Ok, so this morning when I left for work, it was -16F on one house thermometer and -22 on another. The Cheapo Bell in the car said -18F... Either way, it was cold... DAMN cold so I let the car warm up for a bit. (after 15 min the blue Cold light was still on and with about 2 miles worth of driving, the light went out). The clutch was fairly stiff as I expected but what I didn't expect was it to get stiffer as I drove. Heading north this morning, the temp on the bell went... DOWN... -19F, -20F, -21F, and -22F. As I got into a 40mph town, I downshifted and the clutch was quite firm and lagged severely with both my downshift and again my upshift to 5th. As I got into the next town, the temps had risen a bit (up to a sweltering -16F) and the clutch was much more responsive as I downshifted to 4th and again to 3rd.

I've had stiff clutches on cold cold mornings but nothing like this one. I knew I had no more shifts until I would get to a more populated area so I opted not to stop until I got to the town and once I got there, the temps had risen enough for all to seem better. If I had needed to shift again, I was going to pull off in a safe area and let the car Idle a bit to try and "heat-soak" the clutch lines. It seems there was so much cold air rushing through the engine bay that the clutch lines were actually cooling down as I drove and the engine bay couldn't get warm enough to prevent it.

Fortunately I don't have to drive in conditions like this all that often but even so, I'm thinking I may want to contact the dealer about this as the civic & Integras never had the issue this bad. Would the Civic with a .1 liter larger (sohc)and the Integra with a .3 Liter larger engine (dohc) have been just enough more to prevent this? (granted we haven't had very many -22F days but one or two)

As a Side note... it never got to 0F today. -1.2 on the ride home. Should be a balmy 20F tomorrow.

~SB

 

holy crap that is cold.

i'm surprised the car still runs, what temp does gas freeze at?

 

Nothing beats a North East winter...

specboy I didn't see quite as cold, only got to -12. I did feel a bit of a stiffness [and at my age that's not necessarily a bad thing..], but nothing like you're describing. I'm sure there's no problem, however. Things move slow at -20. How far of a drive did you make? I find that 10 miles 45mph most always gets things in working order.

Clutch line uses Honda DOT3 Brake fluid, not sure if there's anything more light weight that might be used. As with other fluids, Honda is quite specific as to use theirs... interested to hear what dealer says.

K_C_

 

It was -2 when I left yesterday morning. Clutch was stiff, and it shifted like a truck. Anytime its cold I have to drive for a while before it will shift smoothly.

 

It was -10°f here the other day and I had similar issues with the clutch, albeit not as bad as you've described. When the temp started reaching single digits the first thing I always noticed was how stiff the suspension was, I know this car can be a lil bumpy over gaps or bumps but when it's that cold there's barely any travel and the car takes the blunt force. It's not really a gripe because it's all good in a couple of miles, it's just annoying in my circumstance because I have to deal with several speed bumps when I get out of work in the morning and all the lifted trucks ride my ass so I can't take it slow..

 

 

-13 here, clutch pedal kind of felt like it was working in peanut butter. I've noticed that normally the clutch has delayed movement relative to pedal position in the winter, but it was bad last morning. Didn't get any better in the 13 mile drive to work with many stop lights.

I think it's related to the clutch fluid restrictor and the fluid getting thick at cold temps. I haven't had another manual car that's clutch was affected this much by the cold. At some point I'd like to drill the restrictor out... has anyone done this or found where it's located?

The good news is the transmission itself shifts pretty good cold as long as you don't rush it. I've had other vehicles that absolutely would not make a 1-2 shift on the first attempt on a cold morning.

 

For what it's worth, it can get pretty darn cold where I am, and the clutch *does* get pretty stiff and stays stiff throughout the ride...but if my car is warmed up, and I shut 'er off for about 5 minutes, start 'er up again then the clutch is smooth as ever. I still haven't quite figured out why leaving the car off after it's been warmed up for several minutes makes the clutch smooth again...but it does! at least for me =p

 

Haven't talked to the dealer yet but for whoever said it felt like peanutbutter, I'd have to agree... except for the extra thick MOFO chunky kind.

