Clutch won't disengage

[wildbill846]

If anyone was following a few months back, I had the transmission that was damaged by a pressure plate bolt that had backed its way out. Well, finally I had a rebuilt tranny and new OEM clutch installed. Right off the bat I noticed the clutch pedal felt much different, but chalked it up to having a new clutch and not driving the car in several months. It took considerablly more pressure to push the pedal to the floor than I had remembered, especially through the second half of its travel. After a day of driving, I noticed the pedal becoming more and more difficult to push in and the RPM's would take 3-4 seconds to drop after the pedal is pushed in, shifting gears became more difficult. Finally, it got so bad that as I pulled into my garage tonite, it couldn't idle with my foot on the brake because it was still trying to pull the car forward. Looks like I'll end up towing it back to the dealership.
Any possible installation issues that I should be aware of that could be a contributing factor? Or should I start worrying that something else on the car also needs to be replaced?

Bill

 

[BadCarma]

Sounds like a blown clutch slave cylinder.did they replace your master clutch cylinder when they did the clutch?often the slave cant handle the presure of the new master and it goes resulting in exactly what you described .happened on one of my rides not my nsx.was at a light clutch to the floor let off the brake and she wanted to go.
often will show no fluid leak.it all sits in the unit getting on the plates which can also make em stick.not a for sure thing but I would go there first since you just had the clutch tranny work done.but other problems can cause this but this is most common
best regards david

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Guys,

I am not sure about the slave cylinder. This is a hydralic system and if either the slave or the master went bad, I would suspect the pedal would not be hard to push down, but easy, almost loose, just like loosing your brakes from a master cylinder failure, very mushy pedal. It really sounds like the clutch is not disengaging mechanically.

It may need to be initialized again, it may not have been done properly upon reinstallation. If the clutch is not initialized properly, the intermediate plate does not completely disengage, which will cause the clutch to "drag". This is pretty unique to the OEM NSX dual plate clutch. Is the car a 3.0 liter?

The other question I have is did they replace the flywheel? It could also be a broken pin on the flywheel.

The dealer should try re-initializing the clutch first. This can be done without taking the car apart, just remove the clutch inspection plate on the trans case.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[wildbill846]

Larry,

Yes, the car is a 3.0, 1992 to be exact. And yes, a whole new clutch/flywheel assembly was put in. Thanks for the insight.

Bill

 

[BadCarma]

wildbill, larry has a point.while my clutch wanted to go while 'disengaged'I did forget to indicate I had a super soft pedal due to fluid leaking BUT not all the time.I would refill the fluid get my peddle back and it was with a firm peddle when it happened to me .have you noticed a soft pedal?and the hard to engage was also there.good point larry
best regards david

 

[wildbill846]

Badcarma,

No, I never experienced a soft pedal ever...I had the opposite problem. I've had a master cylinder go bad on me on my Eclipse years ago and experienced that soft pedal that fell to the floor. This seems more mechanical, like something is binding, and resisting me from pushing the pedal in. It is a heck of a work out to push the pedal in now. I'm hoping it is just the initialization problem which means it shouldn't cost me anything more.

Bill

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Bill,

One more question. Is your trans grinding when you shift? I thought about it a little more last evening, and if it is not grinding, then the clutch is actually disengaging, so the initialization idea really has little merit. Maybe they did not lubricate the clutch fork, throw out bearing and sleeve, etc properly. This is a key issue with a new clutch. If the proper grease, Honda Eura (I think that is the proper spelling??, I have a supply of it, but didn't check it this morning), is the ONLY grease that should be used on the clutch.

The down side to this being the issue is that the trans will have to come out again.

Let's hope for the best.

Good Luck,
LarryB

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Bill,

Scratch the above!! I just reread your original post and you did mention it not totally disengaging, have it reinitialized and see what happens!

LarryB

 

[wildbill846]

OK, now we're into chapter 3 of the ongoing Saga of my clutch/tranny problems. After a couple weeks, I finally get a call that my car is fixed and ready. I'm explained that the problem was a faulty release bearing and they have replaced that under warranty. However, they also thought the release fork needed replacing so did that too, without talking to me first. So now, after spending $120 to tow my car back to the shop I had just picked it up from, they want to charge me $120 for a part they never told me needed replacing until after they were done doing it. Needless to say, I'm starting to get a little perturbed with this dealership. They said that clutch initiation was not the problem. 1) from what was stated earlier in the topic, does the release bearing sound like a reasonable cause? 2) would the release fork have any affect on this? 3) Could the release fork have been damaged by improper installation of the clutch in the first place? 4) What is a reasonable course of action here? Thanks,

Bill

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Hey Bill,

Well the first question is: "Is it OK now?" That would be a true deciding factor as to how to handle it!!

But with that aside, the fork and the throw out bearing connect directly together and they push on the pressure plate to release the clutch. The fork does the pushing and the bearing allows it to spin, since the fork is stationary and clutch is spinning.

There is no doubt this can add up to your problem. The clutch would be doing really strange things.

It is possible that let's say the bearing was warped/cracked, or damaged in some way, the fork arms could have gotten damaged easily.

I can tell you for sure they had to pull the trans again to make this repair. So it seems they are trying to get something out of you.

I would tell them you insist on meeting the Regional Service Manager to discuss this matter, because you do not feel this is correct. They "fixed" it, you had to tow it back, frankly, they should give you $120 for a tow reimbursment.

Do not let them tell you that your old clutch caused the bad fork either, since even if that is the case you already paid them to DIAGNOSE and fix your clutch. If they took that position I would say OK, I got the Towing, You get the part cost, we're even;-).

Hope for sure at least your issue has been solved.

LarryB

 

[EricC]

I was just wondering, do the 3.2 motors have a dual or a single plate clutch?

-Eric

 

[Sensei]

Originally posted by EricC:
I was just wondering, do the 3.2 motors have a dual or a single plate clutch?

-Eric

...single plate.