[JoshRtek]

Hello all,

I just bought my '09 Civic Si Sedan in February. I purchased the car brand new (was sitting on the lot or almost a year and a half). The car had 88 miles on it when I took ownership, and I got a bit of a steal on the sticker.

Nonetheless, the car's a blast to drive and I really enjoy it. However, the other night on my way home from work, doing a fair amount of VTEC, I mis-shifted from 2nd to 3rd at a high RPM (probably near redline, as I believe I hit the rev-limiter due to the mis-shift). The resulting sound was less than comforting, and really scared me that I did something horrible to the engine and/or transmission. I pulled over and put the car into first, pulled away; everything seemed fine.

However, over the past week, it seems the clutch pedal engagement point is far less grabby and seems quite vague as it did before my mis-shift. I don't believe the clutch is slipping, but the engagement seems pretty transparent, as there's little communication from the pedal that the clutch is grabbing.

Did I perhaps glaze the clutch plate, or is something far more serious at occurring? The car only has 1700 some odd miles on it and I'm afraid I VERY prematurely wore out the clutch.

As a side note, I'm not new to manual transmissions. My first stick was a 2002 Hyundai Elantra GLS. The clutch was holding decent at 57,000 miles when I sold it. My previous car was a 2007 Mini Cooper S 6-Speed; the clutch was strong as ever at 19,000 miles when I traded it in for the Civic Si (the direct-injected turbo fuel system was fouling on me constantly...so I wanted to get rid of it).

Is this the normal wear characteristics of the Civic Si's clutch?

Thanks!

 

[I Vtec do you?]

my clutch engagement has moved a LOT since I first got the car.. I noticed it like 20k+ miles ago and it's still grabbing strong

 

[JoshRtek]

Interesting. This is encouraging. Like I say, I don't think the clutch is slipping, still grabs and holds, but the action of grabbing is vague and way softer than it was a week ago.

 

[Survivor]

You're probably fine. It can take awhile for a clutch to loose that grabby feeling when new. I find the clutch smooth. It has a sweet spot just like every other clutch. Control is in that sweet spot.

Overreving is not good. Yours is running with no cel? No oil leaks or coolant puddles? No...you should be good.:vtec:

 

[JoshRtek]

No Check Engine Light, no fluid leaks, etc. Engine seems just fine after the incident. I just miss the "sweet spot" in the clutch engagement. So vague and uncommunicative... But from what I'm learning, this is normal...

 

[Honda_guy58]

My 10' SI's clutch felt like it grabbed harder at first, but now after 2300 miles, it feels like what you are describing. I have never misshifted and dont really drive that hard so I think its just normal.

 

[pprancer]

if you are really unsure about it, go to the dealer. ask them, they should look at it for free.

 

[MDDTyler]

hmm i dont mean to steal this thread but.. i just had to replace the clutch on my 06' si.. it only had 36k on it..

During the winter i was doing a bunch of snow drifting and i slipped my foot off the clutch and it grinded and REEKED of clutch burn for like a week..

Do you think THAT occasion is what made my clutch go so quickly? (plus the beating i put on it when i first bought it from v-tecing around all day) LOL

 

[black si]

im at 28xxx miles had the car for a little under 2 yrs in june it will be 2 yrs the clutch grabs nd is heavy like a 6 puck clutch. also i didnt touch vtec with my car till 2000 miles

 

[JoshRtek]

For what it's worth, my car never smelt of clutch after the "incident"...

 

[MDDTyler]

For what it's worth, my car never smelt of clutch after the "incident"...

that would lead me to assume that what happend didn't effect your clutch.. but i don't know much about drivetrain! I just figure that if you did something bad to the clutch... it would smell

 

[JoeFromPA]

You can drive at 8000 rpms all day and bang the gear shifter around and you won't prematurely wear your clutch. But driving in the snow with your foot halfway down the pedal travel length? Yeah, that'll do it.

OP - I've 87k miles of hard-driving on my original 06 SI clutch. In that time, the feel has gone through about 30 iterations. I swear to God every 2 weeks the clutch feel changes. And there are days where my first 50 shifts are not smooth because of it.

I personally blame this on the clutch mechanism and self-adjustments on this car, for whatever reason.

But whatever the cause, get used to it

When you say you mis-shifted, do you mean you shifted into a lower gear then intended, at redline in a higher gear, and let the clutch out? If so, then your rev limiter would do nothing. That's a mechanical over-rev, which sounds terrible, and can cause significant damage. However, in almost all cases, the engine damage occurs pretty quickly.

None of those things would've damaged your clutch. What would?

1. Excessively slipping the clutch
2. Dumping the clutch while the engine/wheel speed differential is really high
2a. This applies as well to mis-shifting into a low gear and just popping the clutch out. This is usually accompanied by a feeling like your stomach being torn out of your body as the car jerks HARD.

