Worn Clutch

[Morris Minor]

What are the symptoms of a clutch that's wearing out?

I've been driving my son's 2000 Civic (65,000 miles) for the last few days and the take up on the clutch is pretty abrupt - difficult to get a smooth change. I've driven 1970s-era UK Ford Escorts that had easier clutch actions that this. I would have thought a Civic would be at least as effortless.

I have not been able to deliberately induce slippage, yet. I'm the second owner of the car. Don't know anything about the way the first owner drove, but my son was pretty rough on it when he was learning his way around manual transmission. Now it's my daughter who is learning...

[The Pirate]

What are the symptoms of a clutch that's wearing out?

I've been driving my son's 2000 Civic (65,000 miles) for the last few days and the take up on the clutch is pretty abrupt - difficult to get a smooth change. I've driven 1970s-era UK Ford Escorts that had easier clutch actions that this. I would have thought a Civic would be at least as effortless.

I have not been able to deliberately induce slippage, yet. I'm the second owner of the car. Don't know anything about the way the first owner drove, but my son was pretty rough on it when he was learning his way around manual transmission. Now it's my daughter who is learning...

My Honda Civic (model year 2000, as well) had a pretty abrupt clutch action, as did my dad's Accord.  I taught 4 or 5 people to drive on that car, and drove the snot out of it myself; with zero problems.  Sold it with ~134K miles, and the original clutch.  I know the current owner, and the car is still trucking along on the same clutch.

As long as it's not slipping or making odd noises, I wouldn't worry too much.  And those are great little cars; I miss mine a ton.

[J86]

Might just be the Honda...people seem to have a tough time starting my Accord smoothly at first.

Ive got over a quarter of a mil. on the original clutch, and it has been ABUSED!!!

I'm with Pirate; start worrying when it starts slipping!

[AutobahnSHO]

The symptom of a worn clutch disc is that it seems like it's always slipping. If the pressure plate (or throwout bearing) is worn/broken it won't engage the clutch when you push the pedal down.

Ditto what the Pirate said- I had an older Civic that had no play or slip in the clutch EVER..

IF the clutch is a cable-type you can adjust the cable so that the engagement of the pedal is better- engagement shouldn't be at the top or bottom of the pedal movement because it could be slipping the disc too much by not engaging all the way or releasing all the way...

[VTEC_Inside]

You should drive my Accord... I'm convinced that most if not all of the springs in the clutch disc are broken.

You can't get a smooth launch in 1st unless you rev it closer to 2000rpm.

Something in there will also make an odd noise if you are in a high torque situation, ie starting off with the wheels turned over to one direction providing a lot of resistance.

I'm going to echo the others in that until it starts slipping I don't care what it does.

Edit: This clutch has 120,000kms on it. It was only fine for the first 40,000kms or so and started to do this again. The original clutch was changed at 280,000kms and was doing the same damn thing.

[AutobahnSHO]

I think the Honda trannies are just hyper-sensitive, too.

My first bought (not loaned from 'rents) car was an 83 Civic that my dad sold me for $600..  He had bought it a few years before that from some chick who was commuting 55miles to work (very unusual in Wyoming.)

She had fried the clutch/tranny and her uncle put new ones in.

It drove Perfectly in town, but when we got it on the interstate, the driver's side axle failed about 10miles down the road. Fixed it and it was fine for 6months- Until we got on the highway and it broke the axle again within about 500meters of where it happened the first time.

Second time the shop found the piece of the tranny that was put in wrong, and never had any other drivetrain problems with it..

Tried (unsuccessfully) to teach my wife to drive stick in that car. Had a wicked clutch engagement........

[Pancor]

Maybe some racer-wannabe stuck a solid hub unit in there before your son bought the car...  :)

[Secret Chimp]

The clutch on my Miata is pretty worn out - it will slip from a standstill if I give it too much gas on a decent incline (i.e. I can drop my foot off the pedal and it will continue to kind of slide down). It still has decent grab on moderate grades, and lucky for me I encounter all of maybe 3 or 4 hills in any possible daily drives so it should last me yet :P

[AutobahnSHO]

The clutch on my Miata is pretty worn out - it will slip from a standstill if I give it too much gas on a decent incline (i.e. I can drop my foot off the pedal and it will continue to kind of slide down). It still has decent grab on moderate grades, and lucky for me I encounter all of maybe 3 or 4 hills in any possible daily drives so it should last me yet :P

What speed are those hills?

We bought a really old used Datsun from my uncle (in Utah)- he told my dad, until we could fix the clutch, if it slips on a hill, just go down a gear.

Well, the drive home usually takes about an hour and a half. My mom was following and we kept going slower and slower on the 75mph (uphill) interstate to WYoming. Finally we were in the breakdown lane w/ hazards on, driving about 15mph. Took FOREVER to get home, dad said towards the end he was barely holding on in 1st gear....

[Morris Minor]

Thanks for the replies - it's encouraging that Civics seem to have fairly robust clutches. Maybe it's just me, maybe I've lost my skills. I can still double de-clutch, I can still heel & toe, but mundane smooth upshifts are elusive.

[sportyaccordy]

Newer Hondas must have these issues. Only issues I ever had with a Honda clutch was on my last Accord. Stage 3 racing clutch one day stopped disengaging and it had super rough engagement before it went. Turned out all the plate springs were broken. I also burnt out a clutch on my first one but that just slipped a lot in 3rd-5th, and was really really easy to engage...

Try and get the pedal adjusted.

[Secret Chimp]

What speed are those hills?

We bought a really old used Datsun from my uncle (in Utah)- he told my dad, until we could fix the clutch, if it slips on a hill, just go down a gear.

Well, the drive home usually takes about an hour and a half. My mom was following and we kept going slower and slower on the 75mph (uphill) interstate to WYoming. Finally we were in the breakdown lane w/ hazards on, driving about 15mph. Took FOREVER to get home, dad said towards the end he was barely holding on in 1st gear....

No no, it doesn't slip on hills when I'm already moving, it keeps slipping by itself for a bit when I'm letting out the clutch to get moving while I'm stopped on a hill.

[FordSVT]

Thanks for the replies - it's encouraging that Civics seem to have fairly robust clutches. Maybe it's just me, maybe I've lost my skills. I can still double de-clutch, I can still heel & toe, but mundane smooth upshifts are elusive.

I go through periods where it doesn't feel like I can drive properly anymore. I let out the clutch in first with two few rpms and it will shudder a bit off the line, or I'll grind second gear twice in a day, or all of my shifts feel too deliberate. The whole car doesn't feel right and I start to wonder if there's something wrong with it. Then the next nice weekend afternoon comes along and I'm feeling good and the car seems to perform great, like new again.

So it's obviously just me being a shitty driver.

[Tave]

You'll know the symptoms when you smell them.



I noticed the clutch in my 4runner slipping before it went out, and it basically felt like a loss of power--there wasn't anything rough or violent about the action.

When you smell it, you'll know it's time to get a new one. And there's no mistaking the smell.