I think my clutch is shat... :(

[Australian 86]

I think its come to the point where my clutch has given up...
The symptoms are;
one time very randomly i started up my car and the clutch engaged about 2 inches from the floor. I stuffed around for about a min or so, trying to figure out what might be wrong, and then it just fixed its self... very odd. I did notice though that there was a horrible acrid smell of what im pretty sure is burning clutch.
The car then drove perfectly normal with the clutch where is is supposed to engage for the next 15mins of me driving up the road and back.
Then the next day i hop in the car and it does the exact same thing but i cant get it to go back to the regular engagement point so i abandon driving and get my dad to have a look, over the next day we attempt to adjust the clutch cable up and down as much as we possibly could.
basically it worked for a little bit (but i couldn't get it to the correct spot (either to high or too low)). Eventually it got to the point where the clutch it engaging right at the floor, so if you start up the car in gear with the clutch in it takes off!
I'm wondering if its just the cable has f*#%ed up a bit or if the clutch has completely gone?

PLEASE someone, if you can, HELP!!!!

[Dr_Snooz]

A worn out clutch will slip. If yours isn't slipping, then it's probably fine. Inspect the pedal mechanism and the cable very closely. They might be compromised or broken in some way. It's also possible that your clutch fork is broken. If that's the case, then you will have to remove the transmission to fix it, so you might as well replace the clutch while you're in there.

[ecogabriel]

I got a clutch kit for my 5G Civic here,

http://www.clutchcityonline.com/honda_accord.htm

Best price I could get for a Daikin clutch. Flywheels can be had cheaper from rockauto.com but if I remember right new flywheels need to get the timing marks transferred from the old to the new flywheel... resurfacing your own flywheel will cost almost the same as a new one.

If you have to disassemble, then it is a good opportunity for replacing the rear crank seal and check the fork CAREFULLY and if in doubt try getting a new one

[Australian 86]

There you go, over 4 months off the road, finally i have gotten around to replacing that damn clutch!

I got an exedy clutch kit from flebay for $180, which is extremely cheap considering it was posted to Australia for $80!!!
The problem with my old clutch was very apparent when we cracked open the gearbox. I'm not sure why, but where the torque springs were supposed to be, there were instead a rubber like damper... 1 of which had shattered to bits.
On closer inspection my dad noticed that there was ware on some of the metal on the pad plate... We finally figured out that it was because it was installed the wrong way around!

This finally explains the really doughy feeling of the clutch grabbing, and the occasional squeaking when the clutch was lightly slipped.

While i had the front end of the car hanging out, i replaced nearly all of the front bushings including the radius rod bushes, with the improved design blue MOOG bushes. Obviously 25 years of wear on a rubber component is a bitch, but the crappy rubbers i pulled out could easily be pressed flat by hand! The new MOOG ones on the other hand, felt like they were bordering on the density of plastic! The reason for wanting to replace these was to attempt to eliminate the shuddering/ throwing i got from the car when i let my foot off the accelerator, but even though i have still replaced both the clutch and front radius bushings, I'm still getting it! The only thing left i can thing of is a drive shaft bearing...

While i was at it i thought i may as well buy a clutch cable to soften that heavy clutch, but without thinking about the repercussions i ordered it from rockauto... So now i have a cable in my car that it twice the length that it should be! :D silly LHD people!

All in all, i think what i have done to the car has made a huge difference, most noticeably the clutch. While being on the heavy side, I would recommended to anyone the exedy clutch kit to anyone. It grabs very quickly, but never feels rough, and has easily given me back 10hp that i was loosing from my old oem clutch, especially on the performance side/ higher speeds.

I would like to send a special thanks out to those who were involved with the write up of the clutch replacement thread, i frequently used your advice and knowledge, and would not have been able to complete this monster of a task without you!

-Au86

[AccordEpicenter]

i hate clutch disks with the rubber dampers in them... I like to use the sprug type disks...

[Australian 86]

I didnt realise that it was possible to use such a poor material for a clutch!

[obdriver6]

Thats exactly what mine had inside. When it took a shit, I could not put it into gear. When I took the clutch assembly out, a bunch of those rubber pieces came out and one of the rubber pieces was missing on the clutch disc. I was like WTF? and since I was on a budget, I had to get the autozone one which surprisingly has held up for the past 20,xxx mi without any problems.