Engine cuts out when clutch depressed but only after warmup

My 1999 Accord Coupe engine cuts out whenever the clutch is depressed.
Seems to be fine when the engine is cold in that the revs only drop
slightly but as soon as the engine is warm and I press the clutch to
change gear the engine cuts out completely. It will restart
immediately as long as the battery has enough charge (recently had to
replace battery as it kept draining). Pulls fine whilst in gear. Local
garage has had it for 3 days and are stumped, currently suggesting
total engine replacement !! Any suggestions or similar experience.
Please help!

 

It may seem completely out in left field, but they should verify the engine
ground is still good. Bad engine grounds make for a lot of really weird
effects, and they are really not that uncommon.

One of my brothers once worked in a stereo installation bay. One guy brought
his car back because the stereo didn't work. Naturally, when he tried to
demonstrate it worked fine. Eventually they found that the radio worked when
the parking brake was on but not when it was released! The engine ground was
bad, and the parking brake grounded the engine when the cable was tight in
the sheath. When the cable was released the ground was lost and the radio
didn't work... the battery got its ground through the engine.

Mike

 

Forgot to mention - I see no reason total engine replacement would help at
all. The only internal failure I can imagine doing anything like this would
be a bad thrust bearing (do Hondas have those?)... and that can be checked
by measuring the play when the crank pulleys are pulled out and pushed in. I
think they just want you and your problem to go away by telling you it would
be outrageously expensive to proceed.

Mike

 

Michael Pardee wrote:

that's the truth!

i think you have a good point with looking for internal electrics.
other things to look for include brake vacuum. it's common for the
engine to stall if the servo vacuum is leaking - and typically, you
press the brake at the same time as the clutch, but when driving, the
engine will only stall when the clutch is disengaged. doesn't usually
happen until the engine is warm.

 

Something finally filtered through my aging mind... the clutch has to be
depressed to start the engine. How does it behave when you try to restart
after it dies? It may not mean much, but if it cranks normally (whether it
fires or not) it rules out the engine per se.

Mike

 

Mike, thanks for the suggestion, I think you were probably right about
the garage as we picked the car up on Saturday because they still had
no ideas. Luckily it was only 1 1/2 miles to home and it died just as
we rolled onto the drive.
Will check out your other suggestions now we have access to the car
again. Noticed as well that when running cold on the drive and the
clutch is depressed the clutch is quite noisy, grating noise?
Ton

 

The clutch noise isn't a good thing, but not necessarily related to the
engine problem. Talking about this with my son, we're really curious about
the battery drain symptom. If that is happening with the new battery
(battery isn't charging right) I'd recommend chasing that problem. I have a
hunch that the fix for that is also the fix for the engine cutting out.

If you have access to a digital voltmeter the info and tests in Elle's site
at http://home.earthlink.net/~honda.lioness/id13.html will tell you what's
going on there. If you don't have a digital voltmeter, this is a good time
to buy one. An adequate one can be had for $20 US these days, and I recently
bought a simple one for $6.95 US. The engine ground can be tested by
watching for voltage between the engine and the body; it should never go
over a tenth of a volt or two.

Mike

 

I'd watch out for Harbor Freight's cheapo DMMs;I got one that read WAY too
high for a 1.5V alkaline battery,like 1.8-1.9Volts.
I took it back and exchanged it for another one that read right.
I'm still unsure about the AC volts accuracy.
Fortunately,I have a much better 4.5 digit DMM,too.

 

Your clutch release bearing is dragging on the pressure plate fingers and
is probably getting ready to bust through them.

The drag is slowing the engine down. (This used to happen from the factory
on certain old BMC models that had carbon release bearings.)

Time to get a new clutch. And really soon. If the bearing pokes through the
fingers, an awful lot of stuff can get torn up.