My clutch intermittently makes a popping sound when I release it. It seems to be coming from near the pedal . . . the sound is not in the engine compartment. Almost sounds like a spring or a piece of plastic is caught on something.

It's only an intermittent sound and it only happens when I release the pedal. I can't reproduce the sound when I get my head under there and operate the clutch with my hand, so I'm having difficulty finding the culprit.

Any ideas?

 

The same thing seems to be happening with my 1990 ex-r

 

With the noise under the dash, it almost has to be the pedal hinges or pushrod. Look for loose pivots or maybe they need grease?

 

The pivots that are easily visible with my head down there are tight. Perhaps there are some up above that I need to get to. If it is the pushrod slipping on its pad should I simply grease it? Or is there some sort of adjustment I need to make?

Thanks for the help

 

#16 is the clutch pedal, it looks like all the pivots are there, as long as you can see all the way up to the one that actually holds the pedal lever at the top.


Clutch pushrod attaches to the pedal with a clevis pin (#1) so there isn't a pad to slip around. Maybe that damper in the pushrod is messed up?


How about the clutch master cylinder mounting bolts working loose?

 

Thank you, those diagrams will really help. I'm going to get into it tomorrow and I'll post what I find.

 

Well, I think I fixed it and it was quite simple. I removed the pin between the pedal and the plunger on the master cylinder. I cleaned the pin and lubed it with a little Honda urea grease (I had some on hand), put it back in, and I haven't heard a pop yet.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, since the problem was intermittent so it might not actually be gone, but I'm optimistic

 

Thanks for the update. Hope it's fixed.

 

The problem came back. After more searching I decided to try spraying some white lithium grease on the pushrod that sticks out of the master cylinder and connects to the pedal. This "solved" the problem for a while.

A month or two later the popping sound came back. I tried more grease. The popping sound went away again for a week or two, then came back.

Now I'm in a dryer climate (temporarily), and the popping sound is completely gone.

I have observed that the popping sound occurs when humidity is high and the temperature is warm to high. This leads me to believe that something is swelling and creating the issue, but I can't figure out what.

Any fresh ideas?

 

there is a bulletin on this it is for 98-99 but it might the same thing on your car,,go to DIY section there is a write up on it first page..