Stumbling / Stalling when Releasing Clutch

Hi,

1991 Civic Si with ~150k

Tonight I went grocery shopping and drove around and let the car warm
up. The car sat parked for around 45 minutes in 30 deg. F weather. I
drove about a quarter mile then and let the car idle as I ran into a
building for 30 seconds.

I don't remember any problem engaing reverse and backing out, but when I
tried to engage 1st the car was not happy. I'll try to explain this the
best I can: It felt like there may have been a problem with the
engagement of the flywheel to the friction disk and pressure plate of
the clutch. I thought maybe I shifted into 3rd instead of first; a
similar feeling. I replaced the clutch and had the flywheel resurfaced
around 10k ago and haven't noticed any problems related to the work so far.

I was able to get moving, but I can't remember exactly what I did. I
might have just reved the engine more than I normally would when
engaging a gear. I remember shifting into 3rd and 4th once I got going
on a longer, open road normally without problems. I pulled over a couple
times to try starting from a stop again, and the problem was seemingly
gone. I got home just fine. I had to move the car around 30 minutes
after getting home. The car started harder than normal, and then the
problem was back when I tried to back out my driveway. The symptom that
seemed like a possible clutch problem now felt more like an engine
stalling. I think the engine is "stumbling when I try to engage a gear.
Maybe it has some problem as soon as it has to torque the wheels.

To summaraize what I'm thinking:

At first I thought it could be a drivetrain problem, but since it went
away for a bit that seems unlikely. I am thinking its an engine problem.
I have a Helm manual and have looked at the troubleshotting charts. I'm
thinking of looking at fuel pressure. The filter is recent, but the pump
is original. The car is generally well maintained (to the best of my
knowledge) by myself. Has anyone ever had a problem like this? I haven;t
really noticed any declining performance; this seemed to come from
nowhere. Thanks for any ideas or advice.

Mark

 

[if it drives ok when under way, it's not the pump. besides, pumps on
that vintage civic last forever.]

was the clutch kit oem or aftermarket? sounds like the pressure plate
is not disengaging properly.

 

Does your car have a clutch master cylinder? If so, maybe you have air
in the system. If it doesn't have a master cylinder, it could be a
mis-adjusted clutch cable...

 

The car has a cable clutch and the freeplay is within spec. I put the
cable in when I did the clutch recently. I bought a Daikin/Exedey clutch
kit, who I believe is/was an OEM manufacturer for Honda.

I have driven the car the past two nights and have not been able to
reproduce the problem. Something has always been a little goofy with my
idle over the past couple of years. The issues have been sporadic. I've
thought the ELD and my brakes were an issue, but then concluded they
were fine. I have tried to set it to spec. and have done some other
maintenance over the years(pulled off EACV to inspect, clean) that may
have affected it. I've never had a check engine light, so I haven't had
that as a diagnostic aid. I could probably stand to replace some vaccum
hoses, but I can't tell if I have any leaks. I had bought a new idle
screw (new o ring) some time ago and decided this was as good as time as
any to give it a shot, thinking the o ring on it was failing. Since I
put the new screw in the day after I had the problem, my idle has been
as consistent as its ever been. I'll see how well my idle performance
holds up.

One other thing I can think of, but dont know if its possible:

Could the release shaft have been getting stuck on some debris or ice, etc.?

 

Just to add to the archive:

The old idle screw had a decent amount of carbon/deposit material on the
angled tip. Maybe I'm due to take of my throttle body and give it a good
cleaning, and replace its gasket. The car has still been idling great
lately, and I haven't had the weird stumbling problem when engaging
gears so far.