Hello!

I drive a 1991 Honda Civic Si (manual) with about 280k miles on it, and until just the other night it ran beautifully. I was going about 5 - 10 mph in my apartment parking lot, and it all of a sudden lost power (I had my radio on, so I don't know if there was a distinctive noise). I immediately put the car in neutral and turned off my music.

The clutch feels the same as it always has, and there seems to be no resistance shifting into any gears, however as soon as I place it in gear and release the clutch it starts to make a very loud clanking noise. When running in neutral is sounds like all is normal.

Right now I have a total loss of power to the wheels.

I would like to find out what exactly is wrong, and if this is something I can fix on my own. I am fairly mechanically inclined, have plenty of free time and a willingness to learn.

I appreciate any help!

 

Sounds like your clutch has issues.


Does the car move forward when you put it in gear and release the clutch pedal?
I understand you hear clanking, but does the car move?

When the car was running before this happened, was there any strange noises such as clicking or popping when making turns?

 

it almost sounds like the center of the clutch disc has seperated, I've seen that on ones with the rubber springs, one pops out and starts a chain reaction. if it has the center is free spinning not attached to the friction surface

 

4drEF, the car has no movement at all, even when revved up a little bit.

Before this happened all seemed to be normal, no noised that I heard. It just happened out of the blue.


Lostforawhile, if the center of the clutch disk separated, what kind of repair would that entail?

 

clutch replacement, you are going to have to take the transmission out no matter what, hoping it's just something in part of the clutch, before you do anything, have you checked to see if one of the axles has partially popped out of the transmission? I also had an axle fail in the cv joint and it did this, but most likely it's the clutch

 

Well I guess I had better start pulling the transmission out!

 

check your axles first, but if it's not, you already have it off the ground. so no wasted time

 

I just went out and messed around a little bit more, and found something interesting, but I'm not sure what it means.

When I put the car in gear, if I ignore the (horrible)noise and rev it up a bit, the speedometer goes up in speed, and if I do the same in second, it seems to think it's going even faster.

Any ideas what that means? I appreciate the help guys.

 

sounds like a cv joint has failed internally, that would sure be easier to fix, it's an open differential so only one has to fail. I had this happen to the civic I had, most of the ***** fell out of the cv axle, but I managed to limp it home on about three of them. making that awful noise for about 30 miles, and going about 15 mph, the speedometer will still work as the vss is driven off of the differential, the power just isnt making it through the axles and out to the wheels

 

So the first thing I should check would be both of the CV joints?

 

cv joints make sure your axles are still in one piece.