JohnandKing.com

20,000km Clutch Fail <- advices?

HI All, I got my car for about 1.5 year now, I have 22k km on it right now, it's an 02. and I am in Canada.

2 days ago, I notice my clutch engage point dropped from what usually at 70% release to about 15% release. Just last night, I also notice that it became Very hard to push my shifter into 1st or 2nd after coming to a stop. Seems to me maybe the clutch ain't disengaging. (That's 2 contradictory terms)

Now, When the clutch fail, it probably don't engage well, why would this cause my shifter to be so hard to push in? Do I have a bigger problem than a clutch fail here?

Eitherways, I was wondering have anyone here had similiar problem and whether honda would pay for this. I only do normal drive on this car ...

help.. advices please. I did a search and there was a thread where someone had some issues with clutch slipping from 1st-2nd. but it didn't say much about what happened in the end.

Billman250

The disc could be sticking to the input spline; could be air in the hydraulics; does the clutch slip under load?

JohnandKing.com

slip under load?

the clutch engage at about 15% and I have to put in gas, otherwise it'll probably stall. when it reaches about 50% release point it seems to fully engage. So to answer that, I think it slips at about 20 - 40% release.

I also notice the first 10-35% of the clutch (from the top) is totally loose. While I remember on a new car only the first 5-10% was loose.

slalom44

I'm just guessing, but it doesn't sound like a problem with the clutch itself. The S2000 has a hydraulic clutch with a master cylinder, hydraulic line and slave cylinder. If your clutch is acting as if the clutch plate isn't disengaging completely, then that's probably what's happening. That means that the slave cylinder isn't pulling the throwout bearing far enough. That would explain why it's hard to push the shifter in.

As Billman250 suggested, you may have low hydraulic fluid level in your master brake cylinder. You need to check your fluid level. Chances are you have a clutch fluid leak. You can probably get by for a while by topping off the master brake cylinder and bleeding the lines. Xviper has an excellent writeup on this.

If this turns out to be your problem, and this fixes it temporarily, then you will need to determine where the fluid leak is. It's probably coming from your slave cylinder. If that's your problem, I believe that it's less of a problem than having a worn clutch or throwout bearing, because (I believe)you don't have to pull your tranny out to replace the slave cylinder.

First step: Check the fluid level, and see if it's low and let us know.

slalom44

This is the thread from Xviper I mentioned. It shoud help you out.
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=118878

geminiS2

I have a 2002 with 14200miles and have the same problem did you get it fixed????? My 1st gear gets hard to engage and disengaged feels like the clutch wasnt fully engaged when pressed.. Hmmmmm I wonder how many 2002 S2000s have this problem?????

RazorV3

you guys should try bleeding and refilling the clutch fluid, it helps.

geminiS2

So is this a common thing with the S2000 bleeding the clutch fluid or any car thats manuel??

RazorV3

any car thats manual.

there were many people complaining from transmissoin/clutch problems, but after a simple clutch bleed job everything was fine. im not saying this will solve your problem, but its definately worth a try. xviper did a great writeup on this, look for it in the "under the hood" forum.

xviper

Most manual cars have a cable actuated clutch. Many modern day manual cars are being produced with hydraulic clutches now. How can you tell? Look at where your brake fluid reservoir is, then look to the side of it and you will see another reservoir. Now you know.