ok, I was driving with my friends last night. I was going pretty fast in 1st gear, didn't really drop the clutch, but then I pushed the clutch and threw it into 2nd gear. It grinded pretty bad, my friend outside heard it. Then while I was driving, it wouldn't let me downshift into 1st or 2nd unless it was a really slow speed and when I was doing it it made a quiet "yinnnn" sound. Then suddenly I put it into 3rd and 4th, worked ok. Then I stopped and started again in 1st, it was ok, then I stopped and tried again.

I pushed in the clutch to change the gear into 1st, and the clutch was vibrating vigorously with lots of resistance, and the tranny wouldn't go into any gears.

At a stop when the car is off, the clutch feels relatively ok and the shifter goes through the gears perfectly.

What happened? My friends tell me that the clutch isn't disengaging or something, i'm really freaked out.

Thanks

 

Probably popped a spring off the clutch disk and is making it difficult for it to disengage. Have it towed to a shop, get a ACT and consider it fixed.

 

I disagree.
Clutchmasters Clutches are more reputable.
And unless you are going to be putting down tremendous ammounts of power, you won't need anything more "grippy" than stock.

 

so its just my clutch thats the problem? anything else? so the problem would be solved if I just took the car into a shop and got the clutch changed? or is there something wrong with the master cylinder or pressure plate?

thanks

 

Both are good clutches, although I wasnt too happy with my CM Stage II.

 

AHH!! READ THIS PLEASE!

I forgot the mention, that I can get the car to move if I put the shifter into 1st gear, step on clutch all the way, start the car and it hooks up by itself, then I let go of clutch and it moves at around 800rpm or so. I hope this helps

thanks for the all help so far

 

Hard to say if its the clutch or a damaged synchro. You'll only find out after the tranny is dropped and inspected. More often than not, its a bad clutch. But if its the synchros, you're better off replacing the entire tranny.

Good luck.

 

Is the tranny busted? I can still move through the gears perfectly when the car is off

 

MrSmith on this board had a similar problem. He'd be able to upshift normally, but he was not able to downshift. He ended up replacing his clutch with ACT HD PP + Organic Street Disc, and when we looked at the old clutch we saw a couple pieces broken off the pressure plate. The springs looked unaffected. you might want to IM him and compare how similiar your problem is with his.

 

I just started the car, when I step on the clutch, it won't let me go into any gears and when the clutch is fully depressed I hear a "scrreeech" sound for 1sec or so sometimes.

 

Dude take it to a shop. Its probably a bad clutch plate, had the same thing happen myself.

And take it easy next time.

 

yup you got a bad clutch. figure 300 or so for a new clutch plus 250-300 for someone to put it in for you.

 

Very similar thing happend to me in my Civic, I missed a 1-2 shift badly, VERY badly and grinded the hell out of 2nd. For the next week or so I couldn't downshift into 2nd gear at speeds over 30mph, upshifting was fine but downshifting just wouldn't happen. I flushed out the tranny and replaced it with redline synthetic MTL and it seemed to help alot. I could now downshift to 2nd at higher speeds and no grindage whatsoever during fast 1-2 shifts. I've since replaced my clutch with an ACT unit and I have no problems upshift or downshifting. The only problem I have is the car popping out of 2nd gear every now and again. Looks like I bent the shifter fork and it doesn't catch 2nd gear fully which will let it pop out every now and again.

 

is a throwout bearing the same as the release bearing? is it two names for the same thing?

 

is my tranny screwed even if I can shift perfectly through all the gears when the car is off? or is it primarily just the clutch.

thanks

 

ok, i am having a very similar problem with mine, it happened to me about 2 weeks ago but i have been driving it regardless because i am an idiot, i took it to a mechanic and he told me bascically that he thinks that the bearings in my tranny that help control the speed the clutch is spinning are shot and thats why the clutch isnt able to disengage, he says i am gonna need a new tranny or have mine rebuilt? anyone else have any input on this? the problem at first did seem to be directly related to rpm's which would support his theory and now when i drive to be able to disengaeg the clucth without it becoming hard and not letting me shift at all, i have to press the clutch in while i am still accelerating, his theory makes sense to me but he doesnt want to work on it and i hate honda dealerships so i am tryin to find a good local mech to do the work for me, maybe u have the same problem