86 Prelude trouble

PREFACE: I really don't know much about cars at all, so if any of this sounds a bit off, that's why.

So, I have a 1986 Honda Prelude 5 speed that's been treating me nicely up till this last Friday. I noticed sluggish acceleration, from a full stop I had to almost floor the accelerator to move in 1st gear, and still accelerated very slowly. The clutch then went loose and I had to pull over to a safe spot on the road. After a few minutes, the clutch felt normal again but none of the gears seemed to be engaging, and I could start the car, shift into first while at a full stop, and let out the clutch and not kill the car. Any idea what's wrong, how to fix it or how much it would cost to fix? Oh, maybe some more information that may be relevant. It has about 175k miles on it, I've had the car since early December of 2005, and recently had the oil changed and the radiator flushed and filled (due to a problem 2 weeks ago, blew a heater hose while on the highway). Any help would be appreciated!

Sounds like you could use a new clutch kit ie : clutch disc, clutch fork, pressure plate, pilot , throw out bearing, master, slave cylinder and make sure the syncs in the tranny are good as well as full of gear oil.

So I've been calling around and describing the problem, looks like the whole clutch assembly needs replacing and it will set me back 700 dollars. Any other ideas or am I stuck?

I think thats a little spendy but a lot cheaper than for some others i've heard.

Without the set up..you'll kill your motor trying to drive it that way. Fork out the money for the clutch package or fork out money for another motor and clutch package..which outweighs which :)

If you are mechanically inclined you can probably pick up everything you need better than OEM parts for around 300.00 USD and do it yourself. Don't 'have' to be mechanically inclined just know ho to follow instructions in the repair manual and you should be good to go and save a ton of money.

Good luck man.

Considering I can't even drive it the way it is now (I get it in gear, push the accelerator, and it revs but the car doesn't move), I think I'll just have to get the money for the repair. Thank you for your help.

Considering I can't even drive it the way it is now (I get it in gear, push the accelerator, and it revs but the car doesn't move), I think I'll just have to get the money for the repair. Thank you for your help.


Just watch out for the money leeching mechanics bro and good luck on the rebuild. Hope to hear some good news soon.