Sticky clutch?

Anyone had any experience of an apparent sticking clutch on a 2002 Honda
Accord? It's a 1.8 Sport and I've spoken to a few people with similar
"problems".

It only happens every now and again and it's like the clutch hasn't fully
disengaged from the gear box when the clutch pedal is pressed (but enough to
stop the car trying to move!). Quite why this is happening is beyond me,
it's a hydraulic system, there's no leaks and the car (and components) are
in otherwise pristine condition. The car has only done 30k miles and the
problem happens only intermittently. It's really annoying when you're used
to the biting point whilst when driving normally, only to find when pulling
away from a busy junction that the car just isn't engaging correctly. Then
suddenly.. whoosh.. rubber trails!

I've been told this is a sign of a previous hashy driver, quite likely
seeing as it was initially owned by a Honda director! The garage couldn't
find a thing wrong with it however... seems like a mystery!

 

You won't see any. Leaks are internal.

The symptom is you press the pedal to the floor and leave it there, and
slowly the clutch re-engages. If the leak's bad enough, it won't ever
completely disengage unless you pump the pedal several times, and maybe not
even then.

Second possibility (given your low mileage and obvious UK residence) is
rust on the input shaft. This rust causes the friction disc to stick on the
splines, and it cannot readily float away from the flywheel, so it
sometimes turns a bit even with the clutch pressed. Extended driving in
city traffic can solve this. Go drive around for an hour or so, making sure
you change gear at high revs once in a while.

This occasionally happens on many cars. It's not necessarily a problem, and
may be related to rust on the input shaft.