alexisthemovie

Would love some help diagnosing my car's shifting problems.

Symptoms: Feels like the synchros don't work above 5k rpm. Grinds 3-4, 4-5, 5-6 in vtec range if I shift quickly. Tough to get into first or reverse from neutral, especially when cold.

Clutch: ACT

Clutch fluid: completely bled through the other day

Transmission Fluid: Mobil 1, roughly 1 year old, ~5,000 miles.

The car is hardly ever driven now (I've put less than 1000 miles on it in the past 6 months). When I swapped in the new motor, I was told that the clutch had about 25% life remaining, so I'm leaning towards changing it out.

Suggestions or pointers?

05TurboS2k

I'd blame syncros but they don't usually all fail together, however maybe they are all quite worn.

The clutch being worn shouldn't affect it really in this manner I don't think but someone correct me if I'm wrong. When my clutch has completely gone out in cars I've been able to shift gear to gear since there's no drive power making it to the tranny or wheels.

I can only put blame to either the tranny or the clutch plates not separating fully. Is your clutch engagement normal from say a complete stop? It of course shouldn't change from gear to gear so if it separates the plates in 1st gear it should separate them in all gears equally thus we can mostly rule the clutch out.

I'm thinking just to rule out the simple things first, swap to the new honda MTF and see if things are improved. Perhaps it'll assist the syncros a little and that slight improvement will make all the difference.

Alex, is this only on a real quick shift such as a racing condition or is this even on casual shifting?

EvasiveMotorsports

A way to test if your clutch is going bad is to go on a steep hill and floor it when your about 3,000 rpm. If it goes up high and drop back down your clutch is going. Your problem doesn't seem like a clutch issue though

racecar fun

Sorry this may seem dim but can you clarify what exactly goes high and drops back down?


The rpm? High up the hill? I would think the rpm would climb and drop again if you waited enough. And the car would also go high up the steep hill but eventually fall back down.

05TurboS2k

^The RPM.

It means your engine revs but your rear tires aren't having power delivered thus you'll see your RPM rise without your MPH rising.

Typically of course these raise together at a given speed (gear dependent) but in the case of a clutch that slips, you'll see the RPM needle seems to be able to jump ahead of the MPH needle. This indicates for sure your clutch is going out.

racecar fun

^Thanks

05TurboS2k

The best way I've found to test is to get to about 6k and go WOT, then quickly chop the throttle and you'll see the RPM drop like 500hp or more instantly. That's a dead give away since it means the weak clutch is allowing the engine to slip faster than the wheel speed.

alexisthemovie

I know you guys are all pointing towards a slipping clutch but I haven't experienced any slip at all. Is that the only sign of a bad clutch? I guess I'll change the transmission fluid again and if that doesn't fix things, I'll take it to Evasive.

Nicotunes

I sometimes cannot get OUT of gear.... WTF?? I have to release the clutch pedal and push it in again.......

HONDA RR

From experience I have a ACT clutch on my car and after 20-25k miles the springs on the clutch disc started failing and at one point I couldn't event shift into any gears. It would grind if I forced it into gear. I had no choice but to remove the transmission from the car and remove the complete clutch assembly. When the clutch assembly was removed one of the springs on the clutch disc was literally broken off. I ended up just replacing the clutch disc with a new ACT disc. Then again I might have gotten a defective clutch disc for it to fail at such low of a mileage.