Clutch Issues (chirping when engaged, burning)

[blakeman8192]

Hey guys,

1. My clutch makes a chirping noise only when the pedal is fully up (engaged), but makes no noise at all when I push the pedal down even slightly. It does not make the noise if the pedal is all the way to the floor (completely disengaged). Any idea what this could be?

2. This may be unrelated, but my clutch also makes a terrible burning smell if I rev the engine up past around 3,000 while the clutch pedal is about halfway down. Most of the time I can prevent this from happening, but if I'm going up a steep hill then of course I have to rev the engine up higher than normal to get going. The guy that I bought my car from boasted that he had put in a new "racing clutch" before selling it to me. Any idea what this could be?

Thanks for your time.

[RyanD]

i dont know a whole lot about clutches but my guess is something to do with the anti chatter springs. or the throwout bearing going out. dont hold me to it as i drive an auto

[92smokeaccord]

throwout bearing.might as well get a new clutch installed while uour in there

[RyanD]

^sweet i was right

[reklipz]

throwout bearing.might as well get a new clutch installed while uour in there

The diagnosis would be that this is the start of a bad or worn bearing, correct? Normally, a shot or bad throwout bearing makes noise in the opposite cases of this, and it isn't a chirp, it's more of a whirring+grinding noise.

Just to be sure, the noise is coming from the transmission / bell housing area, correct? It's not a loose clutch pedel / mount / clutch line mount that stiffens up when you apply pressure?

Further, why are you holding your clutch halfway when going up a hill? You should really only be feathering your clutch when shifting, and you should strive to make your shifts as short and sweet as possible. The burning smell is just that, your clutch burning up because you are causing it to slip by holding the pedal half way. The chirping noise could be a slipping clutch too, I suspect.

[deevergote]

I had a similar chirping sound (mine sounded like a lot of little birds), but no burning. It lasted a few weeks, then disappeared. Then one day a few months later, my throwout bearing seized completely... frying my clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel.

So I'm going to agree with the others that the throwout bearing is likely what you're hearing. If the clutch is burning when you press the pedal (mine did that at the end, before it simply stalled the car when I applied the clutch), then you're just about at the end. Don't get stranded!

[blakeman8192]

The diagnosis would be that this is the start of a bad or worn bearing, correct? Normally, a shot or bad throwout bearing makes noise in the opposite cases of this, and it isn't a chirp, it's more of a whirring+grinding noise.

Just to be sure, the noise is coming from the transmission / bell housing area, correct? It's not a loose clutch pedel / mount / clutch line mount that stiffens up when you apply pressure?

Further, why are you holding your clutch halfway when going up a hill? You should really only be feathering your clutch when shifting, and you should strive to make your shifts as short and sweet as possible. The burning smell is just that, your clutch burning up because you are causing it to slip by holding the pedal half way. The chirping noise could be a slipping clutch too, I suspect.

It's not coming from the transmission area. I can't even hear it unless my window is rolled down. One of my friends mentioned that it could possibly be the slave cylinder.

As for "holding the clutch halfway when going up a hill," I didn't mean exactly that. I basically mean that any time the clutch is not either fully engaged or disengaged and the engine is past 3,000 RPM the burning smell will come. I know how to drive a stick.

[reklipz]

It's not coming from the transmission area. I can't even hear it unless my window is rolled down. One of my friends mentioned that it could possibly be the slave cylinder.

Yep, I would definitely start looking at the hydraulics before you drop the transmission. It's starting to sound less and less like the throwout bearing is the culprit.

As for "holding the clutch halfway when going up a hill," I didn't mean exactly that. I basically mean that any time the clutch is not either fully engaged or disengaged and the engine is past 3,000 RPM the burning smell will come. I know how to drive a stick.

Okay cool. All I have to say is that I still think the burning is a related symptom, because you and I and many others that know how to drive a stick shift don't normally smell burning for the brief period that the clutch is partially engaged at high RPM. Unless you're doing something inherently different in your shifting, there's no reason you should be smelling burning like this. When going up a hill is when you have the highest load on the clutch plate; perhaps the clutch is completely worn? Initial thoughts would suggest this would be a coincidental problem, though. It's possible the plate is worn and causing a "pulsing" feedback through the hydraulics, which is causing the chirping either on the slave/master cylinder, or on a loose mounting bracket or such?

Is the chirping noise seemingly random, or is it periodic, occurring at regular periodic intervals?

[cb7rush]

If you have a noise that comes and goes with the clutch engaged and disengaged then you do have a transmission problem.

Im thinking that the person that owned it before you lied to you and they never replaced the clutch