hey guys

alright this is weird


as soon as i got home, and onto my driveway, i pushed dowwn the clutch pedal and i heard a "pop" sound and lost about half the pressure (could feel it when i pushed down again).

now, when i push down on the clutch pedal, i heard this weird whirring sound (not even in gear)... it happens everytime i push down on it. It sounds like it's activating a pump or SOMETHING. This is with the car not even moving or in any gear so I am hoping to rule out the tranny ...

any ideas?


i haven't tried to drive it yet....

i know that i have a slight leak in the clutch resevoir ever since i had my tranny rebuilt ... but every couple of months, i just refill the clutch resevoir and it's ok

 

ok, i went back and refilled the clutch resevoir, and i some of the pressure back ... i pumped it a couple times but didn't notice a difference.

but it's jut that whenever i press down on the clutch almost all the way, i hear this sound constantly like a pump, or whirring sound.


i tried moving forward, and it does but usually i have to release at least 1/4 of the way before the clutch engages but it does it almost immediately. .. as if there's no pressure.

 

well, the clutch pressure feels normal ... but as soon as i release the the pedal, the clutch almost immediately engages. And when i'm in first gear trying to get moving, i feel a shuddering.

fck any ideas???


i don't get why i get this constant noise even when the car is not moving and not in gear when i push down on the pedal all the way to floor and the noise keeps goin until i release the pedal.

 

The noise you are hearing is the throw-out bearing. I don't know how familiar you are with how a clutch works, but when you push the petal in, a fork slides the t-o bearing down the input shaft and against the pressure plate. This in turn releases the clutch disc and allows the trans input shaft to spin independent of the engine crank shaft. As you can imagine this bearing will make a decent amount of noise when is begins to fail.

Have you bled the hydrolic system for the clutch? Air bubbles in the system may be the cause of some of your clutch pedal pressure issues. Have you had your clutch replaced recently? The shuddering can be caused by a number of things. pilot bearing. flywheel.

 

about 30-40k miles ago, I had my tranny rebuilt and the throwout bearings replaced then.


i haven't bled the system yet. I was hoping it was something to do with the hydraulic system so the fckin tranny wouldn't have to be dropped again... godamn this sucks.

don't get how the throw-out bearing could have gone bad almost instantly.

when i press down on the clutch, i don't feel or hear anything bad w/ the car turned off.

I remember before, when i did have a bad one, i could feel the grinding when i pushed down the pedal, but don't feel anything at all this time around.

i refilled the clutch resevoir and pumped a bit and the pressure feels back to normal, however the clutch almost instantly engages as i start letting go of the clutch pedal ... before i'd have to let go at least 1/5 the way to feel it engaging.

 

Speaking of -- how much does a clutch job cost for our cars? How much for a good clutch? + Total amount of labor

 

depends, anywhere from $500-$800




anyone else have ideas on what my prob could be? i'm hoping it's hydraulic related rather than tranny ...

 

Sounds like you popped the seal on your Slave Cylinder. Slave cylinders on nissans suck but they're cheap. $30 and about a half hour labor and you should be good as new.

 

i hope it is as simple as that!

thanks

 

I bet that's all it is. Considering your symptoms.

Let us know.

 

The t-o bearing does not spin when the car is not running (hence the bearing not being noisy).

If you replace the slave cylinder, you should replace the master cylinder too. If one is replaced, the other becomes the weaker link and fails.

 

ah ic ok thanks.

i'm not sure if this is relevant, but i took a quick video of the moving part u can see from the engine bay when u press down on the clutch .. it doesn't seem like it's goin far.

can someone verify if this is indeed turning/swinging as far as it should?

http://www.p0wned.net/misc/MVI_9898.AVI

thanks

 

Yeah, it's good. That's about as far as it goes, any further and it WILL completely pop out.

 

damn so that would mean the hydraulic system is OK, right?

i guess it is the throw-out bearing. wtf ******* had that **** replaced 30k mi. ago.


well, that "pop" sound is bugging me. What if the clutch fork broke? is this something I can replace without dropping the tranny?

 

deffinately the thrust bearing thats causing your noise as others have said. very cheap part but expensive labour costs.

 

The t-o bearing fork cannot be changed without removing the trans. besides, the clutch would not work with a broken fork. maybe the bearing was installed 180 degrees and is popping on the flange that the shift fork pushes against. there is a retainer spring on the shift fork that holds the fork on its pivot point, but i don't think that would make enough noise to hear in the car.

At this point I would bring it to a mechanic to have it diagnosed. They may tell you they need to take it apart to figure it out, so be prepared to pay to have it diagnosed.


the shuddering may be from an improperly installed pilot bearing too.

 

alright i guess ill take it to a mechanic then.

really disappointing .. happened all of a sudden. The last time any work on my tranny had been done was exactly 2 years ago. sucks

 

yeah, i know the feeling. i used to have a zx turbo that this sort of thing happened to. there was a clip on either side of the t/o bearing to hold it in place. i was half way on holiday when one of them broke, clutch pedal straight to the floor. it cost me £140 labour to replace a £2 part. gutted.

