Broken clutch - or worse?

[Second Best]

I have an FN2 Civic Type-R. It's not lived a great life and whilst I try and be mechanically sympathetic, I'd be lying if I said I don't drive it hard.

Working night shifts makes it a lot easier to find empty roads to (safely) have some fun on.

Anyway, last night I decided to turn off the traction control and do a proper standing start. Only up to 60mph, and in a safe and controlled manner. Well, it didn't work out too well. As soon as I launched it, I heard a rather expensive shatter from the front of the car. No drive, the engine's still running, power steering etc all doing okay.

I was about 500m from my house so I tried to get it into gear - it clunked a few times, with more noises, and eventually someone pushed me onto my road. I used another car to bump the Civic onto my driveway, where it'll stay until it's fixed.

I know I've fked up, it's my fault, nobody to blame except myself, and perhaps we can argue if I should have taken better care of a shed.

That said, I'd like to ask PH for advice. Exploding sounds, drivetrain engaging very rarely with noisy sounds - I'm assuming I've fked my clutch and whatever's left was engaging when it was aligned. I'm assuming it's just a replacement clutch job, right?

Basically I just wanted to ask if this is a straightforward job, or if I need to consider a gearbox replacement and/or anything else?

[Spudgunassassin]

Can you select all gears with the engine off? Or is the gear stick solid and can’t select anything?

[njw1]

It could just be a cv joint.

[Bobupndown]

Or a diff or a driveshaft or gearbox internals or or.....
Top muppetry!

[plfrench]

It’s more likely to be driveshaft / CV joint as a weaker link in the chain than the gearbox. The noises would fit with bits flapping about where they’ve sheared and would also fit with sudden failure at launch.

[andy43]

[Tam_Mullen]

plfrench said:

It’s more likely to be driveshaft / CV joint as a weaker link in the chain than the gearbox. The noises would fit with bits flapping about where they’ve sheared and would also fit with sudden failure at launch.

My vote is on a driveshaft too.

I snapped one on my EP3 Type R doing much the same thing!

[E-bmw]

As others above have said, could be pretty much any part of the drivetrain from clutch to CV joint.

If it is anything after the gearbox it should be visible from underneath.

[Richard-D]

I'm not clear from the OP...

Can you select a gear with the engine running but there is no drive?

or

Can you not even get it into gear with the engine running?

[soad]

Richard-D said:

I'm not clear from the OP...

Can you select a gear with the engine running but there is no drive?

or

Can you not even get it into gear with the engine running?

I had both. Clutch has completely gone, started slipping a few days ago before failure.

Then the gearbox went kaput, needed to fit a refurbished one. Expensive business.

[Richard-D]

soad said:

I had both. Clutch has completely gone, started slipping a few days ago before failure.

Then the gearbox went kaput, needed to fit a refurbished one. Expensive business.

Good timing that. You only had to pay to remove the gearbox once. That reminds me of an article I read a long time ago, about how luck is mostly a matter of perception.

[Second Best]

Morning all, sorry it's taken me 24 hours to reply.

The gear lever is free to move, I can select any gears I want without the clutch. The car doesn't engage the drivetrain unless I use the clutch pedal - which engages every now and then. Obviously I didn't experiment with this too much, but there's a large clunk when it does engage, the clutch slips, and drops out of gear too. Even if I try and bump it on the starter motor, it doesn't always engage.

If it's a big job, then that's a shame. I do like the FN2 Type-R, really didn't deserve the pasting it got - but at the same time I'd have to consider just binning it. I'd rather spend the repair bill and scrap value on a Boxster.

[paintman]

In the absence of any other visible damage it's possible - if you're lucky - you've torn the centre out of the clutch driven plate - the one with the friction material on it.
You'll need the box off to check.

Came across this twice in rapid succession with a Triumph Spitfire whilst working in a motor factors in the mid 70s
We'd supplied a clutch assembly to a local garage & a few days later it came back with the driven plate trashed - centre torn out of it.
We sent out a replacement & that too came back within a couple of weeks.
But this time the garage told us that the owner of the car was a local young lady who was fond of dropping the clutch to spin the wheels as she set off.
The old clutch was worn & would slip slightly but the new ones didn't.
We supplied a third clutch & she was advised by the garage that no further claims would be entertained by them as the cause of the issue was abuse.
No further issues.

[soad]

Richard-D said:

Good timing that. You only had to pay to remove the gearbox once. That reminds me of an article I read a long time ago, about how luck is mostly a matter of perception.

Sadly not, happened months apart. Fitted lower suspension arms at the front too though.

[Second Best]

Just for closure (in case anybody finds this thread in the future) - turned out to be a sheared driveshaft and diff. Total cost to repair was about £600-£700, not ideal but thankfully not enormously expensive. I also had the clutch replaced whilst the gearbox was out for another £150; wasn't showing any signs of wear but whilst the gearbox was out I figured I might as well.

[soad]

Sounds a decent enough outcome. Thanks for the update too.