I have a stock 1992 Honda Civic VX (manual 5spd) that had a used 10K mi. tranny and a new clutch put in over a year ago. For the passed 6 months I have the following symptoms: when driving in heavy traffic, when I take out the clutch (engage it) the revs go up and the car gets very little power (as if I'm holding the clutch in 3/4 the way and pressing on the gas). The problem gets worse the more stop and go the traffic is. The car recovers after sitting awhile or while driving in rural areas. It never has a problem on the highway if no traffic. So the mechanic I bring it to said clutch is probably bad. But I don't think that's it for the following reasons. 1. it's not even 2 years old, 2. the clutch recovers, 3. it's only a problem in heavy traffic. 4. the clutch fluid drops over time and I have to top off the reservoir periodically (been adding DOT 3 brake fluid). 5. I see debris floating around in the fluid whenever I top it off. My friend who works on Motorcycles and is a DIY kinda guy (I am not) thinks that it's possible the clutch lines might be clogged with debris. So I'm wondering does that sound plausible? If it's the lines, I think I'll just replace them rather than bleeding them and hoping that will clean them out.

Thanks for any insights on this issue.

 

Sounds like the clutch is toast, and you also need to flush the clutch fluid and find the leak, which may be from the MC (fluid at top of clutch pedal?) or the SC.

 

You're saying even if I find the leak, flush it and make sure it's clean and no debris it will not solve the problem? The MC was replaced twice in the last year. The reservoir where you put in fluid drops over time. Topping it off alleviates the symptoms for like 2 minuts and then it's as bad as ever again. I was driving a friend to the airport in heavy traffic and stopped, opened the reservoir, saw it was really low, topped it off all the way to the top, and immediately the clutch response improved, and then was as bad as ever pretty soon after. The fluid level is still high after dropping him off and returning home.

 

A hydraulic system problem won't make the clutch slip.

A misadjusted clutch pedal can burn up the clutch pretty damn quick.

Nonetheless, you can fix the leak and then go from there.

 

Thank you very much for the info.

What about the fact that it "recovers"? I mean, in rural driving I don't ever have a problem. It's only driving around Boston, especially in heavy traffic. My friend says it wasn't exactly slipping, just not engaging. Which is the problem, it doesn't engage (hence the revs going up and little power, as if I have the clutch pressed in 3/4 way and giving it gas). I'll be back in 30min; getting grub.

 

My clutch was having an opposite problem before this engaging problem. It was triggered by the same conditions (driving in heavy traffic), but instead of the car revving and not going, it was behaving as if the clutch was almost all the way let out, even when it was pressed all the way to the floor, so that as soon as you'd start to take your foot of the pedal, the car would go. When it'd get really bad it would stall. You'd then have to start it in neutral and you'd have a really hard time putting it in gear, since pushing the clutch all the way in was barely having any effect at all. It was after the second Master Cylinder was replaced that the symptoms reversed to what I described in this thread's original post.

 

So the last two short outings in my car in the city there were no clutch issues at all (as I said, the clutch recovers). Is this recovery really normal for a clutch that is toast? If the clutch was truly toast, wouldn't it just work very poorly all the time?

 

It would be slipping all the time, meaning your engine is revving (high) but your transmission isn't getting the power.

 

Okay, thank you. It only does that after driving in heavy traffic. It will even recover from being really bad after driving in heavy traffic if the traffic disappears. It can recover in as little as 15 minutes of driving in ideal traffic conditions after driving in very congested traffic. It had recovered significantly by the time I got back from dropping my friend off at the airport and was completely non-detectable when I drove a short distance to get dinner that evening about 90 minutes later.

 

Not sure why tony thinks a slipping clutch can't be intermittent.

 

sounds like you didnt bleed all the air out of the line after you replaced the slave.
the air is expanding with the heat to cause the issue.
had the same deal, further bleeding fixed it.

 

I hope you're right. I had the mechanic do the work, so I would assume he'd get it right? Seems like he's been in business for awhile. When my motorcycle buddy gets back from CA he wants to work on it with me. I'm not crazy about trying to work on my car as I've had some somewhat bad experiences in the past, but hopefully we can get it sorted. Thanks for your insights.

 

i did mine with a vacuum pump like this:


pump's about $30 on ebay or phone around and you
might find an auto parts store that will rent one free
with deposit. there are other methods though just poke
around on yootoob.