Okay guys. This weekend I plan to replace the clutch in my 95 civic ex sedan. Never done this kind of thing before so I'm a little iffy about the whole thing. I ordered a OEM replacement clutch set from Advance for about 120 total (clutch disk, pressure plate, throwout bearing, pilot bearing) since it's all I can afford at the moment.

I have another d16z6 engine that I have been picking parts off of until I can get it rebuilt, and to save time I was going to remove the flywheel from it and get it resurfaced rather than pull the one on my car and wait and then put it back on. Therein lies my problem: When I pulled the pressure plate and clutch disk off my spare engine, I noticed that the outer "corner" of every flywheel bolt had been rounded off. They look like this:

From the top view of the engine:


Front view:


I know the angles are funny, my phone flips them around for some reason. But as you can see, the outer corner of each flywheel bolt is worn down and this worries me because I'm afraid it will be that way on my current engine as well. No dealerships in my area have them in stock and my local advance(s) don't even carry them.

So is it safe and normal practice to reuse the flywheel bolts? What's the best way to get them off? My Haynes manual is very vague on this part, and with only one mount holding the engine in place its hard for me to put any kind of torque on them without it turning or shifting. I am supporting from the bottom with a small jack but its not helping...

 

I would not reuse those bolts.

What's your guess as to what the bolts were hitting to cause the damage? Bad clutch install?

 

I have no clue. I wasn't going to reuse those bolts, just the flywheel so I could get it resurfaced ahead of time rather than wait to pull my current flywheel off and then get it resurfaced and put back on.


I'm only afraid that my current flywheel bolts will look like these since my clutch is so close to gone...

There are no corresponding marks on the clutch disk to indicate that it was rubbing against that flywheel so I have no clue what the hell could have caused it...

 

Bad clutch install or wrong clutch installed.

Resurface the flywheel and buy a new OEM clutch and flywheel bolts.

 

I just recently pulled my engine and found the same thing. I was going to get ARP replacements, but it sounds like I should get a new clutch too.

 

I've actually seen this a couple times from the spring in the clutch falling out

 

There is a dealer on the marketplace here that does new ARP flywheel bolts and pressure plate bolts for $50 shipped. Pm me for more info if you want.

I did not get these, against my better judgment unfortunately.

Ron, if my current flywheel bolts are in good shape do you think it is safe to reuse them?

 

Definitely

 

Good to know. I should add failed clutch to my list of possibilities.

 

Now I will say that the clutch disk that came off my spare engine did not have any springs missing, however, they all seem to have a bit of... "jiggle" to them, whereas my new clutch does not. The springs on it are all firm and in place.

But it is possible that a spring could have come loose on a previous clutch in that engine and caused what we found. Let's hope my current engine is more fortunate!!

 

It's definetly possible one of past clutches lost a spring. I've worse casued my by a spring popping out.


Be careful getting them out, you don't want them breaking/rounding off! Also, ARP replacements are fairly cheap. ~$35-40, IIRC.

 

I did confirm that my springs had rattled loose and rubbed against the flywheel bolts wearing them down like we saw. They had enough play in them for me to rotate each one and find a worn down spot on each end.

 

Normally what happens is the disc will spit a spring. You'll see where the hub of the clutch disc around the spring is ripped and the spring will have a ton of wear on the side and will fall right out when the disc is tipped.

 

Just use a 12point 17mm socket and a breaker bar, if the flywheel spins get a second set of hands to hold a prybar on the teeth of the flywheel so that it wont rotate on u.
If the socket catches the bolts and they dont strip then reuse em just becareful not to strip them anymore.