 

[JoshRtek]

You can drive at 8000 rpms all day and bang the gear shifter around and you won't prematurely wear your clutch. But driving in the snow with your foot halfway down the pedal travel length? Yeah, that'll do it.

OP - I've 87k miles of hard-driving on my original 06 SI clutch. In that time, the feel has gone through about 30 iterations. I swear to God every 2 weeks the clutch feel changes. And there are days where my first 50 shifts are not smooth because of it.

I personally blame this on the clutch mechanism and self-adjustments on this car, for whatever reason.

But whatever the cause, get used to it

When you say you mis-shifted, do you mean you shifted into a lower gear then intended, at redline in a higher gear, and let the clutch out? If so, then your rev limiter would do nothing. That's a mechanical over-rev, which sounds terrible, and can cause significant damage. However, in almost all cases, the engine damage occurs pretty quickly.

None of those things would've damaged your clutch. What would?

1. Excessively slipping the clutch
2. Dumping the clutch while the engine/wheel speed differential is really high
2a. This applies as well to mis-shifting into a low gear and just popping the clutch out. This is usually accompanied by a feeling like your stomach being torn out of your body as the car jerks HARD.

Thanks for this reply! Very helpful. My shift was from 2nd to...I'm not sure. It all happened so fast. There was a nasty noise and the car definitely jerked (rev warning light, etc.). However, I can't go so far as to say it was a mechanical over-rev. Could I really shift from 2nd to 1st near redline? Doesn't the transmission lock one out from doing that?

What I think happened was a missed upshift from 2nd to 3rd (I've had the 3rd gear pop out a few times, which I'm starting to think is the dreaded "3rd Gear Issue").

In either case, and as posted above, there is no Check Engine Light, Oil or Coolant Leaks, no weird sounds or smells since last week (when the "incident" happened).

The only real symptom I can feel is the vagueness of the clutch engagement.

Do you think I mechanically over-revved?

Thanks!

 

[gkit19986]

how could u misshift 2nd gear into 1st gear?? thts sooo imppossible.. depending on how fast u were goingg...

 

[JoshRtek]

how could u misshift 2nd gear into 1st gear?? thts sooo imppossible.. depending on how fast u were goingg...

That's what I'm thinking. I was VTEC'ing it 2nd gear, I'd say 7800 RPMs or so, so that means I couldn't have been going faster than 40 or 50?

 

[JoeFromPA]

Josh - You need to define what you mean when you say you missed the upshift. If all you did was let the clutch out before you went into any gear, but you floored it, you are most likely fine. Not much harm can be done like that.

If you are saying you went to shift into 3rd and shifted into another gear that shot your revs up super high, then you must've hit 1st. You are not locked out from 1st, but that is REALLY hard to do.

I'm guessing you missed 3rd gear and hit the gas before you realized it; maybe you were even grinding syncros a bit.

My guess is you are fine

 

[JoshRtek]

Josh - You need to define what you mean when you say you missed the upshift. If all you did was let the clutch out before you went into any gear, but you floored it, you are most likely fine. Not much harm can be done like that.

If you are saying you went to shift into 3rd and shifted into another gear that shot your revs up super high, then you must've hit 1st. You are not locked out from 1st, but that is REALLY hard to do.

I'm guessing you missed 3rd gear and hit the gas before you realized it; maybe you were even grinding syncros a bit.

My guess is you are fine

Grinding synchos sounds more like it... The car didn't really lurch or jerk, just lost power all of a sudden; it just couldn't have been from shifting into 1st from 2nd. That just seems entirely too impossible for me to do. Missing 3rd gear has happened many times before for me in the little time that I've owned it...seems a funky gear to hit right sometimes. I never had that problem in either my 5-speed Hyundai Elantra or 6-speed Mini Cooper S.

Thank you all for you help! You've put my worries to rest! Now, if I could just get more torque via turbo... Hmm....

Best,
Joshua

 

[JoeFromPA]

Josh - Here's some advice that you should take immediately, and then thank me:

Swap your stock transmission fluid to amsoil manual transmission fluid (MTF).

It's about $20 in fluids (takes 1.8 quarts). It's a piece of cake to do yourself, or most reputable shops will charge around $30-50 labor.

I did this ~9k or 15k miles, can't remember now. Before I did it, I had 3rd gear misses, 3rd gear pop outs, and 3rd gear lockouts.

In the 70k+ miles since, I have never once had a problem engaging third gear. It's always perfect. That's right, over 70k miles without a single 3rd gear problem.

Do it.

 

[David1017]

stock clutches feel soft, si's are easy to drive, your good