PedalFaster

I loaned my car to someone, and as Murphy's Law of Loaning Out Your Car predicts, it broke while in his hands.

The first problem noticed was that the car popped out of sixth gear on the freeway. Shortly after that, he started getting grinding whenever he shifted. The grinding got progressively worse until he decided it was time to park the car. The only other notable symptom is that, if the gearbox is placed in neutral and the clutch let out, the car will roll forward a bit before stopping. Any ideas what might be causing this?

The borrower believes that this is a transmission issue, and is of the opinion that replacing the entire transmission with a used unit would be cheaper than fixing the original one. Any thoughts on this? If this would be the way to go -- can anyone recommend a good shop and/or a good source of used transmissions in the San Diego area?

Thanks for any help you can provide,
Steve
(sigh)

Road Rage

This sound more a clutch issue to me - can you drive the car? I f so, go up a slight incline in 4th and press down, watchint the tach - if it flares, it is clutch.

xviper

You may have the reported 6th gear "pop out". I think Honda has a TSB on this but don't know if your car is eligible given its age. If it wasn't doing this before you lent it out, then I suggest that this was caused by the driver and Honda's TSB on this was purely to fix something that driver's did to their own cars.

This grinding may also be a function of what the guy did why in his hands. The more you grind, the more you will grind. Some damage may have been done that will now stay with your tranny. It may also be a function of tranny fluid, clutch fluid and adjustment. Do a change of these and see what happens. Some of the syncros may have been abused and wrecked.

If the gearbox is left in neutral with the clutch out and you are not using any of the brakes, the car will roll as long as gravity acts upon it. It only stopped because it didn't have any incline to roll down anymore. I'm not sure why you think this a problem. In this state, you should be able to get out of your car and push it all over the place till you can't push anymore.

PedalFaster

What the guy did was run the car in the Pro Solo Finale, which entailed 12+ 8000 rpm drop-clutch starts on R-compound rubber. To clarify, I don't have the car -- it's still in his hands, so I'm just reporting what he told me.

xviper, I assume you're being sarcastic with your "if the car's on a hill in neutral, it will roll" comment. For the record, having driven manual transmissions for the past thirteen years, I was aware that a car in neutral can freewheel, but thank you for the clarification. My car was not freewheeling -- it was allegedly moving itself forward on flat ground when in neutral. I did not see this myself to confirm.

I'm using the past tense because the car is apparently now shifting properly again. I have no idea how or why this came to pass, or how something that could be fixed in less than a day with parts on hand could cause the car to drive itself while in neutral, but I'll find out when he returns the car tomorrow.

Steve

xviper

[QUOTE=PedalFaster,Sep 17 2004, 07:06 PM] xviper, I assume you're being sarcastic with your "if the car's on a hill in neutral, it will roll" comment.

alexf20c

That's almost as bad as saying UL doesn't know how to work a dyno, or RR doesn't know motor oils.


But seriously, sounds like the pressure plate isn't fully releasing the clutch off the flywheel. That would explain the roll with the clutch pedal depressed (clutch still partially engaged), and also the grinding with each shift (the input shaft is not fully free-wheeling so the synchros are having a hard time matching speeds.

alexf20c

If it's not doing it anymore, then don't worry about it. I know it's hard, but you gotta try.

l8brakr

With the severe trauma the clutch is enduring with that many high rpm starts I would say maybe a piece or pieces of the friction material folded up at a edge of one of the blocks and was wedging itself between the disc and the pressure plate like f20c said. It has since wore itself off or broke away and poof no more problem. I would say a new clutch disc should be at the top of your after nationals maintenence list. At the least inspect it.

xviper

Yeah, I know. Sometimes I don't pay a lot of attention to who it is that is posting. I should have known that Steve would know better. When I answered the first time, it didn't dawn on me it was him. There have been so many questions on this forum from people who really don't have clue. I try not to treat them like idiots and attempt to give a serious answer. But I gotta admit, it's getting harder and harder to sift out the clueless from those whose questions are on a higher plane.

alexf20c

Hehehe. I just remebered the "what does a bent valve sound like?" thread.