I have an 89 hatch with a d16z6 5 speed swap bought it like that. I was driving it and all the sudden it was hard to shift I to gears. Never slipped while driving it so symptoms at all just all the sudden I could hardly get it to go into gear unless I stood on the clutch pedal and then it would shift. Drove it for about 5 minutes and it didn't again but now adjusting it doesn't work the clutch pedal is soft. Any ideas it will run thru the gears when the car is off but not when it is running. It is a cable clutch not hydro if I didn't say that already.

 

It's possible maybe the clutch bearing release spring has started to fail. I would guess maybe 1 of the 2 side tabs of the spring has broken off the throw out bearing.

 

The only thing i noticed before this happened is if when i put it in gear and pushed the clutch in it didnt make any noise but when i put it in neutral and let off the clutch i could hear some noise coming from the transmittion. How can I tell what transmission is in the car since it's not the original.

 

Also when the car is off I can shift thru all the gears with no problem but when the car is running I cannot shift into any gear at all. I donno if that means anything

 

Being able to shift through the gears while the engine is not running is normal, since your able to do that I would suspect your shift linkage is fine. I still think there is a problem in the throw out bearing area. You will need to drop your tranny. If the release spring completely shears off your pedal will fall to the floor but if it's just barely holding on by one side tab it would most likely cause your condition.
Your tranny is probably the original that came in your car, if you want to know if it's a dx or a si, you can look into the owners manual and see what the max speed for each gear. Going with those numbers, you could ease it up into high rpm near Rev limit in first gear and see how fast you are then just reference it to the manual. Or just assume it's whatever model your car is.. si or dx.. Many trannys may not be marked as what they are so this would be a easy way.
One last thing I would mention for the future, if your clutch clutch cable was to ever break, you can start your car in first gear -it will start moving and you can drive without using the clutch also with out grinding the gears shifting at around 3-5000 rpm. Happened to me once and had to drive it half an hour home when I was headed to work. Saved me a tow bill.

 

Thanks for the response I am gonna take it to the shop I don't have a garage and it's cold as hell. It's not the original motor and tranny to the car I ran the vin and my car came with a 1.5l with a 4 speed it has a 1.6l vtec with a 5 speed in it now and yea the pedal still has a little to it but not much. Thanks again. Oh and would it be worth changing the clutch cable I keep seeing where people had cables either stretched real bad or frayed and they were having the same symptoms that I'm having, they changed the cable and it fixed it.

 

You could change out the cable, they are very easy. Usually the hat will break off where it connects to the arm on the tranny because thats where rust gets to the cable. Some cables may be made from something other than steel cable so they don't rust out. With the cable disconnected you should be able to pull up on the arm and figure where it should be roughly as to where the throw out bearing is making its contact to the clutch then set the cable back in and adjust it to that point. You want enough tension on the cable so the bearing is not making contact to the clutch by a hair.

 

How much should the arm that the clutch cable connects to move? I loosened the cable up all the way and the arm moves but it just seems like it should move more.

 

Probably because like I mentioned with the spring failing. It's probably jamming itself inside the tranny only allowing slight movement.. It's not uncommon for them to break after the years..

 

Lol ok so I just went out and disconnected the cable the arm that I hooks to flops up and down alot. It feels like it is just laying in there not touching anything. I can put one finger under it and lift it and just drop it and it moves atleast a couple inches up and down just loose free moving. Thanks for all the responses I appreciate you taking time to give me advise.

 

Hard to say what your actual problem is, the arm should move a couple inches when the cable is off. If you set the tension like I mentioned and if tightening it more beyond that and still having the issue, I would drop the tranny and start inspecting.. You don't want it too tight where the throw out bearing is riding on the clutch while driving or it will wear out very fast. hope you get it figured out..

 

Thanks, I appreciate the responses gonna have it towed to a tranny shop monday.

 

Ok anyone please help I have changed the whole clutch kit everything and it still will not shift while it is running any idea it shifts thru the gears while it's off fine but it's like the throwout bearing isn't touching the pressure plate. If I grab the clutch fork by hand I don't feel any pressure on the plate it's like it stops before Making contact. I replaced the retainer spring also. I don't underatand what is going on.

 

Did you inspect the bolt that holds the release bearing fork to the shaft while everything was apart?

 

No I would be lying if I said I inspected it. It seemed to unbt and bt back in normal I didn't crank down on it when tightening it back up I tightened it pretty good but I didn't really look at it or examine it closely. Could it be that? It's really got me frustrated. I have pulled the tranny in and out 2 times this week.

 

Can the fork bend because when I grab the lever manually it doesn't really feel like the throwout bearing makes contact with the pressure plate? Does that happen? Or it doesn't make much contact it really fewls.like it isn't pushing the fingers in on the plate.

 

The flywheel has a pretty substantial lip where the clutch disk contacts.

 

 

If you put in a new clutch, that flywheel needs to be resurfaced! Looks pretty worn.. what happened to the pilot bearing?? Did you remove it or forget to put it in? Looks like you have some nasty worn grooves on the snout of the input shaft aswell from your previous post with pics..

 

I ordered a new flywheel and the two grooves on the shaft are from the factory the 90 91 has two grooves I believe it's 88 and prior have none and 92 to I can't remember what year has one or I may have it backwards 88 and before may have one I can't remember but the two grooves are supposed to be there.the clutch fork bolt didn't have any play when torqued. What did u think about how the pressure plate fingers looked it is brand new doesn't have 1 mile on it the marks are from it sitting still and trying to switch gears.

 

Well I bought junk ebay clutch kit and flywheel and still didn't fix it I couldn't figure it out so took it to the shop and the ebay junk clutch and flywheel were so far outta spec they just didn't work lil. Mechanic put on a OEM clutch and resurfaced my flywheel and it works perfect. Lol cost me $772.00 to learn to never buy parts from ebay.