Greetings,

I am having a problem with my 1993 Accord LX clutch. The pedal goes to the floor but barely engages the clutch. I have to start the car with the shifter already in 1st gear. I can barely upshift thru the gears and cannot downshift.

I have been having an ongoing problem with the clutch system leaking somewhere. I have to refill the reservoir about once a month. About a week ago, the pedal went to the floor, barely engages the clutch, and doesn't come back up.

So far, we have replaced the master cylinder and the slave cylinder and bled the system numerous times. No change.

Any ideas on the next step?

Thanks for the help!

 

Did you replace the master and slave cylinders with new units, remanufactured units, or rebuilt units. I've heard of plenty of cases where rebuilt units fail out of the box; I would only ever use new or remanufactured parts for clutch hydraulics.

Another thought, I'm thinking the chances of the clutch disk being damaged with all of the abuse from the failing hydraulics is pretty high; you might want to consider dropping the tranny and doing a complete clutch job as well.

 

Thanks for the response!

Both units were new aftermarket units, Durolast I believe from AutoZone.

If the clutch disk was damaged, would that cause the pedal to go to the floor and stay there? I would think the pedal would still work more or less as usual and the clutch just wouldn't engage properly?

 

I have had troubles bleeding Honda clutches. Exactly what method did you use?

Bleeding by the method of pressing on the pedal, you'll notice the pedal doesn't spring back up. That's because it's only the pressure-plate springs to do that, through the hydraulics. I normally loop a string around the pedal to pull it back up during bleeding. But I have noticed that if I allow the pedal to snap upwards quickly, that sucks air into the system. Use your foot to control the pedal and pull it up smoothly.

PS just to be a terminology-geek...
You press the pedal down to DISENGAGE the clutch. It sounds like your clutch will not completely disengage when you press down the pedal.

 

I'm not doing the work, my son's auto class at the local tech school is doing the work. He said they're using a "pump thing" to bleed it. They've decided it's the brand new master cyclinder that's causing the problem, so I guess I'm going to have to deal with getting another new one and then trying to get my money back for the first one. Getting a bit depressed!

And, yes, I'm completely backwards in my clutchology! lol My defense is I've never gone any deeper into the tranny then adjusting the play in the clutch pedal! Thanks for attempting to set me straight, I fear it's a lost cause! :-)

 

A "pump thing" might be a pressure bleeder or a vacuum bleeder. With a pressure bleeder it seems to work better if you push the fluid into the slave rather than into the master. That way you're pushing the fluid "uphill" and gravity will help you with air bubbles (ever try to push air bubbles down to the bottom of a glass of beer??).

I've been less happy with vacuum bleeders, IMHO.

Just for the sake of their education, this might be a good example for "bench-bleeding" the MC. If you don't pump the pedal at some point in the process, there's places for air bubbles to hang out in the MC; difficult to clear by simply pushing fluid through.

Finally, with a hydraulic clutch you have to be careful adjusting the pedal height. When the pedal is up, the MC has to be at the correct position so the reservoir port is open. If not, then it can't self-adjust as the clutch wears out. Use the shop manual for this, don't use your personal preference for pedal height.

 

A quick update well after the fact, a mechanic friend re-bled the brake system and it works fine now.

Thanks for all the help!