New to the forums..got a question :)

[vansnxtweek]

Hey, first let me introduce myself, my name is matt...i have a 95 prelude h23a1..which i have completely fallen in love with haha.

I got the car for 400 bucks with a broken timing belt and about 14 bent valves. I got my head reworked with all new valves, got the head resurfaced and installed it back with a new gasket kit, new timing belt, new water pump, new balancer belt..basically all that i could lol.

Here is a before:

and here is after a bit of work:



Now i need some help...

Well i drove it yesterday and it felt great!! until about 5 min. into it....it started smoking some and it got to the point where i was uncomfortable with it so i stopped to look things over. Everything looked fine..water...oil..good...no leaks..everything looked straight. Well when i went back to start it..it didnt want to go into first gear. Then i tried starting the car w/ it in gear and it jumped forward. So i waited a few minutes, and then I started it in second and it did fine. So i babied it back home to look at what I had.

I did remember when i got the car the clutch reservoir was near about empty, the little hole that I guess takes fluid was exposed so I was figuring...hoping..that there is just bubbles in the line. So i tried to bleed the slave cylinder and I got some bubbles out at first but after that, pure fluid over and over again. I drove the car again and this time it drove fine but it did still smoke some. It has a wierd smell also...which makes me wonder clutch? Im just not sure. Im sure i will have some smoking with the new head gasket and assembly, along with all the heavy assembly lube I used. But Im not sure how much is normal?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[vansnxtweek]

anyone experience any of this?

[Tee-Dot]

How old is the clutch?

[vansnxtweek]

not sure..just picked up the car about a month ago. Im sure that it hasnt been replaced recently though

[G_Loc]

Slave or master cylinder (or both) could be leaking. Also the clutch may have popped a spring, which is a common issue

[vansnxtweek]

ugh ya i read about the popped spring, i guess that would require a whole new clutch? Its just not something thats all the time..i drove it later that night and it seemed perfectly fine. I bled the system and that seemed to fix it..at least temporarily, hopefully its the slave cylinder or master.
when you say spring do you mean one of the springs actually on the clutch plate?

[G_Loc]

Yup new clutch and its a spring on the clutch plate.

Pull back the boot on the slave cylinder. Last time mine went out, the little boot was holding in the leaking fluid, so it looked fine until I pulled it back a bit and fluid leaked out.

[yais]

duude. i've got the same problem.
can't put it into gear after i start, but if i start it in gear it jumps...
and on off chances i can shift it, but it definitely doesn't sound right.

i'm still waiting on word if my clutch is actually screwed as well, but i doubt it... it just doesn't build pressure

i know for sure its the master/slave cylinder though, it was like spraying fluid all over the place...
preludes are pretty notorious for that though.


EDIT:
alright, well i just got my car back from the shop...
it was like 400 for the new clutch master cylinder and it works great..!
i'm pretty sure it's not your clutch unless it was already slipping on you or broke completely.. mine had basically no pressure at all before the fix