Clutch Spring fell out? Bad throwout Bearing? Slave Cylinder?

[Hubbard 0]

This is an odd issue, completely happened out of the blue.

Was driving, and I started noticing a slight wobble in the steering wheel. A short distance later it got worse and worse, felt like my wheel was about to fall off.

I got out, checked all the lugnuts, they were tight. Looked into the wheel well to see if anything looked clearly out of place, it didn't.

I got going again after this checkup and now noticed that my clutch was slipping real bad. First gear was almost unusable. I pulled over again down a street and poked around again. Couldn't see anything visibly wrong, but then I went and messed with the slave cylinder. It seemed like it was fully extended and I could push the clutch arm and slave cylinder in. As I pushed it in, I got more and more resistance and it started making a slight grinding noise. Kind of sounded like a bad wheel bearing.

I limped it back home and now noticed that it constantly made this slight grinding noise and it would get louder the faster I went. When turning left, it seemed to stop and when turning right it seemed to make a different noise.

The title states what I think it could possibly be, but I'm at a pretty big loss. My Clutch Master and Slave Cylinder were replaced this summer.

This happened when I went out driving for the second time today. The first time out I didn't have any problems. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[LD25Delta9]

I'd point towards your throwout bearing. Or it could be some clutch or flywheel bolts. There's no way of telling until you pull your tranny.

 

[Hubbard 0]

My friend also thought it could be center diff. related. When I pulled into my driveway when I got home the car seemed a little different in the snow on my driveway, like I had less grip than usual.

I'm going to havesomeone check that all tires are spinning in the snow when I get back home.

My friend also thought it could be center diff. related. When I pulled into my driveway when I got home the car seemed a little different in the snow on my driveway, like I had less grip than usual.

I'm going to havesomeone check that all tires are spinning in the snow when I get back home.

 

[FUNWHEELDRIVE]

i had something happen that sounds familiar to this, mine happened under high boost so it was more like a loud banging ... but the traction thing in the snow sounds extremly similar. and when turing left... didnt make the noise... only when going straight and turing right.

My DRIVER FRONT drifeshaft POPPED OUT! there is a hanger that hold the driveshaft up, the bolts backed out and the driveshaft popped out of my tranny. it really hard to see because it goes overtop of the transfer case.

it FELT like my clutch was slipping... i was 90% sure thats what it was but nope. on snow its like driving with RWD and on the 2g's its like driving with one back wheel and one front wheel .
take a look i woundt be surprised if thats it.
on snow my car would just shoot sideways, i had no traction. and i had no power cause i thought my clutch was slipping.

if it is ## driveshat ## cv boot is probly blown up too. thats an easy way to see it.

if this is the problem, go get the bolts from the dealer cause they are probly laying on the road somewhere.... make sure you use LOCTITE cause i did it without it and it popped out again .

hope this solves your problem.

 

[reardrv]

That sounds very similar to what happened to my car before something launched itself out of my front diff, leaving a dime sized hole in the diff and some cracks in the bell housing. Pull the tranny and check out your clutch related items first, if that's not it look for damage to the transmission inside the bell housing and on the front diff.

 

[SrKegler]

I had similar problems. Metal to metal sound turning right. My problem was bad bearing on the intermediate shaft. I also had a slight shimmy at highway speeds.

 

[cardot33]

I think funwheeldrive has a really good idea. I'm pretty sure the driver's side front axle doesn't have a clip on the splines because of the bracket that's supposed to hold it in. how does the clutch pedal feel though?

 

[sik4g63]

I have had this similar problem twice in my n/t. What caused it was a bad TOB. This last time I had about 1/4" or so ground down on the springs in the clutch plate.

 

[Hubbard 0]

i had something happen that sounds familiar to this, mine happened under high boost so it was more like a loud banging ... but the traction thing in the snow sounds extremly similar. and when turing left... didnt make the noise... only when going straight and turing right.

