NickPappagiorgio

Picked up a 2002 with 117k, person i bought if off of said the clutch was replaced recently, may or not not have idk, but, yesterday went out for a drive in the back roads, wasnt really pushing it too hard, i noticed the "sticky" clutch at the bottom, brushed it off, was just starting to have fun then it kept grinding gears, thought it was me being retarded then it wouldnt go in at all, clutch felt a little lose, limped it home using 1,2, and 4th, did my research on here, handful of posts were saying maybe it was dirty fluid since there were no leaks under the dash or under the car. i just sucked out the fluid in the resovoir since it looked like oil and had some gunk in it and replaced it with new fluid, and then today driving around the neighborhood it was ok, better then yesterday then suddenly No pressure at all in the pedal. Had to just kinda start it in gear and go luckily i only had to run one stop sign that was by my house and it was a right turn haha. Clutch doesnt feel like its slipping, as stated Master cylinder is dry inside and out, so im narrowing it down to dirt in the line, or a bad slave.

But my question is if any of you know, Slave cylinder dying? Dirt in the clutch line? I peeked inside by the clutch fork and it looks bone dry, i know some people suggested greasing that too but im not exactly sure where to grease it at.

Also, Im probably just gonna buy another slave cylinder, my local dealer doesnt have one im hoping VatoZone will for temporary at least, when replacing it do i bleed it like brakes? Cause that sounds like a pain since i can already barely get under there haha

I have photos if anyone needs them, but like i said its all dry, no leaks

EDIT*** So I went back outside, was gonna just flush the fluid and see what happens, while doing it i noticed the cylinder was startin to get wet, i pressed in on the round cylinder part (Idk the actual name) and noticed it had fluid coming out around it, i could press it in and out with my fingers, im not sure but it doesnt sound like you're supposed to be able to do that right?

Chance S2K

Clutch is stupid? Have you tried sending it to college yet?


First thing I'd try is completely bleeding the lines and getting all of that old fluid out of there. Keep an eye on the reservoir and that there is enough (clean) fluid in it. Normally if there's no pressure in the clutch and it's "sticking" to the ground, it's a sign that there isn't enough fluid for the clutch.

Edit: Just now saw your update to the topic. At this point I'd just like to add that I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about, however, I do know that in both my Civic and S2000 I also have a "floating plug" in my cylinder/fluid reservoir.

I'd still try bleeding the lines first and getting all-fresh fluid in the system, but besides that it'd probably be good to wait for someone more knowledgable than me to post.

zeroptzero

More like the "Garbage in and garbage out" theory, clutches are only as good as the people who install them.

If the splines weren't properly lubed on installation you will experience a stuck pedal, and you can't lube the parts without pulling the tranny.

As suggested above start by bleeding the slave cylinder. Keep changing the clutch fluid until it stays clean and the inside of the clutch master cylinder is clean. Check for proper clutch rod freeplay. If that doesn't help then you have a lube issue.

Slowcrash_101

You could have a blown slave. Luckily they're rather cheap, and easy to swap out.

Reckon

As others stated, bleed the clutch line...could be dirt or a small pocket of air if the fluid was low to begin with.

If it still persists, you may need to check with the previous owner to see what exactly they did on the swap.

Car Analogy

I think your edit is describing a leak at the back of the MC, as seen from under the dash. This is common with dirty fluid. You only cleaned the resevoir, all the fluid doing the real work is still filthy and nasty.

So you need to do things. Flush out the nasty fluid, and bleed the system. Fortunately both can be done with the same procedure, gravity bleeding. There is a diy how-to thread on this forum, but the basics are suction old nasty fluid from MC, clean resevoir with paper towel, fill with fresh fluid (you did this already). Attach a piece of clear tubing the slave cylinder bleeder screw. Loosen screw, let drip into a container. Keep refilling MC and make sure it never runs dry. Wait until fresh, clean fluid comes out. Close bleeder, top off MC. Drive. Do this like once a year to avoid future issues.

Your MC is what has the leak, so if anything needs to be replaced its that, not the slave cylinder. But I wouldn't replace anything until you've tried properly bleeding and flushing.
I
When you looked at the clutch fork, did you remove the slave cylinder? You would have to, so just making sure we're on the same page as to what you were looking at. If was the fork, and it was dry, you definitly want to lube. Correct stuff is called shin-itsu grease, available from Honda. There are other lubes you can use, but its worth having some of the right stuff around as its used in several places. Do some research on substitutes if you want to use something else.

NickPappagiorgio

Welp, Finally got to the bottom of it, turns out one of the inner springs for the clutch disc flew out and got wedged between the pressure plate. New clutch, throwout bearing, flywheel and pressure plate is in, car feels way smoother then it was before and I wanna cry because this car's parts are expensive. Oh well.


Funny how much attention it gets though, the people at the dealer got a kick out of it when they found out what car i was getting the stuff for

Yaupon

If I may ask, what is the cost of a clutch replacement these days? Did an independent garage do the clutch install? Thanks in advance.

Slowcrash_101

It'll cost you about $550 in parts, and about $420-460 labor, you can spend half of the labor cost on all the tools you'll need to do the job and then some, and you'll have the satisfaction of doing the job yourself. It's not that hard, some parts are a pain in the ass to do, but as long as you're careful and organized it's totally doable in a day or two. And you'll have all the tools you need to basically take the car apart and put it back together.

Yaupon

Thank you for the informative reply. The adventurous side of me says to tackle this someday, but my cautious side tells me that I don't have the skill for this undertaking. Envy those that can do this type of work themselves.