Hard to take off in first gear

[Eckman01]

Hi. I just bought a 2006 civic lx sedan with 73K miles, one owner. I'm 44 and have been driving manual my whole life. I stall this car often and I haven't done that since I was learning when I was 15. When the car is cold and the computer is keeping the RPMs at about 1250 it drives perfectly. After it self adjusts to 650-700, I start having issues. When I take off in first gear, I have to really rev it high to keep it from stalling. Like 3K on the tach. And it still has a moment when the clutch engages that it feels like it will stall. The actual clutch seems fine, no slipping and if I let the clutch out with the E-brake on it shuts off instantly. I checked the push rod inside near the pedal and no leaks and the reservoir is full. Am I going after a clutch issue or a power issue? I had an 82 civic with 72 HP that seemed much quicker than this one which is supposed to have 140 HP. Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions? Thank you.


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[XpL0d3r]

82 Civic sounds cool, lol.

No CEL, right?

When's the last time the car had a tune-up? New plugs, wires, inspected dizzy cap, all that good stuff? May as well clean the IACV while you're there too - 650 is a little bit of a low idle I believe.

Sounds like a power issue to me. If it were the clutch it'd happen if the car were cold or warm, I'd think.

Also worth nothing, I had a similar issue, where the car would run fine when cold, and absolutely suck when it was at operating temp. I had no CEL for it, but it ended up being an issue with an o2 sensor. What I got out of it, was that once the car is at normal temp, it switches to closed-look and bases A/F ratio solely on feedback from the o2 sensors. I can't remember which, but a sensor was "working" just not how it should have been. It was enough to through the car's A/F ratio out of whack, but never triggered a CEL. I had a severe loss of power when it was warm. It was so bad I had to keep it around 3k RPM or higher at ALL times when it was warmed up (even at idle) or else it would stall. Not saying this is your case, but is something to look into.

 

[lethal6]

Hard to discern from the information given, but it sounds like a slipping clutch to me. Put the car in 3rd gear and let the clutch out. Does it stall? E-brake stalling isn't always a good indication as a bad clutch will still stall the car out if the e-brake is on and the car isn't really under a load because the brake is holding it NOT the engine.

Also, where does the clutch engage? Is it higher up on the pedal range? Is the engage point consistent?

 

[Eckman01]

There is no CEL. I have put the car in 5th gear at 20 MPH and floored it, no slipping. The engagement point seems to begin around an inch from the floor and not fully engage until a little after halfway. Sometimes when shifting into 2nd or 3rd I think it is fully engaged so I take my foot off the pedal and as soon as I do that it thumps into being fully engaged.


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[Eckman01]

Update. I flushed the CMC reservoir with new fluid. Quick test drive and it seemed much better if not resolved. Tomorrows drive to work will be the test. Thanks for the advice.


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[Eckman01]

Update- it was nearly perfect for a week or so and now it is doing the same thing. I am at a loss on this one.


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