Ethan Reynolds

Here's what I have in the car that is relevant:
- Brand new master cylinder (not even 12 hours old)
- Somewhat new slave cylinder (replaced a few months ago, I know this part is functional)
- I have removed the limiter valve in the slave cylinder (followed tutorials, no leaks, no problems, seems to be working as intended.)
- 10k mile old Stage 2 clutch (dealer put this in as a bonus, I do not know the manufacturer or exactly what he did while installing it. I have no way to contact the dealer to find this information.)
- Brand new DOT 3/4 brake fluid in the hydraulic system

Here's the summary of my problems:
- I CAN shift into gear smoothly with the car off
- I CAN shift into 2nd - 6th somewhat smoothly with the car on
- I CANNOT shift into 1st or R smoothly with the car on
- I CANNOT shift *smoothly* (comparing to working condition) up or down while driving (shifting is possible though)
- My clutch feels abnormally very heavy and I cannot feel a precise engagement/disengagement point in the pedal
- Shifting into 1st (or R) with the car off and the clutch to the floor, then turning the engine ON, does not produce noticeable movement or RPM change (as if the clutch IS in fact disengaged) (this one confused me).

Here's what I've done in an attempt to fix the problem:
- Bought a brand new master cylinder and installed it correctly (including positioning the attachment point to the clutch pedal)
- Bled the clutch 2-3 times using various methods found online until I did not see any bubbles on either end of the hydraulic system.

Here's what I think COULD be the problem:
- I may just have air in the hydraulics. I don't think I missed any, but this is the S2K we're talking about. Any bleeding suggestions are very welcome.
- My clutch fork (or the flat spring) could be bent / damaged. I haven't seen a ton of support on this problem and have no idea how to properly diagnose this.
- My pilot bearing might be screwed up (again, I have no idea how the dealer installed the aftermarket clutch, they may have improperly greased any component causing this problem to surface).
- My foot could be broken.

I've been whacking my head against the wall here for a few days. Any suggestions or feedback are welcome. Please help me out with this one... My S2K is my daily.

Side note:
If the problem ends up being my clutch fork or related part, is it necessary to remove the transmission to service these and if so, is it POSSIBLE (however awkward it may be) to remove the transmission ENOUGH to do the repairs with a standard floor jack or two, or do I need a hydraulic lift?

Thanks

B serious

How much pedal freeplay do you have?

Ethan Reynolds

Little to none on either end.

B serious

...either end?

So you push the clutch pedal in and get resistance to switching gears when the car is on.

No resistance when the car is off.


Yes?


If so....u might have air in the lines. An S2000 is not harder to properly bleed than any other car. There's nothing special.

If the system is properly bled...you probably have an issue with the "bonus" clutch. Buy a clutch set and grease from Honda.

Ethan Reynolds

That's correct.
That's what I thought too at first, but I've had air in my lines before from a previous bleed that I did improperly, and the clutch felt lighter if anything. The entire thing feels at least 5x as hard to push down. My leg will get tired if I try to hold it down in a couple seconds of stop-and-go traffic for example.
The only thing that I can think of that would provide that kind of resistance would be a crushed steel line from the master cylinder to the slave, or a defective component of the pressure plate system that the slave cylinder interfaces with...

I'll try another bleed. I've done it three times today already, so I'm not sure that's the solution, but I'll post here if it does end up solving the problem.

If anyone has had a bad clutch fork (or related part failure), please let me know the symptoms so I can diagnose it properly.

B serious

dang. I wouldn't keep driving it. You're going to eventually cause engine thrust bearing failure.

Sounds like way too much clutch.

_valtsu_

How did this problem start? Was there some work done before?

I don't think this is caused by air in lines. Clutch pedal would feel soft if there would be air.

I think you should put car on jack stands, take out the slave cylinder rubber cover, put slave cylinder back and get someone press clutch and take a look is fork actually moving.
If yes, then problem is definitely on clutch.

Yes you can take tranny of on jack stands, but you need to get car pretty high.

Ethan Reynolds

There was no prior work done that would have caused this. Seems like it happened with time.

I agree - I did both a gravity and pressure bleed last night just to be sure. There has never been less air in my clutch than there is now.

I can confirm that the fork is moving unfortunately. I agree with you that the problem is not in the hydraulics...

After further visual inspection of as much of the clutch disengagement mechanism as you can see through the small port in the tranny case, I believe my clutch fork IS most likely bent or dammaged, and my throwout bearing seems to be getting kindof stuck. What I will most likely do is look through the pieces I need to or should replace when I drop the transmission, then I'll go through the long process of replacing all those parts at once while I've got it off. Ill make sure to grease everything properly as well... I've got multiple friends that can help me out.

I've managed to get the car to at least a driveable state by adjusting the pedal engagement. It's by no means safe for the drivetrain and it's not comfortable or necessarily easy to shift, but I need these parts to give me another two weeks before I can replace them. What I can say is I can shift smoothly if I'm not hammering the car, so I'm not wearing down my transmission, and my clutch is fully engaged so it also should be fine for the time being.

I'll replace my clutch fork, inspect my throwout bearing, and look through what else I should do while the tranny is off, do the repairs, then update this thread with the results.

It's by no means an ideal situation to be sure, but I'm definitely looking forward to having a BRAND NEW clutch feel when the process is done

Car Analogy

Get an oem Honda disk. Get an oem Honda disk. Get an oem Honda disk. From Honfa, not some exedy junk claiming to be oem.

You will probably find the release bearing guide is messed up, replace that.

Find out if they used an oem Honda release bearing. Replace it with Honda if not certain.

Find out what pressure plate they used. Replace it with oem Honda if not sure. This may be the cause of the overly stiff pedal. If it is, you gotta that outta there. Its going to cause excessive wear on your engines thrust bearing, which will destroy your engine.

Get the correct Honda urea grease. Apply it correctly to all surfaces its supposed to be applied to.

Before you apply the grease, make sure the splines are perfectly clean. Wire brush off any rust.

My trolly jack was not high enough to remove trans. So I bought some cinder blocks (not sure what you guys call them over there), and a piece of plywood cut to size. Also got some large, heavy duty extra large jack stands meant for trucks (lorries). I first lifted car up as high as jack allowed, set it on stands, then slide the blocks under and the plywood on top, then jack on top of that, and lifted a second time, much higher, then set on stands.

I was able to do the whole clutch job by myself, in my driveway. But I just barely had enough room to slide the trans out (on cardboard), so you will need a lot of height, and you don't want to find out you don't have enough when trans is half out.

fatjoe10

The release bearing guide is the best advice here. Replacing mine made a big difference in feel and engagement characteristics.