Hello, just bought a used 2008 v6 Honda Accord 6 speed and am having a couple issues. The clutch bites pretty high, and is pretty hard to press while not having a really linear bite pattern; it's sorta like nothing then a really heavy pushback. Second, when I'm really pushing the car and shifting at like 5k rpm, once I go through about 2 gears the clutch petal looses almost all it's travel and gets "stuck" near the bottom of the throw, not allowing me to press it fully in and shift Until I wait a little bit or drive normally for a while; then the normal feeling comes back. The car is still driveable when this happens, and gears still change without grinding, it just gets sticky and doesn't depress very far or return to the top if the range. Clutch fluid doesn't exactly look disqusting, but should I change that first and make sure there's no air? Is there another issue here? Thanks!

 

Yes. My first thought while reading your post is that there's an air bubble/pocket in it. Bleeding/changing the fluid can't hurt, and might even help. Also, look under the dash at the front wall and see if there is any fluid seeping down the wall, indicating a master cylinder leak, just to be safe.

 

Sounds like a good idea, thanks for the confirmation. I do have a question about the transmission. It really takes its time letting me into gears, as in when I'm at a stop and I try to go into first, there's about a second or so that it doesn't let me go in. Is this normal? Are my syncros going bad?

 

If the synchros were going bad it would let you push the lever & grind the gears. The job of the synchro is to prevent that by resisting against you pushing the lever until the revs are matched.

So it sounds more like the clutch is dragging, rather than the synchros going bad. Dragging can be from air in the hydraulic system & that's what it sounds like. If bleeding the clutch doesn't work, then I'd still think about reasons for the clutch to be dragging.

 

Gotcha. Well that's good then, hopefully this clutch bleed will solve my issues. Rather replace clutch parts then transmission parts.

My replacement process to solve the problem will be as follows then:

1. Replace clutch fluid and bleed system.
2. Replace clutch slave cylinder.
3. Replace clutch master cyclinder.

I will report back with results for anyone having problems like this in the future. Thanks for the help!

 

I see this post and it is similar to my current issue. I had a master clutch cylinder sink all the way in and leaked all out a year and a half ago. We replaced. Then, had issues a few months later with the new one leaking out and losing pressure, replaced again. In that case, it just wasn't engaging in gear when the fluid dropped-id have to clutch it again to get it sometimes. After that, now- im having issues in only 2 spots on my way home from work, zero issues TO work. I go around the parking lot perimeter and turn right, once i go to clutch out of second gear, the clutch pedal like smooshes almost right to the floor and barely gives and hydraulic pressure. Then again, shorty after a ways, I go down a circular ramp and accelerate to merge-go to hit 4th, and same barely any hydraulic feel if any for a second until I awkwardly try again. We got the slave replaced now, AND the master, again, and im still having this issue. Idk why the issue started a few weeks ago- the boot on the slave was ripped... what is going on? Im so tired of dumping money on my MT. Could this be air as well?? Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!!

 

I think mine ended up being the clutch..... I bled the system, redid the fluid, didn’t change the slave or master, and the problem persisted. Oh well I thought. Then my clutch started to go out, and I had my clutch replaced on it. I’m sure they re-bled the system, but having that clutch replacement done got rid of my issue completely. It didn’t make any sense to me really, but it seemed to have worked. Do you know how many miles are on your clutch?

 

Actually, yes, clutch was replaced ALSO last year or so. Sick of all this $$$ on this MT.

 

For Gmpisawesome...
Sounds like along with your clutch disk being worn out, it was also either getting warped or frayed or something like that to cause the clutch to drag when you try to disengage it. Then it was all better when you replaced the clutch disk.

For Blackstar...
I'm not sure I understand some parts of your description. Where did all the fluid leak out exactly? (BTW, the terminology is that you press down the pedal to DISengage the clutch.) Having to "clutch it again" sounds to me like sometimes you have to pump the clutch pedal to get it to disengage? That could be air in the system, but sounds like it might not be that simple. Or I don't completely understand the description.

Press down the pedal to disengage the clutch.
Shift the transmission to a different gear.
Let up the pedal to engage the clutch.
I realize that all happens in a very short time, but where exactly in that process does the problem happen?

 

sorry, I'm not good at explaining myself.
when im driving along in around the parking lot perimeter, I lose speed and push the clutch in to down shift or go into neutral and the petal goes mush right to the floor. There's barely or any clutch pressure, sometimes I have to not proceed with my shift but have to punch the clutch in again to get pressure at the pedal to take into gear. Then, a few miles down, take the exit ramp down the highway and does it to me going into 4th. Could it just need to be bled??? The loss of hydraulic pressure in this manner and the parts I replaced, anything besides bleeding to try at this point? Thanks in advance.