1997 Honda Civic RPM's are revving high and car is slow to

KUSTOMCIVIK

MEMBER
1997 HONDA CIVIC
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
115,000 MILES

Hello,

Yesterday I noticed that my Civic has started to feel like it is half way in gear and halfway in neutral when accelerating. The RPM's will rev high but the car is slow to pick up speed. Is this the clutch going out or a transmission problem? It is a manual transmission. Don't know if this helps, but about a year ago 2nd gear starting popping out while driving, so I have to hold second gear down when in that gear. Thanks for any advice!

5 Replies

F4I_GUY

MECHANIC
3,302 POSTS

It sounds like your clutch is slipping. A quick test would be to start the car and try to drive in 4th gear. If the rpm's just revv up your clutch is slipping. If the vehicle stalls, that is a good sign. Even though this is not an ideal test it does help to determine what is going on. Make sure you don't do this more than once, if the clutch is indeed in good shape you can overheat it by doing this.

Your vehicle popping out of 2nd sounds more like an internal transmission problem. You most likely will have to replace the 2nd gear synchro assembly.

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Saturday, February 7th, 2009 AT 11:06 AM

KUSTOMCIVIK

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3 POSTS

Thanks for the info. Taking it to a shop tomorrow, hopefully it just needs a new clutch.

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Monday, February 9th, 2009 AT 1:03 PM

F4I_GUY

MECHANIC
3,302 POSTS

No problem, glad I could help. Let us know what the diagnosis is.

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Monday, February 9th, 2009 AT 1:05 PM

KUSTOMCIVIK

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3 POSTS

The shop had to replace the clutch disk, the pressure plate, and the throw out bearing. All w/ labor for only 450, so not too bad. Works great now, thanks for the help!

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Thursday, February 12th, 2009 AT 8:47 AM

F4I_GUY