Honda Prelude Forum - PreludeDriver.com

hey guys .. my clutch is screwing up on me. every time i release the clutch it makes a grinding sliding noise. i dont want to drive it is there anything i can do to fix it? or what should i do?

Hi dougler,

Nice to see you on here again.

When you say 'release', are you referring to engaging or disengaging the clutch? 'Releasing the clutch' could mean either, depending on whether you are referring to the clutch pedal or the clutch plate itself. I'll answer you question for each case and hopefully that will help you out.

If you are referring to disengaging the clutch, as in when you press the clutch pedal down, then the grinding noise is likely caused by your clutch release bearing being bad. A clutch release bearing is not an expensive part, but you will have to drop the tranny down to get at it.

If you are referring to engaging the clutch as in when you let the clutch pedal come up, then the grinding noise is likely caused by grinding between your flywheel and the clutch plate. If this is the case, I can imagine a few possible causes:

-Your clutch plate may be worn out and the rivets for the clutch platelets are coming in contact with the flywheel. If you think this might be the case, change your clutch NOW. You don't want to risk wrecking the surface of your flywheel and having to have it remachined. If this is the case, you should notice some clutch slippage. You'll notice this most profoundly climbing hills or when driving in high gears.

-Your flywheel is damaged in some way. If the surface of your flywheel has been damaged somehow, you would get some grinding. Think of the flywheel as a one-sided brake disk...if the surface is bad, you'll get some grinding and vibration. I've seen a flywheel shatter before (not on a Honda), but I doubt that would have happened to you.

All of the above really require you to drop the tranny and poke around. If that be the case, don't be too fearful, it's not impossible. If you're clever, there should be a way to drop the tranny without pulling the engine with it. I've done this on H22s and A series engines lots and I can't see why it wouldn't be possible with the b-series engines. Knock the axels out, disconnect the clutch cables, take the rock gaurd off the bottom of the car, disconnect the passenger side tranny mount, loosen all the tranny bolts and it should drop out the bottom with some clever wiggling. Careful, they're heavy. A jack with a flat board on top can be very useful in lowering a tranny out the bottom of a car.

Hit us back for more help...

Im back! haha got my new clutch in and works great for now... i guess it was quite a mess in there with the old presure plate and all and i guess my flywheel has a bit of a grove in it but my mechanic tried to clean it up as best he could for me and we could not track one down...so everything is fine.. but then i notice the engine light is on? so i fuigue out how to check my code and it has 4 long flashes then one short one meaning something to do with a heater or oxygen sensor or something.. any ideas? thanks

Code 41. That's a malfunction with the oxygen sensor heater circuit. Start buy checking the wiring on your Oxygen sensor. You may need to replace the sensor itself, but before you do, make sure that all the wiring is good.