'91 Integra: shifting getting hard to do...

....so I finally got the clutch replaced. No I didn't do it myself. Too
cold, too snowy. No garage.

The clutch was not slipping, but it was randomly getting very hard to
change gears. Sometimes easy, sometimes hard. My tech at first guessed it
might be a sliver of spring-retainer broken off and floating around inside
somewhere, preventing the clutch from disengaging.

Well he got it apart, and it turned out that even though there *was* lots
of wear in the spring retainers, that wasn't the problem. The problem was
that after 15 years, there was no grease on the input shaft any more. No
grease means rust, so the friction disc was not sliding freely on the input
shaft when I pushed the pedal, and thus sometimes not quite disengaging.
The splines were bright orange with gritty rust.

The pressure plate side was down to the rivets, and the flywheel side had
maybe a few thou before it too hit the rivets. My tech figures I *might*
have got 5-10K more out of it, but then it would have started slipping for
sure.

It's amazing. I originally thought the synchros were worn, but the tranny
shifts (almost) slick as butter with the new clutch. Gonna have to get used
to the pedal feel. It's now so light that it throws off my timing. The new
clutch is a lot less grabby, too.

I'll post pics of the friction disc later this week.

 

Oh, I almost forgot: Mileage on replacement of the (original) clutch
was 255,800. Yes that's miles.

 

Now that's getting some mileage out of a clutch! Are they mostly
highway miles?

I changed my '90 accord last year at 150K miles. changed it
preemptively. mechanic tried to talk me out of it because it had not
started to slip yet, but car was going off to college and I did not
want to deal with it if it went bad away from home. When he got it
out he said I must have been clairvoyant. Showed me the disk and we
agreed I would not have gotten 5K out of it, less if all around town
driving.

Frank

 

Yes, about 80-90% for the last ten years, but a mix of city and highway
before that.

I'm still having trouble getting used to the lightness of the pedal. The
over-center feeling doesn't help. The clutch now feels like the one in my
sister's Civic, which is almost new.

 

Once I get my hands on that disc...

Here's a complete rundown (Canadian dollars):
Labor: $368
Parts:
22200-PR3-030 Clutch disc $118.74
22300-P30-030 Clutch cover $252.52
22810-PS1-015 Release bearing $63.59
91006-P10-000 Pilot bearing $12.98
91214-PLE-003 Oil seal $23.50
08798-9016C Honda MTL transmission fluid $13.68

Total before taxes: $853.01

Apparently the pressure plate used to be $150, but Honda bumped the price
to $252 a while back.


(Current Cdn/US exchange is $1 Cdn = $0.864 US)

 

Thanks. That's good history, altogether. Interesting to
follow.

 

I hear that. Kind of like the first time I drove a car with a
hydraulic actuated clutch after driving all those mechanical link
spring return cars. about put my foot through the floor board until I
got used to it.

Frank

 

I got 185,000 in my CRX, thought that was good. Wow.

 

Ouch... OUCH... O U C H ! !

I changed a clutch on a 1987 Accord in 2002 and it cost $110.05 Cdn
(before taxes) for a clutch kit from Crappy Tire. The clutch kit was on
sale (25% off), and even came with a clutch disc alignment tool (splined
blue plastic)! That's the upside. The downside was that it took 19 hours
to do the job. The reason it took so long was that I was working in a very
narrow garage which had a gravel floor. It took 45 minutes to get the car
up in the air and blocked, 20 minutes to get it down. The jacking had to
be done in 2 stages with the peewee floor jack on a 2X12.

I lost more time building a transmission cradle to bolt to the peewee
jack. It took me an hour and a half to build it. To fit the cradle to the
irregular bottom of the tranny, I had to scrounge around for wood and
measure, cut, and screw the bits together. I had to run over twice to the
hardware store for drywall screws (having used most of the screws in the
garage wall to hang the damn parts on) and washers. But the time spent on
the cradle was worth it. Not a nick or scuff on any of the under body
paint!

Lost an other 45 min. scrounging for bits to build a ring gear
holder.

The clutch kit was a Fenco brand. It appeared to be well made. In fact I
think the Fenco disc is better than the Honda disc (the Fenco disc had
STEEL springs... not RUBBER springs [rubber torsion dampers] like the
original Honda disc!)

The clutch worked smooth as new when done.

Viewed your clutch disc dissection on your web site... cute! Save that
splined hub... you can use it as a tool to hold your tranny mainshaft if
you ever take your tranny apart. Also the large locknut (at fifth gear) on
the mainshaft is more than likely left-hand thread.


M.A. Stewart

 

(M.A. Stewart) wrote in

Ouch indeed.

Two things though:
1) I will never buy hard parts like that from any aftermarket source, no
matter how much cheaper they are.
2) I didn't have a garage at all.
3) I didn't have 19 hourse to spend.

Originally I was going to borrow my sister's garage and husband to do the
job myself, but I decided I could not pull myself out of the loop for two
days. Too many reponsibilities, too little time.

Apparently Honda thought steel was better too. Both my original and the new
Honda discs had steel springs.

It was quite an education. Now when I shift, I have this mental picture of
what's happening down there.

Good tips, thanks. At least one bearing *is* starting to get a bit noisy.
It's hard to hear just now, but my tech assures me that in a few years or
so I'll need to rebuild or replace.

One outer CV joint is apparently also beginning to get vocal. Again, it's
hard enough to hear that he's not sure if it's the left or the right
(thinks it's the left one), but that too can be left for several more
years. By that time I'll be close to 300,000 miles...