My DRIVER FRONT drifeshaft POPPED OUT! there is a hanger that hold the driveshaft up, the bolts backed out and the driveshaft popped out of my tranny. it really hard to see because it goes overtop of the transfer case.

it FELT like my clutch was slipping... i was 90% sure thats what it was but nope. on snow its like driving with RWD and on the 2g's its like driving with one back wheel and one front wheel .
take a look i woundt be surprised if thats it.
on snow my car would just shoot sideways, i had no traction. and i had no power cause i thought my clutch was slipping.

if it is ## driveshat ## cv boot is probly blown up too. thats an easy way to see it.

if this is the problem, go get the bolts from the dealer cause they are probly laying on the road somewhere.... make sure you use LOCTITE cause i did it without it and it popped out again .

hope this solves your problem.

Very interesting. This seems like it could definitely be the problem since I don't have my A/C and that bracket is only held on with one bolt I think. I'll check it out tomorrow after work, but it sounds like it could be a culprit.

cardot33, the clutch pedal feels normal as ever right now.

That sounds very similar to what happened to my car before something launched itself out of my front diff, leaving a dime sized hole in the diff and some cracks in the bell housing. Pull the tranny and check out your clutch related items first, if that's not it look for damage to the transmission inside the bell housing and on the front diff.

When I check out my intermediate shaft, I'll be sure to give the whole transmission a once over.

Thanks everyone for the help so far, I'll be sure to keep you updated.

If it is just the clutch, it's not the biggest deal since I knew I'd need to replace soon anyway. I don't know what's in it now, who put it in, and I know it won't handle Holset power. I would just be surprised that this happened so suddenly.

 

[FUNWHEELDRIVE]

ya it even happend twice with me cause when i got new bolts and put them in i didnt use loctite and they backed out again. the bolts i think from the dealer were $11 CAD each.
my clutch pedal felt fine just felt like it was slipping but really you are just not getting any power to the front wheels.

its easy to see if thats it too.... the CV boot is most like blown, and it will probly be leaking some tranny fluid. and the axle hanger will be hanging down.

 

[Hubbard 0]

Alright, I have a bit of an update.

First, I checked out that bracket. From above, I couldn't tell if it was sagging or anything and I couldn't wiggle it up and down, but it could still be the culprit.

Second, I took it around the block on snow covered roads. It is for sure only powering the rear wheels. The fronts do not spin one bit. I still get that slight grinding noise I mentioned before all the time. I even got stuck going up my driveway, which is barely at an incline. Rears were spinning away and the fronts weren't even twitching one bit.

I also noticed when I have a lot of steering angle, there is another noise I hear. It's kind of a clunking and grinding combined and it sounds like it comes from a different place than the previous grinding.

What are people's thoughts now based on this? I won't be able to crawl underneath the car until Thursday, unfortunately.

 

[viprez586]

Ouch sounds like possibly a bad t-case. All four should spin.
What have you recently replaced/ messed with?

 

[Hubbard 0]

I haven't changed anything on the car in months. Like I said in the first post, I was out driving earlier in the day before it happened and the car was 100% fine. I wasn't even beating on it. I then came home and left again shortly after and this happened several miles into the trip.

Ouch sounds like possibly a bad t-case. All four should spin.
What have you recently replaced/ messed with?

If the transfer case was the problem, wouldn't the rear tires not spin?

 

[Hubbard 0]

I think I found the answer to my problem. I finally went and looked underneath the car and found the problem.

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Can I assume this would be the cause of all my problems?

 

[cardot33]

well I'd say that would definitely cause problem. have you looked at the other side, it's probably fine, but just in case. New axles aren't that expensive ($70-ish) and not to hard to put in.

 

[Hubbard 0]

The other front axle was replaced earlier this year, it should be fine.

 

[viprez586]

Wow, usually that helps to actually look under the car before you start trying to diagnose it blind.