Clutch issues, would like thoughts...

[gardengirl38]

I have a non jeep. My other vehicle is a 94 honda civic 5speed manual transmission.

I have had clutch issues over the last few weeks. First what happened is the clutch got stuck in the down position but I could pop it out with my toe and keep driving. I drove it over and got it a block away from the repair shop and it wouldnt go into gear anymore.

The mechanic there said it was either the hydraulics the clutch or both and he would fix what was wrong.

Next day he calls me and says it was the hydraulics the slave cylinder was leaking and he replaced both the master and the slave cylinder and the car ran great for a week.
One day on my way to work, the car would go into gear fine and the pedal worked fine but when I went from 3rd to 4th gear AFTER the car got real warm.... like after I drove 5-6 miles this started... when shifting into 4th gear the car kind of revved but didnt really go. The engine was revving but the car wasnt really going very fast. I had to downshift back into 3rd.
Directly went to the repair shop and he thought I probably did indeed need a clutch but he messed with the pedal and said let me adjust something... he adjusted the clutch pedal and the car drove great for a week....
On my way home from work late at night it quit on me again, this time was a little different. This time the pedal went to the floor but it was limp.... it wasnt stuck in the down position it was just soft as heck and wouldnt stay up if that makes sense. So since I was in the bad part of town at midnight, I pulled over and messed with the pedal enough that it popped back out and was stiff again and I was able to drive home will almost no issues. I felt it wasnt quite right but it was shifting fine. Next morning I drove it up to the shop again and he looked at it and the pedal was limp of the floor after 4 or 5 pumps with the car off... he said he thought that one of the cylinders he replaced was bad... faulty... so he replaced them both again because he couldnt tell which was bad...and the car ran great. For a week... haha.
Now today, the durn thing is doing the revving thing when I go into 4th gear after the car has warmed up well. What in the heck!!!
Do I need a new clutch???? Is there something else that could be happening? I am about to cry. I drive that car to work because the jeep is so bad on gas I need the car. I don't want to put too much money into it because it is a POS but it gets such great gas mileage!!
ANY thoughts would be greatly appreciated

 

[gardengirl38]

And what would you suggest to someone who has done lots of car repairs but never a clutch... is that something that two people could take care of in a weekend or should I fork over the 600 including the part to have it replaced for me? Realistically is it doable?

 

[54cj3b]

Front wheel drive send it out there more a pain than worth your time

 

[gardengirl38]

I wanted to update this thread, as there are still some questions and maybe someone will know something or learn something perhaps...
I bought a clutch kit and had the mechanic install it, He charged me 200 dollars to put it in which I felt was fair. The kit cost 99.99. Now, the old clutch that came out looked pretty good. There really wasnt much wear on the clutch disc, but the clutch pressure plate had some deep grooves worn into the flanges on the diaphragm. The mechanic said that he was pretty sure that the clutch disc was replaced fairly recently but the pressure plate wasnt. He also said that he didnt think the symptom of the clutch pedal getting hard was due to the clutch condition and it kind of stumped him. I am definitely not an expert in this field. I can tell you the car is driving well now, for two days its driving fine excellent in fact. SO, I noticed that after he did the second set of cylinders that my tach and cruise control no longer worked. I mentioned that to him when I dropped the car off to have him put the clutch in. He said and I quote " that doesnt have anything to do with the clutch, thats all through the distributor" so that sounded reasonable but I told him it was a strange coincidence and he agreed. I checked the distributor later and it looks new no damage etc. And all the wires look fine all around although I have no idea what I would have been looking for at the time. I just wanted the clutch to work and figured Id work on the tach issues later myself. So today I do some online research and see that the cruise and the tach work on the same wire, or something like that. Someone else had the same issue after having an alternator replaced and it was suggested that they forgot to plug something back up. Any thoughts on this?

 

[gardengirl38]

Re: Clutch issues intersting find... have one more question

I think I may have found the issue with the cruise control and tach not working. There is a black wire with a white stripe on it pinched under the Clutch master cylinder where it meets up with the body in between the cylinder and the gasket material, at least an inch under there.

My question is.... if I loosen those bolts that hold the cylinder on will that allow air into the system? I should only need to barely loosen them enough to pull that wire out so I can repair it. I thought about cutting it off and splicing it back together but if I can get it out of there ID rather, I do not like the idea of a piece of wire under there even though I think its over on the edge where the bolt is.

ANY THOUGHTS!!????? Please
Oh and I have no idea how the mechanic missed THAT! grrr. :???::evil:

 

[SteelHeadz]

You should be able to just loosen the 2 bolts enough to pull the wire off without completly removing the assembly.

 

[gardengirl38]

Thank you -!!!