attaches the pressure plate to the flywheel. Three nuts and a bolt for the transmission mount. Two bolts for the starter...

I really don't see how you could have that many bolts missing and not know where they are from or where they go.

I think in total there might be 40 fasterners that you have to loosen/remove to do a clutch.

How the hell do you have 5% of your fasteners not used? Are you one of those 'I throw all my bolts in a coffee can' guys? Scary.

Pics and measurements of bolts will help us help you identify where they go.

 

Yes, the flywheel in was near perfect condition. No, the transmission was sitting on a jack. The disk is not bent. The pressure plate was torqued down evenly and properly. No bolts regarding the clutch were left out. No prints were left on the disk, pressure plate surface, or anything.

 

From what I recall, I didn't remove the flywheel from the crankshaft, nor did I bother removing the starter, being as they really didn't get in the way of anything. Seeing as the clutch is the last thing to remove, of course, I would expect those bolts to be the first to go back on, thus the easiest (especially since they're entirely different). Now, after two days of being pissed off, I'm sure that I might have a wrong bolt somewhere, or that I just simply forgot where I took a bolt out. Sadly, I have that kind of memory.