I have had no indications of a failing clutch and have been driving fine lately. All of a sudden, I went to back out of the drive today, I put the clutch in, put it in reverse, released the clutch, and nothin'. I put it in all the other gears but still nothin'. I can go through all the gears without depressing the clutch but the car is reacting as if the clutch is perpetually depressed. Any thoughts?

 

My first thought is that I have no idea whether you're talking about a 72 Pinto or a 2008 Accord.

Clutch slipping usually comes on gradually, as the friction disk wears thin.

Happenning all of a sudden, it sounds like something broke or disconnected. Have you replaced an axle lately? People have had the end pop out from it's socket in the differential.

Have someone pump the clutch pedal while you watch the slave cylinder & throw-out lever. Those should move back & forth about 12mm.

Less likely but possible...
The hub of the clutch disk can break, but normally that leaves broken parts banging around in there. Any funny noises?
The tranny input shaft can break.

 

Sorry, 96 accord. This was not gradual. I did recently replace both cv axles. There aren't any funny noises.

 

Check that the CV axles are properly seated into the tranny. If they didn't completely click into place, they may have worked out just enough to become disconnected from the splines that drive them.

 

If that shaft or anything else had snapped or broke, would it make a loud enough noise that I could hear? I didn't hear anything when this occurred.

 

Maybe its possible for something to break sorta quietly??

When you put it in gear, try to go, does the speedometer read anything? If the speedometer IS reading some speed, that would suggest the axles have popped out of position. In that case, the fix is to snap them back in.

 

The speedometer is reading speed and there is a noticeable gap on the pass side axle. I will give that a try. Thanks for your help.

 

You may have to take off the steering knuckle, so you can push/pound on the outboard end of the axle.

WORST case, you might have to remove the axle (spill the tranny oil...) and use a new snap ring?

That's A LOT better than removing the tranny & replacing broken parts...

 

Well, when i put it in, I had to do all of that and it had a new ring (it was a new axle). That side did not easily pop in though so i have a couple of thoughts on getting it in further.