YACT: throw-out bearing?

[43st]

So to continue my summer of bad car karma...

I think the throw-out bearing in my clutch is dying.

- release clutch = very mild rumble/grind.
- shifting gear into first is now near impossible.
- shifting gears while moving is fine.
- car = 138,000 mile 93' Mazda 626. (a once very reliable car)

How big a job is this? I've never had any clutch/transmisison work done before. Is the clutch something I can deal with in an afternoon? What kind of quote should I expect to see from a shop?

Any insight into this would be very helpful.

 

[Brutuskend]

Typicaly when a throw out bearing goes out it will screech when you depress the clutch.

Sounds more like sycro's going out to me.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Typicaly when a throw out bearing goes out it will screech when you depress the clutch.

Sounds more like sycro's going out to me.

Actually, it will typically screech when you aren't depressing the clutch, but, I agree with you, it doesn't sound like a throwout bearing but rather a transmission problem.

How big a job is this? I've never had any clutch/transmisison work done before. Is the clutch something I can deal with in an afternoon?

Do you feel comfortable removing the transmission from your car?

 

[Brutuskend]

There is one exception.

If the throw out bearing was frozen (not spining freely) and you kept driving the car, eventually the bearing will wear through the fingers of the pressure plate and this might cause the problem you discribe. However if the bearing was THAT bad, you would hear it when you pressed the clutch in. On second thought it's probably NOT the syncro's, or it wouldn't shift OK when moving.

Does the car have a hyd. clutch? Have you checked the fluid?

 

[Quixfire]

It sounds like an input shaft bearing or possibly a main shaft bearing. If you are not familiar with removing/repairing front wheel drive transmissions I would take it to a shop or dealership for diagnosis and/or repair.

 

[NutBucket]

If you've never taken the tranny out of a FWD car I would suggest you get a friend (preferably of the mechanical sort) to help you out. It is not fun.

 

[43st]

I didn't check the clutch fluid, I'll do that when I get home. It's almost as if the clutch isn't fully engaging even though I have the pedal fully depressed. The mild grind sound started last week and last night I noticed it was very hard to shift into 1st gear from a stop.

Needless to say I walked to work today, which was actually refreshing for a change. I'll check the fluid this afternoon and dig out the chilton's manual.

 

[notfred]

nm

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: Thera
I didn't check the clutch fluid, I'll do that when I get home. It's almost as if the clutch isn't fully engaging even though I have the pedal fully depressed. The mild grind sound started last week and last night I noticed it was very hard to shift into 1st gear from a stop.

Needless to say I walked to work today, which was actually refreshing for a change. I'll check the fluid this afternoon and dig out the chilton's manual.

It could be your master and/or slave cylinder are leakin. My dad's truck was difficult to get into first but once you were moving it was ok. You had to push the pedal way into the floor and really apply some pressure. I changed out the master/slave and it works like new again.

 

[43st]

Ok, update. My car uses the brake reservoir to supply the clutch system.

I had the brakes bled about a month ago and my only hope now is that the added pressure may've blown a seal on the master/slave cylinder. If the garage finds anything more than that I'll need to get a new car. The price to fix this problem in NYC would probably cost twice as much as the vehicles value.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

My car uses the brake reservoir to supply the clutch system

hun?

 

[RonC]

Before you much further, you need to check that:

1 - You don't just need an adjustment due to wear (Worn clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing makes it hard to get into first gear in particular. If worn enough it makes it hard to get in any gear). So check to make sure the clutch is adjusted OK according to specs.
2 - If you have a hydraulically actuated clutch (and you seem to based on your inputs) then there should be a slave cylinder somewhere down where the the clutch lever goes into the clutch housing. Make sure this cylinder is working. It either pushes or pulls on the lever. The clutch adjustment may also be on the linkage around the slave cylinder.
3 - Go to the library and get a good repair manual (Chilton or Hayes, for example), if you don't have your own service manual, and look up the diagnostics for the problem you're having. Also look up what components are where and how to do any adjustments or replacements.

It ain't rocket science, and with the proper info, tools, and attitude you can do a hell of a lot to isolate the problem. In a lot of cases you can fix it yourself. If not, you can most of the time diagnose it enough to know if a shop is talking bullsh*t or accurately. This will also save you lots of cash.

Don't give up a good car, and welcome to the Gearhead DIY world!

Good Luck,
RonC

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge

My car uses the brake reservoir to supply the clutch system

hun?

The hydraulic clutch system shares it's fluid reservoir with the brake system. Chilton's actaully says that you can use the clutch pedal to bleed the brakes. It sounds goofy to me to, but when in Rome...

Thanks for the encourgement RonC. I've always tried to do what I can on my vehicles but living in a large city sometimes makes that hard.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge

My car uses the brake reservoir to supply the clutch system

hun?

sweety?

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge

My car uses the brake reservoir to supply the clutch system

hun?

The hydraulic clutch system shares it's fluid reservoir with the brake system. Chilton's actaully says that you can use the clutch pedal to bleed the brakes. It sounds goofy to me to, but when in Rome...

Thanks for the encourgement RonC. I've always tried to do what I can on my vehicles but living in a large city sometimes makes that hard.

Yea, odd is the word for it. I've never heard of a system like that and I'm not sure if I would like it. Two things that come to mind are that if you break a brake line you lose your clutch when the fluid runs out and visa versa. Another thing is about the bleeding the brakes with the clutch pedal. If pushing the clutch pedal puts enough pressure into the brake system to bleed them wouldn't that apply pressure to the brakes everytime you shifted. Kinda curious how they get around that.

I liked my old VW Rabbit system of brakes. The resevoir was split in two with each one operating one back and one opposite front wheel. When a line broke you still had one front and one back wheel with brakes, not the greatest of situations but at least you could limp home.