I have 2 problems....

1.) Sometimes when I am in neutral and I go to shift into 1st, in won't shift into first all the way, I either I have to completely let off the clutch pedal and press it in again for it to go all the way into 1st, or if I sort of keep pressure on the shifter going into first and slowly let off the clutch pedal it slips all the way into the gear. What does this mean? I have a new clutch waiting to be put in, but I'm just waiting untill I REALLY need to do it.

2.) When I'm in 1st and just start to get going, and I'm in that clutch "friction zone" (clutch pedal halfway out) I can hear a rattle, sounds like it's coming from the right side of the engine. I also hear it when i let the clutch out in low speeds when I'm in 2nd.

I have a 96 LX with 95k miles. Still on the stock clutch, but I did have the timing belt and water pump replaced at 80k.

Also, I have personally never adjusted the valves on this motor, and I have no idea whether or not it has ever been done before. Am I do for an adjustment? I've had the car since 55k miles.

 

1) I guess this could be a clutch problem, but you might want to check whether adjustment of the clutch pedal helps (picture 1).

2) I had an identical problem. It turned out to be a loose heat shield attached to exhaust pipe A (picture 2).

I'm not sure about the valve adjustment job, but it would probably be a good idea. Are the valves becoming a bit noisy?

 

Make sure your clutch fluid reservoir is filled. This is under the hood on the firewall in front of the clutch pedal, next to the brake fluid reservoir. It looks like a smaller version of the brake one, and yes you would put brake fluid in it.

If you can always shift cleany into reverse with the car stopped but not first, the problem is going to be the first gear in the transmission, not the clutch.

As Ron suggests, oughtright tinny rattling from a car is often from a loose exhaust heat shield. There are also heat shields on the manifold/converter assembly on the front of the engine.

 

Reverse does the same thing when I shift into it. Some times it will shift into it clean, sometimes it wont engage all the way and I have to try again. And yes, this is from a stop, I never shift into reverse while moving.

 

And one other thing, when I first start my car in the morning, I usually let it run for a couple minutes before I get going, but when I do get going and let off the clutch in first it stumbles pretty bad, and not because I'm not giving it enough gas, it will stumble regardless of how much gas I give it, it only does this when the engine is cold though. Is that normal?

 

I had a friend tell me that the clutch problem may be beacuse of a bad slave cylidner..

Is it worth a shot to swap it out?