alexr

does a failing clutch have a sound? it doesnt feel like its slipping or not doing what its supposed to at all, but even when i just rest my foot on it, and it picks up the slack in the pedal, i start to hear a sound from it. i cant really describe what it sounds like. its doesnt really sound like a grinding of anything, but it does sound like a metal spinning on a metal.

any ideas?

ezking

The weight of your foot on the pedal is enough to put the clutch into action. It's trying not to slip, I would bet its pretty worn though...

alexr

well i mean its not just when my foot is sittin on it, its when its being and fully engaged. i never heard this with my old car. i didnt know if it was just magnified by the strength of the clutch, since i didnt have any weight to the one in my v6.

although at the same time, i never noticed this sound before a couple weeks ago. either i just wasnt noticing it, or it just started not too long ago. i dunno. my exhaust drowns it out most of the time when the windows are down, and i never drive with them up when the weather is nice.

ezking

I got on one this weekend and took some vacation time to tear my engine to pieces, It seemed like a good idea at the time =D I've been replacing things left and right, but I forgot to save money for Oil and Coolant... Yea...

Anyways I've been driving a bare bones mazda protege around, and the clutch is a little worn, the weight of my foot will make it make the exact sound you are talking about.

Pull your clutch pedal up towards you, it may just need an adjustment?

Its a hard sound to describe, almost like brake indicators but not as screechy.

If its more of a ticking noise that isn't completely constant, thats a bad throwout bearing.

alexr

yea i dunno. its not that i dont want it to make that sound when my foot just rests on it, its that ive never heard it before when i DID do it.

it sounds very similar to the sound of a fenderwell intake sucking in air, but you can tell its more of a solid on solid contact than anything else. id try and get a sound clip of it, but i dont know if my exhaust will just drown it out.

cliffyk

Typically any whirring/metallic sound when you step lightly on the clutch pedal is from the throwout bearing, and when they start making noises they did make before it is a sign that the bearing's seals have failed and it has flung out its grease.

If this is so the noise will get progressively worse until you have top replace the TOB. It can sometimes take a surprisingly long time before that becomes necessary.

StriderTacticaL

I don't mean to take over the thread but hey cliffyk I noticed you have an MGW too and I was wondering if you have problems getting it into 3rd when you redline 2nd?

I was at the track 2 days ago and on every single one of my runs once i'm done with 2nd gear and go to 3rd, it would like lock up and simply not let me get into 3rd until I wait for a few seconds for the rev's to come back down. I had a thread about this and a few people say they had the same experienced with MGW.


Thanks

cliffyk

Not even once, not ever, I just push the lever straight forward and let the gate springs do the work...

There's a Ford TSB referencing difficult 2-3 shifts, one of the recommendations in this TSB is to only fill the tranny with 3.0L (3.2 qts) of fluid to minimise hydro-locking of the shift detents and rods. The factory fill was either 4.0 or 3.8 qts.

Have you changed the tranny fluid? How much did you put in?

I have been running 3.2 qts of RP Synchromax for 45k miles, since I got the car, and have had absolutely none of the shifting problems many (MGW, stock, or other) have reported.

Some say that Tremec does not recommend synthetic fluid (the Wikipeadia entry states this), however I have never seen that in any Tremec literature. To the contrary, their service manual for the 3650 states this:



I think that the "Additives and friction modifiers are not recommended..." statement was misinterpreted by someone someplace along the line as meaning synthetic oils...

alexr

if you had to take a guess, what do you think a whole transmission rebuild would cost? my second gear grinds when i run first up over 4k, and id like to do it all in one shot if i ever get the money to have it fixed.

StriderTacticaL

Oh... I've never changed the trany fluid before, I bought the car from carmax like 4 months ago and put about 1000 miles on it so far.

So do you think I should change my fluids? I am not very mechanically inclined so can I get this done at a jiffy lube? So your saying DON'T use synthetic fluids right?