Clutch Going Out? Help -ASAP!

[ewoevo]

All, I think my clutch went out this morning. When I left for work, there was a strange buzzing sound coming from the car. When I pushed the clutch pedal, the sound went away, then came back when I let off. Then, about halfway to work (less than 3 miles), I was stopping at a light. When I pushed the pedal in I felt a strange vibration through the pedal. This remained until I parked the car. Every time I pushed in on the pedal it virbrated quite a bit. It was difficult to shift gears when I got near work (1-3 gears only), but the clutch seemed to engage and not slip. Also the past several days the clutch has felt spongy and been real easy to engage while pushing the pedal. I'm thinking it's the throw-out-bearing, but would appreciate any and all suggestions.

 

[pj91gsx]

Yes. I bought a bmw from ebay and I test drove it and I could feel a vibration in the pedal. I had no idea what it was. I liked it. After 300 miles it squeeled then I bleed the clutch and it went away. Then the clutch started making grinding noises then the TOB fell into pieces. The TOB will go bad if it is not changed when changing the clutch, and it will go bad if you ride the clutch a lot as well.

 

[ewoevo]

Well I don't think it is the actual clutch itself, but either the TOB or the fork. I started the car back up yesterday afternoon and the vibration was stil there. However, the pedal now stays on the floor. I opened the hood and the slave cylinder rod was vibrating back and forth (not in and out). I don't believe the fork was even there. I've already taken it to a shop for diagnostics, since I just don't have the time the next couple of days. I do plan on reparing it myself this weekend, though.

 

[fatherbubble]

Pull off the boot on the trans so you can see the clutch fork an pressure plate. Use a flash light an check to see if you see any of the springs in the clutch broke or fallen out. That what I did to mine when that happened. I found out it was a spring in the clutch system from the disk that broke. After I changed it out I drove it with the new clutch for about 216 miles an then the engine crank walked. Latter I read about crank-walk an clutches an some mechanics say that the clutch will fell like its going out, but the crank is actually moving toward the clutch an putting it in a bind. If you change the clutch they said it will work great but the crank will end up killing the engine. So my conclusion to that is you put on an aftermarket clutch an pray your crank doesn't walk like mine did. Some will say that doesn't make sense, but if you think the crank is putting more pressure than stock on the pressure plate. The stock one can't support that extra force so it breaks. Then you go with an aftermarket one that can hold 2 times the load. Well problem solved, at least for abit it is. When the cranks walks alittle more everything goes out of alignment. Then you start to hear banging in the engine. When that happens drop your oil pan an look for all the pieces of the crank bearings in the oil.

 

[ewoevo]

Hopefully that doesn't happen. If it does, I'm already in the process of getting a built engine from someone locally. I'm planning on doing an engine swap in a couple of months. If what happened to you happens to me, I'll just speed up my swapout

 

[pj91gsx]

There is something wrong obviously. Was the clutch rode a lot. Was the pressure plate ever changed. If you wait to long the TOB will give out and ruin the pressure plate.