wierd clutch problem???

[howdeyjake]

Ok, i was coming home from work yesterday, sitting in 3rd gear at about 2000 rpm and for some reason or another, i decided to floor it, release the petal, floor it, release the petal etc...and did that about 5 times. I shifted into neutral and then stopped at the stop sign. I put it in first then released the clutch. As soon as my car started moving a HOORRIBLE screaching/grinding came from my clutch when it was slipping(when it is fully engaged it doesn't squeek/grind). I got home in 1st gear afrade to shift incase I couldn't get it back in gear. I got home from school today and got in my, started it, and put it in reverse and reversed up our hill with no problems, it engaged fine. At the top of our street I put it in gear and preceded to go down the hill. The screeching resumed and it was the same thing as last night. It does it in every gear up to 3rd(the last gear I could get to while going down my street). I went up and down a couple times then parked my car. I pushed my clutch in and the screeching/grinding started again while I had my e-break on and wasn't moving, but it was a much less severe squeeking/grinding. So now when I push my clutch in the screaching/grinding starts up untill I let off the clutch again. Any clue what could be going wrong with my clutch??? ANY help at all is appreciated, I just need to know where to start with this problem.

Thanks in advance!,
Jake

 

[ICGerms]

Sounds like a bad throw-out bearing. Or maybe a loose belt. It's hard to tell from your description.

 

[96gsdsm]

Congrats on bending the fingers on your pressure plate!!! The almost exact same thing happenned to me while driving home, decided out of no where to beat on the drivetrain .... when you press/release to dump your clutch like you described it heats up the metal of your pressure plate and weakens it temporaraly. It doesn't catch up with you untill you hit the light because the metal would have been stuck "bent" as your drivetrain slowed and clutch assembly cooled. The most commen way of doing this is actually slowing down quickly from VERY high speeds (which I can also verify through experience) ... but my best guess would be replascing your pressure plate (and while your in there you might as well drop in a new clutch (or modular kit.. I can't remember if GST's are or not) and throw out bearing

 

[Morphius]

Congrats on bending the fingers on your pressure plate!!! The almost exact same thing happenned to me while driving home, decided out of no where to beat on the drivetrain .... when you press/release to dump your clutch like you described it heats up the metal of your pressure plate and weakens it temporaraly. It doesn't catch up with you untill you hit the light because the metal would have been stuck "bent" as your drivetrain slowed and clutch assembly cooled. The most commen way of doing this is actually slowing down quickly from VERY high speeds (which I can also verify through experience) ... but my best guess would be replascing your pressure plate (and while your in there you might as well drop in a new clutch (or modular kit.. I can't remember if GST's are or not) and throw out bearing

He was describing getting on and off the gas several times, not shifting, for one. Two, even if you shifted 30 times within 5 minutes or less, it's not going to 'weaken' the fingers due to heat. Three, decelerating, doesn't do this either.

Like a previous poster said, sounds like a TOB is bad.

 

[96gsdsm]

He was describing getting on and off the gas several times, not shifting, for one. Two, even if you shifted 30 times within 5 minutes or less, it's not going to 'weaken' the fingers due to heat. Three, decelerating, doesn't do this either.

Like a previous poster said, sounds like a TOB is bad.

1. Thats the exact reason why I think the throw out bearing is fine. He wasn't shifting, the throw out bearing shouldn't have made contact with the pressure plate with the clutch fully out.

2. He wasn't shifting, If he was I would have suspectd the TOB first

3. I didn't say decelerating In general, I said decelerating from high speeds. It is also a proven fact that this DOES lead to damage to the pressure plate's fingers, It could even be a mild warp that would do this, but throw out bearings usually dont stop working and start screaching instantly..... regardless of weather or not howdeyjake did stop quick or not, I thought I would throw that up in the air.

4. As long as the tranny is out to replace the throw out bearing, unless the clutch is BRAND NEW he would be stupid not to replace clutch components.... so either way I would highly recommend both a TOB, PP and clutch disk

 

[Morphius]

1. Thats the exact reason why I think the throw out bearing is fine. He wasn't shifting, the throw out bearing shouldn't have made contact with the pressure plate with the clutch fully out.

He describes the noise as happening when he disengages the clutch, not when the clutch is fully engaged.

2. He wasn't shifting, If he was I would have suspectd the TOB first

Please reread his post.

3. I didn't say decelerating In general, I said decelerating from high speeds. It is also a proven fact that this DOES lead to damage to the pressure plate's fingers, It could even be a mild warp that would do this, but throw out bearings usually dont stop working and start screaching instantly..... regardless of weather or not howdeyjake did stop quick or not, I thought I would throw that up in the air.

Please post your info on relation of decelerating from high speeds to PP finger damage.

