Manual transmission or clutch

[Félix]

Hi,

I’ve recently changed my manual transmission fluid on my Honda Civic 1990, used Honda MTF.

Since then it seems like there is a faint buzzing sound when I have the clutch depressed and move the stick right or left from neutral, without engaging.
I also have a tendency to shift too early and yesterday the car started rattling when doing so.
There’s also been a few high pitched noises when engaging 1st from a stop and metallic disc spinning noises occasionally.

Does this sound like the car only need the cable adjusted (did it once already, maybe 6 months ago) or is it a synchroniser, gear, clutch, etc?

Thanks

Topic

[Lorrin Barth]

The high pitched noise may be the throwout bearing starting to go. Adjust the cable when engagement is in the wrong place on the pedal. I can’t suggest what is going on with the other symptoms. They sound on the normal side for an older car.

[Félix]

Thanks for the reply.

I think the noises would be normal on another older car but considering this one barely has 66 000 miles,
is generally very tough and reliable, how committed I am to having it run forever and the fact that the noises are new, I’m not sure they’re normal. Maybe they are impossible to diagnose over the internet though.

I adjusted the clutch this morning and drove more carefully and no noises were heard.
Is the throwout bearing something that can be undertaken as a DIY, and what should be the cost, both shop and DIY, in your opinion?

[Lorrin Barth]

I’d suggest playing with the clutch pedal, engaging and disengaging the clutch to see if you can reproduce the noise. And, it may only occur after the car has been driven a bit and is warm. The hardest parts of some automotive jobs is over when you’ve figured out what is wrong.

Pulling and replacing I’d say is around 6 to 800 dollars labor depending on where you take it. Then you have fluids and parts. However, good advice for whenever the transmission is out, is to refresh the clutch – probably another 400 dollars.

Anyway, it sound like you have a sweet little rig. When someone writes 1990 honda I expect 300K miles.

DIY can be someone that does the simple maintenance tasks or it can be someone who never has a need for the services of a professional shop. You have to judge where you fall on this scale of skill, tools and time. Anyway, the first step is accurate diagnosis. See above.

[Félix]

Engaging or disengaging the clutch without being in gear does not cause any noise.
I think it might take a week of driving to really identify the situations when the noise occurs.
But this sounds very expensive, especially for this car that I’ve found is usually cheap to fix.

Thanks alot barneyb and I’ll update if I have more questions.

[EricTheCarGuy]

A throw out bearing is something that gets replaced when you do a clutch. It normally comes in the kit with the clutch parts. That said, what you describe doesn’t sound abnormal to me. It could just be that it’s older as you’ve suggested. More info on diagnosing clutch and transmission issues here.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-transmission-problems

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Author]

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