Hi all,

Yet another problem with my old baby. 95 MT VTEC Prelude. Trying to figure out what is wrong with my clutch, it has seemed to be working just fine up until just now. I was backing out of my garage and I ever so slightly took pressure off the clutch and I was moving out of the garage relatively quickly, note my foot is still on it, just releasing pressure. To get it to shift I had to really slam in the clutch and get the car rolling to shift.

So, what is this a sign of, worn out clutch, just needs a cable adjustment, something else?

Thanks guys,

 

if it is a cable trans, i'd guess at some adjustment being necessary. if it's hydraulic, it may not have enough fluid, or there could be air in the lines.

 

check around your clutch pedal carpet and see if it is damp at all. you might need to replace your master cylinder. Also trying bleeding the clutch system just to be sure everything is properly working and no air is in the system

 

Check fluid. Then bleed. Then check for fluid at the clutch master then for fluid at the slave.

 

All you guys got it right, looks like a good sized leak at the master at the pedal and then maybe a little bit of wetness at the slave. I might as well replace them both.

 

Uggg, I am a big OEM part guy, but at Majestic both parts together would be around $175 shipping included. My local parts store has aftermarket for $25 for the master, $13 for the slave, $40 total. Have you guys had good luck with aftermarket on this job?

 

What are the brands? Centric is a good aftermarket alternative that I can think of off hand...

 

i honestly have used autozone stuff. I have had good luck so far and the part commonly stocked by them, so if you have a problem there is a warranty on them and free replacement.

 

Just got a quote from NAPA, Altron Parts, $75 for both. Altron any good? I just want to do this once and get 100k miles out of it.

 

Ok, I actually haven't replaced these parts yet, been driving for 2 weeks and the filler still seems pretty full. This is a pretty slow leak, yes? Thinking about taking these parts back and seeing how long I can go, no sense in working on it if I can go 3-6 months on it. Any thoughts?

 

just fx it, before it gtoes completly while you are one road or somethign and endanger anyone else due to stall or something.

If you know there is issue then you shoul dfix it straight away befroe it grows to somethign else. it would be silly not jsut ride it out hoping it will fix itself.

 

Hell , just put some clutch stop leak in it.

 

I am .going to make a quick assessment not bring able to see the car the first thing to check is fluid level in your hydraulic clutch which I believe it has.check for leaks in that system.bleed system if any leaks have been found or your reservoir was empty. If there is no change after checking these things then your your clutch needs to be replace because it is not dis engaging.u could just replace the throwout bearing but what's the point you still have same amount of work and its a better deal to buy a complete kit .the problem could be any number of clutch problems such as warpage.

 

My experience with 94 Prelude Vtech (220Kmiles): I have twice experienced similar symptoms (can't shift into gear, hyrdo-fluid leak, low master cyl fluid level).
Eventually had to have car towed to shop as it became too dangerous to be randomly losing ability to shift into gear. Got stuck in rush traffic at light one time: Found that if I turned off the engine, I could put car in gear then restart engine to get the vehicle moving in traffic...tense! ...but at least got to side of road.

Actual problem, both times, was: Metal failure in anti-chatter spring flange resulting in broken piece of clutch mechanism floating around inside clutch, occasionally slipping into position to block disengagement of clutch. This accounts for fluid leak, because of excess pressure in system due to blocked disengagement mechanism. It also accounts for random symptoms because sometimes the flywheel would be in a position to allow broken part to fall out of the way of blockage, other times flywheel position would let broken piece fall into blockage.

Any case: if you get 100K from a clutch in this vehicle, you are doing pretty good so just go ahead and expect to replace with whole new clutch every 90-100K miles.
Driving Tip: Try to avoid power-shifting and definitely do not "pop" the clutch with high rev's mismatched to vehicle speed.