As for my drive, after the car "warmed up" (light still hadn't gone out after 15 min), I have a 2000' run down my road to the main drag. Then (My winter route) it's 22miles heading north on the same road. I get up to 50mph +/- for about 6 miles, then down to 40/35/25mph as I go through town, then back up to 50mph for the next 5 until I hit a "town" where it's 40 for a mile and then back up to 50 for another 9 until I hit the final town where it's down to 40/35/25mph again until I get to work.

The interesting thing was that In my first 6 mile stretch, it was about -16-18 and the clutch was moderately stiff. Through Town, it didn't change and even out the other end it was still the same. Got to the next town (about 5 miles worth of 50mph) and that's where it dropped to -22F and where the clutch was AWFUL. Once I got to the next town (about another 8-9 miles away), the temp had gone back up to -16 and the clutch was stiff but not extra extra firm.

It ended up being stiffer after about 12-13 miles worth of driving (after 15 minutes of idle warm-up) or about 1/2 hour of the engine being run.

I've never in my life felt a clutch get stiffer as I drive, only looser as the engine warms up the clutch fluid. In this case, It feels like the someone directed the cold air to the hydraulic clutch line and the only way I could have resolved it would have been to stop, let the engine bay warm up a little to heat-soak the clutch line and then get moving again.

Maybe blocking off the lower grille intake would have helped like truck drivers do to keep the engine warm.

~SB

 

Had the same weather last Friday here in Minnesota. I own a 2010 Si and I had similar issues you had. The clutch seemed to lag and it took a little more "umph" to put it in gear. It was tricky to get a smooth shift but I just slowed down my shifting motions and it worked out ok. This was the coldest weather I've ever been in. My engine temp gauge would drop when I was physically driving down the road. When I stopped at traffic lights, the temp would go up. I took a pic just as a memory haha.

 

I would go easy on blocking off the rad. Folks around here have talked about it, but some where I saw that with today's auto's it isn't recommended.

You were in a bone chilling cold air stream. Luckily it's not all that common, though I just watched the nightly news and they're talking about the arctic warming and the jet stream dipping and the string of storms we've had and the same this spring and it's the face of things to come because no one believes in global warming.

I've seen similar conditions freeze up carbs, though not in a while and not around here but up to the ADK.

Gotta get a bedroom for the fit...

 

Once we get all the crap cleared out of the garage, she and the Ridgeline will both go in for the night but for now... they both reside outdoors. Inhaled once and the inside of my nose froze up... yeah... not fun. at work, we've got a nice view of the "DAKS" and they've been quite a view for the last few weeks. One of the guys who lives in NY is waiting another week or so before making his first trek across the lake in his Aveo instead of waiting for the ferry now that the Bridge is gone over Champlain.

We got the call yesterday AM that school was delayed 2 hours and the Super. actually said in the Message that the reason was because they couldn't get some of the School Buses started.

~SB

 

You seem to be in the right place, sunsets across the Champlain Valley out over the mountains. When do they plan on putting the ski's on that ferry? I did a winter project at the NYS boat launch up at Ti years and years ago. One of the coldest winters I've ever spent... my into to construction inspection - brrr, I still shiver.

 

New ferry went in by the Ti Bridge project. It's an Ice breaker and they've placed bubblers down under to keep the Ice from forming. The southern ferry is closed by now I'm sure but the Ti ferry will run year round until the new bridge is in.

We're having a heatwave here.. 21 Degrees F. No problems with the clutch today... like buttah. The morons however, were out this morning. a little snow on the road and we had LITTERALLY a 50+ car caravan traveling anywhere from 12mph up to 43mph for 15 miles of my trip. seriously, I counted 25+ cars in front of me and behind me on my way to work this morning.

I'm hoping that's the only cold spell we get this season. I can handle teens but Negative teens... not so much. (and neither can the FIT). I think if my wife hadn't needed the ridgeline, I would have taken that. The J35 would have kept up with the cold... then again, no clutch there...

guy I work with lost his radiator yesterday. hose burst due to freezing.

Can't wait to get on my skis this year. Been too long.

~SB