4. As long as the tranny is out to replace the throw out bearing, unless the clutch is BRAND NEW he would be stupid not to replace clutch components.... so either way I would highly recommend both a TOB, PP and clutch disk

Given what he describes, a TOB should be enough, but like you suggest, it might not be a bad idea to do the clutch.

 

[Morphius]

You may have meant one thing and wrote another but, here is a clarification:

....sitting in 3rd gear at about 2000 rpm and for some reason or another, i decided to floor it, release the petal, floor it, release the petal etc...and did that about 5 times. I shifted into neutral and then stopped at the stop sign. I put it in first then released the clutch. As soon as my car started moving a HOORRIBLE screaching/grinding came from my clutch when it was slipping(when it is fully engaged it doesn't squeek/grind).

..... I pushed my clutch in and the screeching/grinding started again while I had my e-break on and wasn't moving, but it was a much less severe squeeking/grinding. So now when I push my clutch in the screaching/grinding starts up untill I let off the clutch again.

Cleary states he was getting on and off the gas. Came to a light. Disengaged the clutch and the noise started. Tried driving the car later, again, issues arrises when clutch is disengaged.

.... when you press/release to dump your clutch like you described it heats up the metal of your pressure plate and weakens it temporaraly. It doesn't catch up with you untill you hit the light .....

To me, you are stating he was actuating the clutch when in reality, he was only acutating the gas pedal.


Thus, the reason I responded like this:

He was describing getting on and off the gas several times, not shifting, for one. Two, even if you shifted 30 times within 5 minutes or less, it's not going to 'weaken' the fingers due to heat. Three, decelerating, doesn't do this either.

Do you follow?

 

[96gsdsm]

ok, you all have conviced me. TOB it is then. sorry for the confusion.

 

[howdeyjake]

Ok, you guys say I should replace my clutch why I am at it...should I still do that??? Also exactly HOW hard is it to replace a throw out bearing??? And it happened why I was just flooring it and then letting off, doing that about 5-6 times then shifting it into neutral, and noticing the horrible dolphing like screeching at the light when I was engaging the clutch then it stopped when it fully engaged. Now it does it just when I push the clutch in in general, and gets much more extream when I try to engage the clutch. I guess my next step is to figure figure out if I need JUST a new TOB, or a new clutch also, and to find out how hard one of these is to put in. I REALLY appreciate the help guys!! I would have had to spend HUNDREDS! taking this to a shop to repair, when I could repair it myself, and have fun learning how to repair it. So far I have replaced the alternator, i'm replacing starter tommrrow, then whatever I have to repair on this pry next week. Next thing to do is make it fast and put a new ebay intercooler on it!!

Thanks for the help guys!,
Jake

 

[96gsdsm]

I would highly recommend putting in a new clutch kit, which would include throw out bearing, pressure plate, and clutch itself ..... unless your clutch has ridiculously low miles on it.....
It's just the fact that the clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing are all extremely easy to install. The thing that makes the job so difficult is that you have to remove the entire tranny and axles and such to access them.
I bought my whole assembly for $200 shipped on e-bay from a seller named ezclutch and installed it myself a few months ago. Never had a complaint about it EVER, and it's suppossed to hold 300-400 HP. Me and a buddy installed it in about 6-7 hours and it was both of our first times installing a clutch.

If you do install it yourself plan on having your Haynes manual handy and disassembling alot of odds and ends to get to it. It also helps if you jack up your car as high as possible.

 

[howdeyjake]

oook thanks man...I think i'm ordering my clutch tonight. I have a buddy of mine who's brother is going through college studying to be a mechanic, and hopefully he should be able to help me do my clutch. Even he aggreed it would be the TOB so I guess a new clutch kit it is! Will update when job is complete.

Thanks for the help!!!

 

[howdeyjake]

Which clutch do you think I should buy?? I'm going to throw a huge FMIC on my big 16G turbo with cold air, 3 inch exaust, K&N, and a bunch of little stuff like that. Which do you suggest?? Do you think that setup will be over 350 HP?? I will pry be pushing 20+lbs of boost. Would this be a good choice????-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8052969251&fromMakeTrack=true
that is 350-450 HP

 

[96gsdsm]

Should be perfectly sufficient! You're FWD so you're not going to put as much force on it as some of these AWD 4g guys

 

[howdeyjake]

AWSOME! You don't think there will be any chatter or anything??? As a rule I don't race my car and I never take it to the drag strip so this would be strictly for just messing around on the streets and to work and back and such. So you guys think this will work for my setup if i'm not really dragging??

 

[96gsdsm]

You might have rough engagement seeing it's a 6 puck, but it should be perfectly streetable, it just might take a week to get used to as opposed to a stock clutch

 

[howdeyjake]

Cool. I alreaghty had a racing clutch so it shouldn't be THAT big of a change. Thanks for all the help and I will update later when I get it installed.

 

[96gsdsm]

That 6 puck it is then

 

[howdeyjake]

just got my clutch and man, they are alot smaller than i expected them to be.