Thread: Honda jazz GD clutch head scratcher

I have a 2006 March (Thai ) production Jazz 1.5l Vti manual with 94K on the clock.
Suddenly the clutch has started to act strangely.

Symptoms are that first thing at start up the clutch take up point is near the floor but all subsequent changes the take up point is further up. You can feel it change on about the third gearchange But the clutch seems to not disengage fully on gear changes as you sometimes get a crunch into third.

In the last few weeks it seemed to flare into third twice , but I had stiff shoes on, and it may have been my imagination as the clutch is so light. I subsequently drove at 70Kph in 4th and jammed foot to the floor and whacked on the handbrake and it didn't slip

I tested the master cylinder by pinching off the clutch flexible hose and the pedal was rock hard.

You can see the throwout arm , so had my wife press the pedal while I looked and throwout was moving almost 20mm and moved immediately. I jammed a spanner behind the arm and the clutch pedal went hard. The slave cylinder was dry under the rubber cover and the master cylinder was dry. I have never had to top up the clutch fluid in 3 years and it was down only 1/2 way between full and empty marks.
After my wife complained , I bled the clutch yesterday with a MITYVAC, and flushed the fluid. Really crap fluid came out. I bled again today. I also checked that the reservoir was not backfilling from the master cylinder.

I am pretty much flummoxed by the thing. The hydraulics seem good and Honda have 1 master cylinder in Australia , as do aftermarket suppliers so failure is a rare thing.

It has a "clutch damper" which I originally suspected but it seems to be Ok, as the flexible hose is between it and the slave cylinder, and when clamped it sent the pedal rock hard.
Oh there is no noise at all from the throwout bearing or the spigot bush.

I will next take off the lower inspection plate and have a look. I tried to look at the pressure plate with a borescope but its impossible to get a good view.
Any ideas?
I am beginning to have nightmares about thrust washers in the crankshaft, but then an engine is cheaper than a clutch, although I would have to fit a clutch anyway.LOL
Regards Philip A

Does it use a concentric slave cylinder on that model?(slave cylinder and throw out bearing as a single unit)

No its a conventional external slave cylinder with a rod that fits in a socket in the throwout bearing arm.
Regards Philip A.