So after driving 35 miles home from work today my car suddenly just gave up.

This is what happened... once I get into my hometown (after driving 35 ish miles on the highway), I take a shortcut through the local highschool as it avoids about 3 lights. Well my Girly (who works in the same building as I do) was following me home, she had gotten stuck behind some truck, so I decided to slow down once I got to the High-School parking lot to wait for her to come around the corner. I came to a near stop, saw she wasnt coming, and decided to just take off, as soon as I started to give her some gas, and let the clutch out, I heard this loud click... and then nothing, my engine started to rev up, but I wasnt moving forward. S$#T!!. So I tried every gear and nothing, even reverse wont hold. I can freely put the shifter into any gear without using the clutch.

My car only has 62k miles on it, and I fricken baby the thing. I have been holding back, trying to wait for the winter to test some sideways action... so I havent beaten on this thing at all. I have the Certified Used Warranty... I hope it will cover this, I only bought the car 6 months ago.

Has this happened to anybody else????

The clutch was perfectly fine, and it just dropped out of the blue!

 

Weird. When my clutch started to go, it was gradual. It would start to slip in 4th and 5th gears when I tried to accelerate. I drove around for a couple of weeks until I could get it into the shop and replaced.

 

How many miles did the car have when you bought it. If you baby it, the previous owner would have had to thrash the sh*t out of it for the clutch to go bad. I have heard of clutches going around 100k miles before, but 65k seems awfully low.

Clutches tend to WEAR OUT, not just completely fail. You would usually feel it slipping in 5th before it completely failed.

If you can put it in gear easily without the clutch, I guess the clutch is either completely gone or is stuck disengaged. I wonder what that loud clicking sound was.

Does the clutch pedal come all the way back up. I have read a few posts about people having the clutch get caught about midway and not coming up to engage. I thought these posts were about B5s though.

 

Yea man... tell me about it, on my old 97 Civic ex, my clutch went gradually, and even that was after 150k miles (no lie) and I beat the crap out of that car. Even on my GF's 2000 Eclipse GT (which has had every problem under the sun) the clutch went out gradually (and even that was at 90K... not bad considering she learned to drive 5 speed on it when it had about 35k).


I am kind of pissed, because I would expect more from a $32000 car (new 3 years ago), than from my old 1997 Honda Civic.

On the other hand... after reading my warranty, i am 90% positive that I will be covered on this, and I guess it is good that it went now, rather than when I am not under warranty.

 

---I bought the car in May and it had 53k miles on it, I bought it for $18900... 2002 1.8t Avant, Cold Weather Package... not every bell and whistle, but plenty for me.

I just got back from my cars' resting spot (a High School Parking Lot) and I pushed it into a more visible parking spot. I got in, and what I posted before is a little off.... I DO need the clutch to be down to go in and out of gears, but I can let the clutch out with the engine running in any gear, and nothing happens. The pedal feels a little loose about 2/3rds of the way down... but I may be wrong about that.

I honestly havent even tried a full on launch with the car yet .... I know this sounds crazy, but the clutch was not slipping at all.

I think the clicking sound might have just been when it popped out of gear... reminded me of when someone doesnt put the car all the way into gear and is trying to gun it... but I really was just slowly starting to drive forward.


I get to have it towed to the dealer tomorrow and get myself a 1999 Geo Metro-loaner vehicle... Ha-Ha


I am trying to keep my head up... time to dip into the Absolut.


Thanks for the replies guys.

 

Gotta give Honda a +1. Sold my 92 Accord with 180k miles on it and it still had the original clutch holding strong. And I drive like an A-hole.

Man, I would rather ride my bicycle to work than drive a Geo Metro. Seriously, think about dusting off the old Schwinn on Monday morning!


Well, I have a suspicion that your clutch still grabs but you have some kind of other problem. I just have no idea what that problem is. Make sure you post back once they find the problem, I am interested to find out what happened.

 

HILARIOUS.... You are one funny dude, thanks for the laugh.


Seriously when I dropped the car off last time to have some warranty service (recall), they gave me a Chevy Aveo... I can tell you this though, the E-Brake worked like a fricken charm!


Yea man, I will keep you guys posted on the outcome.... I have this weird feeling that the Dealership is going to find a way to screw me... we will see.

 

Dealerships don't really want to do warranty work because they are working on your car for free (not really but sort of).

When you go, be calm, be patient, but don't be afaid to kick some a$$ if necessary. I suggest walking into the service department holding a 3ft lead pipe...... Just so they know you mean business.


rental car + me = serious depreciation of car. Beat that sucker, but do it at night so no one knows its you driving around in an econobox.

 

yeah just be careful, you go too fast in a GEO and hit a bug... its gonna leave a dent

seriously though a friend of mine drove one in highschool.... 3 buddies and I use to pick it up and move it

 

an easier way to move it is to "bounce" the rear end. start making it bounce and push to one direction, we managed to do a 180 EASILY!