Hello all, so my clutch kit has been replaced 1 month ago, it includes the new throw out bearing also. For next 7 days after replacement my clutch was feeling amazing. Then on the next day and ever since from that day I am hearing a sound when I am pressing or releasing the clutch pedal. I wanna point out this, so the sound is coming from somewhere near the clutch pedal, it sometimes sounds like a squeak and sometimes more like a plastic rubbing on metal or another plastic ( more like grinding noise, but not very loud). The sound is there only when the pedal is moving around, so no sound when the pedal is fully engaged or fully disengaged - only when I am moving it around up and down. Another thing, I can hear this sound also when the car is completely off and I am just playing with the clutch pedal. This plastic rubbing sound is much more noticeable when the car is hot or the weather is hot or when I am driving for 2-3 hours that day or when I am shifting gears and pushing pedal when the RPM is much higher. So there is some connection with the sound being louder when clutch needs to be pressed harder (higher RPM gear change) - there is definite difference with that sound and the squeaky sound it makes when the car is off and the pedal is moving.
The reason why I am asking here is that I feel like I am being played by several mechanics. So I went to 3 different mechanics and asked about this. One told me that I should not care about that sound because the clutch is changing gears properly, the biting point is perfect and all that, sound for him is not important. Other one is telling me that the clutch cylinder which is near the pedal is old and has to work harder now with the new clutch kit and hence it makes sound now when it is doing its job. Third mechanic is telling me he would like to dissemble the whole gearbox and diagnose if the clutch was installed properly and then call me with his decision. But he also said he personally would not change anything until the clutch pedal starts to stick or become very spongy.
I am not sure who to believe here, seems like all of them have different story. All I know is this plastic rubbing sound was never there before, even with old clutch, and now it is here with the new clutch, but the driving is fine apart from the sound I am hearing.
What are you thoughts, maybe someone had similar issue?
They are all correct. The 1st one doesn’t care about squeaks. The 2nd one gave you the likely reason for the noise and the 3rd one made no diagnosis until he determined if the install was correct… at significant cost to you, I’d bet.
You are worrying about nothing. Find the plastic bushing and lube it with some silicone spray and drive on.
Well it could be true, the same mechanic who replaced the clutch, I came to him first for this, he lubed everything he could with no effect and offered me to replace the cylinder or dissemble the whole gearbox again. I was just confused how the mechanic has so little knowledge to not be even remotely sure what the problem is when he is the man who replaced the thing and the sound came after his job. It makes no sense to me, I feel like he just want to fool me, and not install things correctly, so I can come back again with another issue to make more money on me.
But anyways I was just wondering if someone has similar issue, to kind of relate, I just do not believe these mechanics.
It is almost the same clutch pedal as mine and it sounds kind of similar, have you fixed that ever?
Just lube everything up. especially the rod and where it goes in. the squeak should go away.
Happy Motoring.
I concur with the mechanic who says to just ignore the squeak unless/until an actual clutch problem develops. The other mechanic who said the new clutch requires more force and that force is contributing to the squeak is probably correct also. (If you listen to Best of Car Talk podcast, you’ve probably heard the story about their customer called “Heavy Duty” … lol … ) Since you are paying the fees, if the pedal squeak annoys you, it’s not unreasonable imo for you to ask it be fixed. It is also ok for the shop to bill you extra for this service.
If you want to avoid the extra expense, since you can get it to squeak at will with car parked and engine off, kneel outside the open driver’s door in a quiet location and push on the pedal with your hand to figure out what is doing the squeaking. You could use a length of old garden hose or vacuum hose (probably the best) as a sort of home-brew stethoscope to narrow down the location.
Squeaks are often caused by something metal rotating in rubber/plastic bushings. You may have to replace the bushing to eliminate the squeak, but worth trying a little lube first. Use a product you can spray accurately, in a small amount, WD 40, silicone spray, using one of those small diameter red tubes that attach to nozzle to direct the spray, something like that.
Suggest to not allow the third mechanic to disassemble the clutch kit unless there’s something wrong w/the clutch action.
I did my friend several times, it does not improve by lubing it. Actually the mechanic destroyed the rubber boot which protects the clutch cylinder, he took it off and sprayed the WD-40 into the cylinder, I have no idea if that was smart to do, since the rubber boot is there to protect it from whatever, this guy literally took the rubber off and put the small hose in there to spray the insides of the cylinder from this clutch pedal side. But yeah, that did nothing, and now there is not rubber boot there. I should probably ignore this and wait for clutch to start making problems apart from sound I guess?
Ask the mechanic if it is possible to purchase and install a new rubber boot. It’s there for a reason, and probably best not to find out the hard way what the reason is.
So it turned out to be damaged clutch pedal shaft that is creating the sound. So not the cylinder or anything else. And I was told that I can drive with this for 100.000+ kilometers probably without worries. It is complicated to get that new part, it is not smart, so yeah that is it if anyone was wondering or had similar issue.
Good for you and your mechanic for getting to the bottom of the problem. If mechanic inspected the situation and says it should remain functional for everyday use, they are probably correct. And you didn’t have to pay the other mechanic to remove the clutch ass’y inside the bell-housing for a look -see, another good thing.