Clutch noise

[nigel jarrett]

Having a problem when fully depressing the clutch there is a chattering grinding noise that goes when you lift the pedal up slightly there is plenty of free play at the pedal.has anyone any ideas please.

[Keith Clements]

You are pushing the pedal down too far but it could also be wrong set up or wrong friction plate. Set up covered in posts on this forum.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2931&p=20625&hilit= ... ate#p20625
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2931&p=20625&hilit= ... ate#p16102

Note that you could have the incorrect clutch plate fitted. There are a few friction plates which may look OK and will go in but they may have wrong friction material thickness, wrong offset on splines and wrong spring tension. Some may also have too thin spring steel anti grab springs.

Also the clutch plate may have wrong springs, the fingers may be worn and the three levers may be incorrectly adjusted for the plate fitted.

The actuating arm ball may be of incorrect length, too thick a gearbox to clutch housing gasket may be fitted or some goo may be preventing the ball from seating correctly.

The actuating arm may be worn.

You could try increasing the free play such that the clutch just still disengages when pedal fully depressed. This should stop the noise. If not, then suspect wrong friction plate or lever adjustment.

[David Morris]

Hi Nigel,

Everything Keith suggests is possible, but my suggestion is that the release bearing has collapsed. If you can ask the previous owner, see if there was previously a noise. If not, then probably it used to work ok and this would rule out wrong components. Unfortunately, changing the bearing is a 'clutch and engine out' job. However, there is a bit of diagnostics you could try? If you take off the clutch cover plate on the bottom of the flywheel ( it is held in with four bolts and is just a dished tin plate ) then you will see the clutch and the release bearing held place with a thing that looks like a big tuning fork. You should be able to rotate the bearing with a screwdriver and see if it feels rough. If it is the cause of the noise, it will probably be wobbly and feel quite loose. Perhaps a quick spray of WD40 to just the bearing ( avoid the lining ) will then improve things for a couple of gear changes and help pin point the problem. New bearings ( which come as an assembly ) are most likely available from JCS.
Hope this helps,
David

[nigel jarrett]

Thank you I will check this out over the next week

[nigel jarrett]

I have removed the tin plate off of the clutch housing and inspected release bearing which looks ok clutch fingers and fork also look ok.
On the clutch pedal should there be any pads between the pedal stop and the underside of the floor?

[Keith Clements]

Yes but that is only to stop the clunk on return and to draught proof.

[David Morris]

Hi Nigel,

I think Keith's final comment is the next course of action. As he says, try reducing the travel of the pedal, so that the clutch is just disengaged when the pedal is fully depressed. That way, you should avoid getting to the point where you get the noise.

All the best,

David