Is it my clutch?

[lafngirl]

I have a 94 Civic EX that I have driven for 9 years. For the past few weeks, there has been intermittent rev'ving down sounds when I get out of gear and push on the break to come to a stop. Last night, when trying to get into 1st gear to start from a stop, my car would not go into gear and thus died (goign up a hill.) I can put it in gear when the car is off, but it makes a strange engine sound, and does not have any power to move forward, and I cannot put it into gear once the engine is on. Does this sound like my clutch went out, something else in the transmission? I'm trying to determine what may be wrong, to find out repair costs, to see if its worth it to fix at this point. It has served me well and been a great car, but I was looking to get a newer Honda by the end of this year, and this may be the jumpstart to doing that.

Thank you for any assistance,

-lafn

[i_a_n112784]

Ok, here's a quick and down to earth test that works for just about ANY manual vehicle.

1. get a feel for what it takes to get the car to go from a dead stop on level ground in 1st.

2. when at a dead stop, put it in 5th.

3. slip the clutch like you would in 1st even though you are in 5th.

4. if the car stalls (dies) or spurts/jerks you around alot, the clutch is still ok for awhile ( the car stalling means better clutch life left than jerking). If the car just tries to go, then the clutch has no real life left and needs to be replaced.

Obviously this is kinda subjective, but it gives you a vauge idea of clutch life left (useful if buying a used car). And sure someone will say "well __blank__ had whatever car and it was fine..." but trust me, this works. I've never seen a car that has passed this when it needed a clutch, and ive never seen a car that failed it when it didnt need a clutch.