[ForceFed79]

Hi everyone, I have an issue on my wife's civic. She told me the other day that her car felt different than normal. She said while she was in 1st gear, she tried accelerating from a dead stop, but the car felt like it didn't want to move.

Then today, she was driving and she had to quickly stop to avoid a possum in the road. When she stopped she didn't push the clutch pedal in and the car died. When she started it back up, the car would go into first, but the car wouldn't move. She said that when she pushed the gas pedal down, there was no change in rpms, kind of like the pedal was dead. Slowly the engine rpms began to respond to the acclerator's input and the car started moving. She got it up to about 15 mph, but she couldn't shift the car into second gear. She nursed it to a parking lot and called me up. When I got there, everything was working as advertised.

This doesn't really have anything to do with this problem, but I hate ALL honda's! I thought they were supposed to be reliable? We have had nothing but issues with this POS. This was my first honda, and it will be my last. I have had exaclty zero issues with my 03 subaru, and I am pretty hard on it. This honda is my wife's car, and I know she takes pretty good care of it, but it is still trying to take a big stinking crap on us.....sorry for venting.
Anyone have any Ideas?

 

[Noodler]

sell it

 

[BuddaPower]

I say the problem is your wife. She doesn't want a POS civic. Get her a Bimmer.

 

[neo_]

sell it

rofl

 

[cfweber]

get her a brand new car

she pays for it

schedule maintenance

because it sounds like she is driving an abused ill maintained vehicle

a major repair bill looms

 

[buurner]

Either the clutch is gone from well what you stated above stopping abruptly and allowing the car to die, that's hard on a clutch. Or it could be manufacturers defect get it to Honda and let them decide. Also what trim Civic is this?

 

[erjroy]

Either the clutch is gone from well what you stated above stopping abruptly and allowing the car to die, that's hard on a clutch. Or it could be manufacturers defect get it to Honda and let them decide. Also what trim Civic is this?

06 EX won't accelerate
haha

 

[Topplayer]

this is B MAN

clutch issues maybe?

 

[AllShowNoGo]

Either the clutch is gone from well what you stated above stopping abruptly and allowing the car to die, that's hard on a clutch. Or it could be manufacturers defect get it to Honda and let them decide. Also what trim Civic is this?

how is stopping abruptly hard on the clutch? while allowing the engine to stall is not good, it does not have a major effect on the clutch. Riding the clutch, popping the clutch, etc., etc. are bad for the clutch.

OP, did u buy the car used?

 

[GeezerSi]

It definitely sounds like the clutch.

 

[06CivEXJon]

Sounds like a loss of VTEC yo! lol j/k

 

[timexconsumer1]

it's a honda, all of our cars don't accelerate LOLZ

 

[habred24]

if the vsa light is coming on while trying to accelerate the clutch is done

 

[ForceFed79]

Yes, we bought the car used, but it was owned by a mid 50's grandma. She meticulously had the vehicle serviced. I also have been servicing the car on a regular interval.

After thinking about it, I think I might check out the brakes to see if I have a sticking caliper. Maybe when she locked up the brakes, the caliper froze and wouldn't allow the car to move forward, but after it cooled down, it loosened up....something to think about anyway.

I still have a concern about the gas pedal not responding to driver inputs....kinda stumps me. Maybe something to do with the throttle-by-wire??? Any Ideas?

 

[cfweber]

grandma can't drive stick

take it to a shop

mileage?

 

[asianskater91]

yeah i dont think your wife can drive it or something or was doing somethign completely wrong if she said that it WASN'T working when she put it in first and tried going

but when you got there it WAS working fine? yeah your wife was prob jus doing something wrong ya know? no offense but yeahhhh

 

[09CivicLX]

what about electrical internals? you said you maintained it, but did you do plugs and such? get it checked out, and find out what the problem is.

 

[remache74]

I had a similar problem nothing to to do with clutch the connector to the gas pedal was loose not latched and it would idle but not accelerate. Maybe the sudden stoppage jarred it loose.

 

[dtmbmw325i]

I would say it is not the clutch. He said the engine wasn't responding to throttle inputs with no change in RPM. If the clutch was toast for sure the engine would just be revving and the car wouldn't move. Also VSA goes off the wheel speed senors doesn't it? Why would the clutch going show a VSA light? Im thinking it is going to be some electrical issue. Could just be that with the car went into a safety mode. Like if the car would have been in an accident that the driver was unconscious and their foot was mashing the throttle the car wouldn't continue speeding out of control until it smashed into something. Just my .02

 

[ForceFed79]

Good inputs everyone......i'm glad to see that some of you are using your brains and not just shouting out "clutch" because it is a manual vehicle.

Thanks to the person that suggested the accelerator pedal wire connector.....I will check that out to see if it is maybe loose. That is the kind of answer that I was looking for.

Someone else asked about the mileage, I think it is around 75k now, which I know is plenty of miles to trash a clutch, but when I drive the car, the clutch still feels pretty solid.

anywhoo, thanks again for the suggestions, I'll let everyone know if I find anything. If any thinks of something else, please let me know.