I am getting noise from the release bearing (throw out bearing). I have heard one can lube this bearing. I there any down side to doing this?
If you’re truely getting noise from the bearing, it needs replacing. As a matter of fact the entire clutch assembly likely needs replacing. The bearing is part of a clutch replacement kit, and I personally would not go through all the work of replacing a release bearing and leave the same clutch and pressure plate in. That would be foolhearty.
Bearings become noisy because the hardened surfaces of the rotating parts, the rollers or balls, become worn of in spots. Magnified, they begin to look like a 3-D map of the earth. Lubing might quiet them momentarily, but it does not replace the lost material.
Hhow many miles are on this monster anyway?
Throw-out bearings are sealed to keep the clutch dust out of them. There’s no way to lubricate a throw-out bearing, because to go to the trouble of removing the tranmission to get to the bearing without replacing it would be foolish.
I don’t know how you would get access to the throw out bearing to lube it on your vehicle. The throw out bearing isn’t one with fork that operates the throw out bearing. Instead the slave cylinder/throw out bearing is one unit mounted to the front of the transmission inside the bell housing.
Tester
A noisy throw out bearing is a fine indication of the need for a clutch job. Kinda like when your disk brakes squeel to tell you the pads are worn down.
Bad analogy, brake pads will squeal even when they are brand new, disc brake squeal is probably the number one reason for brake job comebacks.
We uses to drill holes in VW transaxel cases to try and get some lube on the T.O. bearing, never worked, the boss (his idea) was a jerk.
Your boss made you drill holes in the transaxle case to try to get some lube on the throwout bearing? Man, that’s sad. There are so many “holes” in that approach I cannot begin to count them.
Sorry about the pun.
On a related note, the dealership I worked in made us push universal joint repacking - every 35k miles. We would disassemble completely good universal joints, wash them out, pack them with new grease, and reassemble. Two hour labor charge.
And we wonder why people have anxiety attacks when they have to bring their cars in for servicing. Myself included. I turn into a wreck whenever I have to let anyone I don’t know work on my car. Even the annual state inspection visit makes me crazy.