Yesterday morning I noticed it was hard to get into 4th and by the end of the day 4th and 5th had become very difficult to get into with 2nd and 3rd also hard but not quite as bad. Clutch does not seem to be slipping. Pulled the boot on the shifter to look at the action in shifter linkage but don't see anything obviously broken. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

No sign of leakage in the foot well from the master clutch cylinder.

 

Engine off the action is significantly smoother possibly normal. Engine on and the action gets rough immediately. Turning the engine off it seems to "fade" over a period of a few seconds back to smooth. Its starting to look expensive to me. Was hoping it was just something broken in the shifter that would give me an good reason to upgrade to a short shifter from Revo.

 

This is a stab in the dark...

Does your engine rock back and forth rather easily (as in a mount is bad)? Perhaps there's a combination of that and something loose or broken in the shift linkage, caused by the engine rocking, where it attaches to the transmission. At any rate, I'd be staring pretty hard at the shift linkage, at least so much as that is possible; it's not exactly in plain view on top of everything under the hood, granted.

Please do keep us informed on whatever it turns out to be.

 

Thanks for trying to help.

Everything in the engine bay seems smooth. Hardly and movement of the engine is possible by hand and blipping the throttle does not create any rattles like I would expect in the case of a loose or bad mount. Its dark and even with a flashlight it almost impossible to see anything beneath the tangle of wires, hoses and "other". Nothing I can see looks damaged or loose.

What can I do diagnostically to tell of its the clutch master cylinder or slave?

 

Sounds more like a throwout bearing issue if it comes and goes with engine on or off. There is nothing that will move enough in the shifter cable to cause hard shifting even with a bad motor mount.

Stop on a hill that the car will roll on. Turn engine off in gear. Step on clutch pedal and car should roll if clutch is disengaging.

 

I did the test and yes it rolls if its in gear and I press in the clutch. That is what I would expect it to do if everything was normal as well so do I interpret that as the clutch and bearing are probably good? I also noticed fluid is low in the main brake reservoir and halfway between min and max in the clutch reservoir. Added an ounce or two to top it off. Makes me think its back to the master or slave cylinder.

 

Gave up and just bought everything. Master cylinder for 01-05 Civic to give me the delay valve delete(always hated the stock pedal feel), stock slave cylinder, Revo short shift kit, Exedy clutch kit and new rear shocks since the Monroes back there have given up and needed to be replaced anyway. Will do the short shift kit first followed by the master/slave. Hopefully it limps along until the parts arrive next week. $511 with the shocks.

 

If it released on the hill test why would you still think it is the master and slave cylinders?

 

I've made the assumption its not the transmission itself so it must be something between the shifter and the tranny. The brake fluid could be low due to brake wear but maybe there is a leak that is not visible. The parts are cheap compared to the wasted time and headache of starting to work on the project only to figure it out and not have the parts and no functioning car to go pick them up with. Will report back.

 

Ever replaced transmission fluid? That's an every-30K mile-item.

I'd add that to your list of TO-DO items.



We do that on our Hondas and shift effort and feel always improve. I use Honda MTF.


Not saying that this would fix your problem, but you didn't mention it...

 

Point noted. No I haven't. The maintenance minder system never came up with 3 to indicate it needed to be done. 60k then 30k is for tough duty. That said its cheap and easy so I have two quarts of Honda MTL fresh from the dealer right now. Will feel stupid if its that simple but hopefully no damage done. Will report back.

 

Point noted. No I haven't. The maintenance minder system never came up with 3 to indicate it needed to be done. 60k then 30k is for tough duty. That said its cheap and easy so I have two quarts of Honda MTL fresh from the dealer right now. Will feel stupid if its that simple but hopefully no damage done. Will report back.

 

A friend of mine had a 2007 Civic Si that had the same problems you had, but every time the dealer changed the transmission oil, it was fixed temporarily, for another 20k. I don't know why the short time between needed oil changes, but it worked each time. Maybe new oil would solve the problem, also.

 

If it works I will be fine with changing it more often. At Jiffy Lube with my Honda MTF waiting my turn. They don't carry approved tranny gear oil but agreed to use what I brought in as long as it was Honda spec. $50 is a little steep considering I'm providing the oil but reasonable compared to the dealer change and no mess to deal with.

 

No such luck. Just as tight/rough but have fresh MTF and and oil change so things are better now than earlier. Short shift kit due Monday.

 

While waiting for my daughter to get in the car this morning for the short trip to school I noticed that depressing the clutch has taken on a wet squishy sound. Air in the system?

 

Did the short shift kit easy enough but no change. If anything its harder now. I didn't really expect this to fix it after hearing the squishy sound but it was pretty straight forward and is done now. On to the engine bay. The Clutch delay valve delete DIY I was going to do is going to have to wait. As things came out of the engine bay and I could see the master clutch cylinder it became obvious that the instructions do not match my car. The delete can still be done but I dont have the right fittings to make it work. The valve in the 2007 is a stand alone item not a part of the master. The instructions were for newer generation cars than the 2007. My bad.

Since the only part I now have that can be installed is the slave cylinder I moved on to that. Airbox out of the way made it easier to get to. Removed the boot and was easily able to push the rod back into the cylinder by hand and heard the squishy sound so I'm pretty sure this is the issue. I have two concerns before I put the new one in. The outer boot that seals to the tranny housing has a small slot open in it that looks like it should be there and doesnt appear to be a tear or cut. Its facing up and is maybe 1/2" long. Is this normal? My next concern is play in the plate that the slave pushes on that goes down into the tranny. Should I be able to move this by hand or should it be pretty rigid?

 

Removing the slave only a small drop or two of fluid came out. When purging the fluid before attaching the new slave the fluid that came out looked like chocolate milk and had small bits of solid looking material in it. New slave and more pumping/purging the pedal finally went solid again though the fluid that came out still looked pretty ugly. No bits but still not clear. No change after the slave cylinder though I must say Ii like the short throw of the new shifter. Another observation is that if I shift slowly as I go up/down through the gears it goes into gear "ok". If I try to do my normal faster shift its very tough to get it in gear. 1st still is almost impossible if I'm stopped. If I go for 1st just as I roll up to a stop it goes in easily most of the time. Could it be the delay valve itself that's bad? Need to get the fittings to bridge the gap in the hard lines to remove the CDV or a new hose to run straight from the master to the slave.

 

When looking at the new master cylinder I see that I'm expected to make use of the old fitting by driving the retaining pins out and removing the threaded fitting and move it to the new master. Since I have the slave out I decided to try it out on that and the pins wont budge. Any tips? Can I order a new master that's ready to use?