The clutch pedal clicks under changing load

[yelo333]

I have a 2007 Civic LX w/ ~10,000 miles on it. It has a hydraulic clutch. It's still under warranty, so I'll probably be taking it to the dealer soon.

I hear a clicking noise when I give it gas or merely take my foot off the gas. From the driver's seat, it sounds like it's the clutch pedal, but I suppose it could be anything down there or even in the engine bay. It sounds very similar to the normal click that you get from the clutch ignition lock switch.

It happens when the clutch is fully engaged, and my foot is nowhere near the clutch pedal.

Poor quality 15 second Audio clip. It was recorded by laying my PDA (with voice recorder app running) on the floor, so it has a lot of road noise. I had to remove most of the bass or you wouldn't be able to hear the clicking at all.

Clicks occur at :03 and :07. They're in 1st gear. :11 is an intentionally rough 1-2 shift, which sets off a series of clicks as the car jerks back and forth. You may have to listen to it a few times to make sense of it. Once again, sorry about the quality. If need be, I'll try to record a better clip some time next week.

The clicking goes away after the car has been on for awhile, and gets worse the longer the car has been off. It can take as long as 15 minutes before it goes away. After it's gone, it's gone for the rest of the day.

Any ideas?

 

[yelo333]

Bump for the weekday crowd...

 

[amdhunter]

I had to change the mounts on my 06 LX very early on (2000 miles), maybe its a mount clicking back and forth?

When I traded it in (14500 miles) the mounts were just about broken again. :ugh:

I am pretty dumb when it comes to this sort of thing. Try asking in the 8thcivic forums.

 

[bruceb]

Usually a bad cluth throwout bearing .. mounted on the clutch fork by the pressure plate. If that turns out to be the case, while you have it all apart, check the pressure plate, friction disk, pilot bearing & flywheel surface as this is a good time to replace any worn parts or resurface the flywheel, if it is heavily scored. Either way, you need to pull the tranny out to get to it.

 

[yelo333]

Thanks for the responses!

Engine mounts are a possibility. But if it was broken, then it wouldn't get better after it warmed up, right?

Throwout bearing... Hmm, I'm not pressing the clutch at all. I thought that only came into play when the clutch was depressed? I'm not touching the clutch at all when it does this clicking thing.

I just took it to the dealer a few minutes ago. It's been garaged since Saturday. It was clicking the whole way there (~3 minutes from my house), all the way into the parking spot. I shutoff the car, walked in, and got a mechanic to come out and give him a ride. Start up the car, take off, and It's fine. No clicks.

So it went away just from sitting in the sun for 10 minutes...

The clicking is annoying when it's happening, because taking off from a stop goes something like this:

Get moving, take foot off gas to prepare for the 1-2. *click*
clutch in, shift to 2nd, clutch out *click*
give it gas *click* *click*
take foot off gas to prepare for 2-3 *click*
clutch in, shift.
give it gas *click* *click* *click*
shift to 4th (same)

take foot off gas because we've reached cruising speed *click*
touch gas to keep up with traffic *click*

And so on until it goes away. (5-15 minutes)

 

[overst33r]

look for any rubber pieces in your footwell. it sounds like a grommet on the top of your clutch pedal is damaged/missing. BTW, does your cruise control work?

 

[yelo333]

Just checked. There is a yellow plastic grommet on the pedal that hits a metal solenoid finger, which it hits nice and firmly when up. It all looks normal to me.

Cruise works fine, I was using it Saturday.

 

[AMCRambler]

Is your pedal loose when the clutch is engaged? Kind of dangerous to be looking down there when moving but take a look and see if the clutch pedal is moving as you drive. You'd also be able to feel it as you step on the clutch pedal too. Kind of a soft easy to push feel till you start pushing against the return spring. I'm wondering if the pedal is loose near the top and is bouncing against that switch you mentioned.

Edit: Just to confirm, you hear no clicking when you've got the clutch depressed correct? What if you put your foot on the clutch pedal without depressing. Putting slight pressure on it would keep it from bouncing against that switch. Just a thought.

 

[yelo333]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
Is your pedal loose when the clutch is engaged? Kind of dangerous to be looking down there when moving but take a look and see if the clutch pedal is moving as you drive. You'd also be able to feel it as you step on the clutch pedal too. Kind of a soft easy to push feel till you start pushing against the return spring. I'm wondering if the pedal is loose near the top and is bouncing against that switch you mentioned.

Edit: Just to confirm, you hear no clicking when you've got the clutch depressed correct? What if you put your foot on the clutch pedal without depressing. Putting slight pressure on it would keep it from bouncing against that switch. Just a thought.

Yes, no clicking with the clutch depressed. I can rev the engine with the clutch depressed and there is no clicking of any kind. The only other time it happens besides when the clutch is engaged is if I've just started pressing the clutch, so it's about 1/10th of the way down during the click. Nothing unusual is felt in the pedal.

I've tried resting my foot lightly on the clutch or against the side of it for short periods of time, but it still clicks, and I can't feel any movement. I think the plastic grommet hitting the switch causes a dull thud noise, not the click I'm hearing, since that will happen if I snap the clutch out really fast.

Man, it'd be really nice to get one of you in my car.

 

[RichieZ]

i'm all for self diagnosis, but if the car is under warranty why don't u take it in?

 

[yelo333]

Originally posted by: RichieZ
i'm all for self diagnosis, but if the car is under warranty why don't u take it in?

Ah, I'm doing that, too. I tried, but it quit clicking just before I was able to get the mechanic in the car. He said he didn't really know what could be wrong, but bring it in whenever it's happening.

I'll leave it overnight with them as soon as they have an opening in their schedule, which isn't for a couple more days.

 

[RayH]

If you have broken springs on your clutch plate it can cause clunking noises as the engine goes on and off torque. These are the springs used to smooth clutch engagement and not the springs used to engage the clutch.