Hey, haven't posted here before but I always find good information in these forums so I'm coming to the experts for advice. I recently got my car swapped from auto to manual (90 civic hatch) with a CRX Si trans and when the job was finally done I took it for a test drive and not 30 minutes later as I was leaving from a stop sign, I try to shift into first and the car just wont go in gear. Tried the rest of the forward gears and none would go in. When I tried putting it into reverse I got a small grind. I turned the car off next and all the gears were shifting fine with nothing running. So after getting stuck I call my mechanic and he accuses me of riding the clutch and over heating it which is just not true. He claimed my stage 2 clutch was "so high performance it takes time for it to work properly" which is true for break in but its just flat out not working. Anyways to conclude the story and get into the situation at hand, He doesn't want to take any responsibility for my clutch since I bought it and I'm stuck figuring this out on my own now. I plan on dropping the tranny soon to see if the clutch may be the problem or installation but before I go that far I figured I'd give it a shot asking here. To summarize the problem I can drive the car for about 15 minutes at a time. I'll test drive it around the block for 10-15 minutes and then the problem will usually present itself again. Whenever it happens its always when I'm at a stop, not shifting through the gears or moving. Once it stops working I cant get into any gears while the car is running. I'll usually turn off the car, shift into 2nd and start the car with the clutch in and take off like regular but in 2nd gear which is strange because you would think it would stall if the problem was the clutch getting stuck engaged. If I try and shift into 3rd it doesn't work and I'm pretty much stuck in 2nd. Now what's even more weird is I'll park the car while its still not working correctly and leave it for a few hours and when I go drive it again it just starts working fine for 10-15 more minutes. Also there was one occurrence where the trans stopped working like regular but when I tried to start it in gear and take off I fully let off the clutch and applied throttle and it just revved and went nowhere. Any advice would help. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

I searched for "crx won't go into gear", multiple threads suggest either the clutch is bad or the throw out bearing.

 

fin i think i might have a very good guess as to what your problem is

since ive had this same problem on and off for the last 3 years sadly haha

your clutch cable is not tight enough is reason number one
you need to tighten it a full turn maybe two and your problem could be fixed forever

or... and heres reason number two
even if you tighten your clutch cable and all is good for a few days or weeks
and then the problem returns you could have a clutch pedal that is bending
and with enough time it will break off

my car would also work good for about 10 to 15 minutes when i was having these problems
feel free to check out my build thread on how i fixed these problems
i have the pictures showing the work

Marcos new work car 90 sedan

good luck

 

I pulled the trans today and what I think may have been the problem is an over torqued pressure plate. When I loosened the pressure plate the fingers moved up the more I loosened. there was also a slight burn on the pressure plate and flywheel I'm guessing from it not fully disengaging.