 

would the car stil be driveable with this prob? I don't want to TOW.

 

no. the clutch goes altogether. nothing there.

 

ok... so i can't even drive it? I tried in first gear, it was only different getting into gear but once it's goin, it's ok?

 

Hmm... I've been having clutch slippage and a loud loud noise coming from my tranny in 1st gear...

So I went to my mechanic today to have it checked-- not only is my clutch shot, but 1st gear is warped/messed up and has to be taken to a tranny shop. I got an estimate between 900 and 1300... AHH I am so pissed.

 

Just for kicks, move around the fork end by hand. If it is really jiggly, the clips holding it in place (over a pivot ball on the inside of the bell housing) may have dislodged and impaired the fork functionality. Can happen if the fork end is overextended when clutch pedal is floored.

 

that sucks. so you guys think that is the problem?

 

i grabbed that part and moved it around by hand .. it seems pretty secure, wasn't jiggly.

Do u think if the pressure feels fine on the clutch pedal, it probably isnt' the hydraulic system right?

 

well you were saying you had a leak right?

 

dude we'll never diagnose the problem on the forum. Did you change the slave and master cylinder?

Once you rule out hydraulics then you know the problem is internal. Do the hydraulics first. Much cheaper.

 

and i already gave you the diagrams from the repair manual and they tell you waht to check for.

 

i went through the hydraulic system and found the leak to be similar to that of motorvate.ca ... it's leaking from the clutch hose that's connected to the slave cylinder. http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/802

I ordered a new SS clutch line in hopes to fix that.

However, before i go spending $60-$100 replacing the cylinders, i wanted to know, in theory, if this is indeed my problem.

The leak has been there for the past 1 year or so.. it slowly leaks and when the clutch feels spongy, i just refill the resevoir and pump .. it is back to normal. I've traced this problem now to that leaking hose.


Now, if the hydraulic system was not functioning right, would I hear the whirling sound when I press down and hold the clutch? The clutch pressure seems normal, and like the video i posted, it seems to be moving the fork as far as it should.

btw, thanks vasily for the diagram. I did look it over and didn't see anything unsually out of place. Just the leaking from the clutch line just as the motorvate site described.


if you guys think the whirling sound can still be caused by the slave/master cylinder, then i will go ahead and purchase them and replace it. I have a bad feeling i'm stuck with a bad TO bearing.

 

Here's a closeup of the slave cylinder area ...

 

You will never be sure of your exact problem on this forum.

A lot of you newjacks dont get it. We know a lot about these cars but every car is different. A number of people gave you some great advice.

And you still havent done anything.

When you push on the clutch pedal and the clutch doesnt fully release, you will get that sound. I will not fully release if the slave/master cylinders dont push with the force they should. The sound you hear might be the clutch plate rubbing against the flywheel ever so little and/or the shaft not fully engaged in the throwout bearing.

You can debate this and ask us questions till we all die about this. The fact is that even if you change your clutch you'd be an absolute retard not to change the hydraulic wear parts as well if they are not in top shape, and by what you wrote... yours arent!

A clutch is what $700 (parts & Labor)? You can ruin a $700 clutch due to a worn $30 part.

Change the f'in slave cylinder first. Along with the hose. I'm willing to bet my best boxer briefs that it solves your problem.

 

and the master also. cause if you replace your slave and leave the master, the master will fail shortly after and the the other way around. if you need any help let me know.

 

alright

thanks guys ......

i will start with the slave and master. I'm just waitin for the clutch line to come in now. I will get back to u guys.

 

just dont get used parts and try to get oem parts as well.

 

Good luck, It still seems like something internally is wrong, but hopefully thats not the case.

 

The clutch system leak may be totally independent of your main problem. When pressing the clutch pedal, have someone look at the action of the slave cylinder on the clutch fork with the car off. If the movements are normal, I would think you have to drop the tranny to continue the problem search. If things don't move quite right or without the proper extension, replace the clutch line and bleed the system. If things still don't work right, replace the master/slave cylinders. If you can't drop the tranny yourself, ensure that the hydraulics are good before you take it to a mechanic.

 

ok hydraulics is changed ...

symptoms did not.


The clutch engages really low, there is some shuddering when getting it goin. The local maxima expert (turbo95max - matthel) did the work for me and checked out and his final recommendation was it wasn't worth dropping the tranny and changing jus the throw-out bearing .. but rather do the clutch and whatnot and since my clutch is no where near the end of the life - live with it.

I agree with him at this point .. if he says the car is fine to drive, ill jus drive it as it is. Theoretically, he believes that the operation of the clutch shoudl be normal and won't pose a hazard and i think he's right.

i'll end up pickin the car up probably today and see if i can really stand drivin the car like this or maybe just save up and get the **** done by the end of the summer w/ a new 5th gen clutch and resurface flywheel etc. etc.

Any other possibilities to why my car would be shuddering? We did notice a rip in the clutch fork boot and maybe some leaking fluid got in there ... but then again all these symptoms happened instantly after i heard the pop sound.