soot

Hey guys,

I was on my way to work today and while I was at the light, I went from Neutral to first. As I started to move I heard a thurd, followed by grinding. I quickly threw the gear into neutral with my hazard lights. Tried to slowly reverse or get into first gear to no avail. Apparently I have used my four AAA calls this year and was left with a hefty bill for the tow.

I thought originally it was my transmission that was shot. The driver said you would have to batter the car pretty hard to break the transmission, other possibility is perhaps the clutch went out (definitely plausible). After he dropped my car off back at my place he took a quick look and decided it wasn't the clutch after all but the CV axle. I recently have started to hear the infamous clicks of the CV axle (replaced before) but I wasn't aware that this could cause my car to shift into gear but not engage.

What do you guys think? I'm going to take it into a shop to get diagnosed but I'm kind of tight on money and I would like to make sure I don't get ripped off. Any other insights are greatly appreciated.

Car stats:
1998 Honda Civic LX
~171,800 miles (bought it with 78,000; It's been up and down the east coast and recently to Colorado).
Shifts into 1st/Reverse but does not engage. Grinding is heard when trying to start in gear. As far as I know, its the original clutch so that would definitely be understandable. How much are the parts for any of these causes/how much in labor should I expect to pay?

Thank you guys!

02civicsi02

171000 miles with the original clutch, I would say its the clutch. It is probably like gone. The grinding is probably the clutch disk down to metal possibly. And a new clutch and pressure plate will run you bout 200 to 300. And changing the clutch in a car isnt to hard it just takes time and patience.