HELP! Car issue!

Ok my car right now is broken down. I have a question. The car goes into all the gears and the engine revs. The cam spins and the alt belt is on but the car will not move. I think it is something with the clutch or flywheel or axle. Tell me what you think that it might be. When I try to go forward I hear a rubbing noise but the car will not move. What possiblites could it be?

Don't focus too much attention on the cam or alternator - if the engine runs, then the cam is definitely turning. The alternator is just there to keep the battery charged...

The flywheel is basically just a big lump of metal that keeps the crankshaft spinning at a constant rate - not much chance that it's the culprit. If the flywheel was completely disconnected from the crankshaft, your engine speed would fluctuate wildly (if the engine ran at all). The clutch pressure plate bolts to the flywheel, and one side of the clutch disk rubs against the flywheel, but that's about all the flywheel is involved with.

If the engine is running and the car won't move in any gear, chances are good that the clutch isn't engaging. Usually a slipping clutch makes quite a racket, and stinks really bad. Have you recently done anything to the clutch?

If one of your axles was broken in two, that would also prevent the car from driving, but I suspect that you'd hear more than a little rubbing noise.

If all the splines were chewed off of the hub, so that the axle no longer engaged with the hub, that would keep the car from driving... don't know how that would ever happen on a civic though.

What have you done to this poor car lately?

Nothing much but I do sometimes take off real fast. I don't smell clutch but I do hear like a rubbing noise comming from the tranny. Of course I didn't rev it up to much I did take it past 3 grand. When I do rev the motor up the rubbing get louder. Now I can leave the car in first and let the clutch out but the axles don't move only the rubbing noise comming from the tranny. Now it does some like a soft disc sliding acrossed a metal surface. I wonder if there is some piece on the clutch that is causing it to not grab?

is it cable-actuated or hydraulically actuated? Does the pedal feel normal?

Originally posted by ivymike1031
is it cable-actuated or hydraulically actuated? Does the pedal feel normal?

It is Hydro and the Pedel Feels good. It is soft like it has always been. I am running the Stock clutch and I have been racing it for a year and I do speed shift everytime I race. I have 100,000 miles on the car. When I think about it there is really nothing else it could be but the clutch. I feel the stick go to all it's gears infact my reverse gear makes a small grind noise everytime I put it in and it did that so I know that the gears are going in and they are spining just the skidding noise comming from the tranny. I can't think of it being anything else other then the clutch.

well, this is a fickle dillema. it sounds like the clutch...but if it goes into reverse and makes a grinding noise, that would mean the gears were spinning. and it would do the same in all the other gears.... my suggestion would be to call a shop and see if they could offer some insight...just my .02 though

it could also be the part of the engine the clutch attaches to, the name skips me now, but you know what i mean.

im gonna go with the differential. i love these guessing games.

Sounds either like the differential is messed up, but then you'd hear weird noises in your tranny, or it is the clutch.

if you ask me, and thats only if you ask me, id say your clucth blew up inside the bell housing, one to many hard lauches on a clutch with lots of friction material causes the little begger to literaly explode i wouldnt be surpised if you pulled off your trany and the was like clutch jiblets every were, diferentil ona civic are kinda bomb proof, if you run a mildy tuned engine, you can never create enough stress on it to break it, true you car is a little high on the Miles but these things last a long ass time:D

Originally posted by white97ex
well, this is a fickle dillema. it sounds like the clutch...but if it goes into reverse and makes a grinding noise, that would mean the gears were spinning. and it would do the same in all the other gears.... my suggestion would be to call a shop and see if they could offer some insight...just my .02 though

It could still be the clutch - it doesn't have to transmit much torque to give you that little grinding sound when trying to find R. Now if it makes that noise all the time when in R, that's another story...

Originally posted by ivymike1031


It could still be the clutch - it doesn't have to transmit much torque to give you that little grinding sound when trying to find R. Now if it makes that noise all the time when in R, that's another story...


Yeah! I found out what it was. It was the cup on the outer part of my Driver Side Axle. The Axle just spins but doesn't spin the wheel. That is ok I have a life time warrenty on my axles. =)

so the cv joint completely failed, but the boot is still intact? That falls in the category of "axle busted in two" I guess. I'm surprised that you didn't hear more noise (like the axle shaft flopping around freely in the wheel well).

Glad you figured out what it was w/o too much hassle.

Thanks for your help Mike I am going to be fixing it today.