So I picked up another VR-4 a little less than a month ago. 1100 mile round trip in one day A couple weeks ago I noticed that it was making a sort of whining, metal rubbing noise, like a bearing. At first it was just at lower speeds. The seller told me that he had an issue where the timing over was rubbing on the AC pulley and he had the timing cover replaced before I purchased the vehicle and it was resolved. I thought maybe the issue had came back.

Last week I noticed that the noise would get a tad louder at higher speeds now. It got very difficult all of the sudden to put it in gear and the engagement point was at the floor. I adjusted the rod under the dash and all was well to putting it in gear. I started paying close attention to the issue and what it was doing. When I would start disengaging the clutch in first I could feel vibration on the pedal. I though it was strange.

I drove the car to work yesterday and just the same issue. As I was leaving, I pushed the clutch pedal in, moved it into first and heard this strange loud whining sound, almost sounded electrical. As it drove felt fine but when it was time to put in gear at a stop it did the awful noise. 8 or so lights later. It was nearly impossible to put it into gear but did so and pulled it into a parking lot. Any gear I "try" (won't really go into gear anymore) to put it in at a stop with the car on will grind. I had to have it towed home. I drive 70 miles a day roundtrip to and from work so I was still far away.

So I checked the fluid and its all there. Engagement point feels the same, rod underneath the dash didn't move. So all else I can think is possibly a bad throwout bearing since I heard all the noises? I don't really know as I have never had any prior tranny issues with any cars other than just the basic slave/matercylinder issues.

Car has a Jacks Transmission rebuilt with an Evo 1st gear, ACT 2600 w/street disk, ACT flywheel.

What could be the issue?

Make sure the rod under the dash isnt over adjusted. see if you can push the slave cylinder in by pushing on the throwout bearing fork towards the slave cylinder . if you cant then the rod under the dash is over adjusted. if you can push it back by hand then you are ok and itll be another issue. things to check are the clutch, throw out brg and or fork. make sure the line is bled . and see if you can go thru the gears with the car off. if you can then id want to look at the clutch and other related parts . and not so much towards the trans it self. just a thought

The car does go into gear with the car off

So my friend came over a few weeks later and yes, the rod was over adjusted so we adjusted it back to where I could push in the slave with my thumb. The ticking noise that I had heard were I guess the teeth, still don't know what the bearing sounding noise is/was. It would go away when I push the pedal in. So I drove it for a few days and I had to keep adjusting the rod everyday. One day it just would not go in to gear anymore.

I installed a new slave and master and bled it so many times. Still won't go into gear. The rod under the pedal is all out and I can't even get the slave to the point where I can't push it in with my thumb, I can still push it in with the master rod maxed out

You may have a worn clutch pedal assembly. Try pulling UP on the pedal by hand. If you can move it up, it's bad and needs to be replaced. Absolutely DO NOT weld it! Welding doesn't work and I don't care what anyone says about that.

Are the slave and master parts from the dealer? If you got them online or through an autoparts store, they are junk and you have to use the factory parts from Mitsu. The aftermarket parts never work correctly and have a high failure rate.

If all above is correct and good, then did you back out the cruise control switch at the upper stop of the clutch pedal? If not, that will give you more throw too. If that still isn't enough, it is rare, but you might have to extend the master rod. NOT the slave rod, as that doesn't work, I am talking about the master rod under the dash. The way you do this is when you adjust the master rod, do you see the locking nut at the bracket end? Weld that nut to the bracket. Add another nut to be used as a locking nut. The welded nut will allow you to adjust the master rod out more so you can get to that point where you have the most throw.

If none of that works, then the clutch disk is broken, pressure plate is warped badly, or there is a flywheel step height issue.

Thank you Jack. I did get the OEM master and slave cylinders from Mitsu. I pushed the pedal all the way in and let it out and tried pulling up on it. It was all the way to the top already.

Cruise control switch, That I did not know of, I will check and see if the previous owner has done it already. Not really sure what it looks like so I will have to take a peak unless somebody has a picture of what it looks like

An update.

I had the nut welded on the master cylinder bracket under the pedal for more adjustment. I was able to get it adjusted properly per your video. Car will still not go into gear though. Looks like its time to pull the tranny and see what's wrong. At the same time I have ordered a SB Clutch kit to get rid of the ACT 2600. I hope it's just the clutch that's the issue and not the tranny.

Before you do all that, check all your transmission bolts. Make sure the 8x60 bolt (hidden bolt at bottom-rear corner of block that goes in from the driver's side) behind the starter is there. What you're describing is similar to what happens when transmission bolts come loose. The clutch gets harder and harder to disengage as the bolts back out.

This happened to me.

My chattery 6-puck clutch shook out 3 bolts over a period of 2500 miles and eventually my clutch disc seized to the input shaft preventing me from being able to fully-disengage the clutch, thus unable to shift with the car running. If you're about to do an R&R, I just put up a video series about it on my youtube channel. EDIT: It's in 1080HD with torque specs and some OEM part numbers that might apply to you.

YouTube - Jafromobile's Channel

It's going to be an 8-part series. I was about to do the clutch adjustment video tonight but my starter ate it.

Nice job finding a VR-4!