Clutch problem

[Dudesky]

Driving around today, I hear this light, very faint scraping sound whenever I hit the clutch pedal . . awwwww, F#%K ME!!!!! Looks like the throw out bearing is shot

Since I'm gonna have to take the tranny off the engine anyway, I might as well replace the clutch disc and pressure plate. I wanted to hear from anybody who's done this, or any advice anyone might wanna have. Looks straightforward, just a hella lotta work. One thing I'm confused about is that Bentley says to lock the flywheel, but Pelican's article doesn't say this?

[RSF5]

Aww damn sorry to hear that, I don't think locking the flywheel would hurt? Why were you already taking out the tranny again?

[xsperf]

i did this on our 92, you have to remove the exhaust and the heat shield and the driveshaft from the guibo(i assume you know how to do all that), but the way i did it was really a pain, i got a 2ft long extention, attatched it to the ratchet(btw the bolts are star) in order to reach the bolts on top of the transmission because there is just no way to fit your hand in there(unless you are extremely, extremely skinny like my brother who still had trouble)

and the biggest pain is the starter bolts, because there is a bolt and a nut, and if you are lucky the nut wont move which makes it easy for you to take it out, but if it does move, you have to come around from the other side(either from under the car, or from under the intake manifold over the car) and hold the nut in place

oh and i did not lock the flywheel, and if your throwout bearing just started making the sound I think you still have some life left on it, however the same thing happend w/our 92, except that the throwout bearing ended up taking the pressure plate out w/it so we were forced to replace both anyway, and yet another thing, while your down there replace the pilot bearing too

[Dudesky]

^^^Did you use regular jack stands? Just wondering if they'll be high enough, and if they're stable enough. I have 4 of them at 1.5 ton capacity each. I guess I have to lift all 4 corners, right?

Originally Posted by RSF5

Why were you already taking out the tranny again?

Oh no, I wasn't. I meant that if I was gonna take it apart to replace the throwout bearing, I may as well do the clutch & pressure plate too.

[xsperf]

actually since we had it up and then we had to wait for parts, we put the car on 8 cinderblocks(i know its ghetto) but yea we put 2 cinderblocks on each corner, and we took some newspapers/wood and lifted the car up from the engine oil pan and the differential(not recommended for an extended period of time)

EDIT: forgot to mention, we had to wait for parts which means the car was on the blocks for like 2 weeks

[DTEK9]

hi, my name is David and i recently found this forum. ALOT OF USEFUL INFO ^^....anyways...i have a 98 m3 and i think my clutch is slipping....how should i explain this...the car rev but wont pick up speed...anyone know the problem?...flywheel maybe?

[CJH]

Replace all components while you're in there (you won't want to do it again). Pressure plate, disc, throwout bearing, pilot bearing, have flywheel resurfaced (yes a shop can machine a dual mass flywheel), transmission input shaft seal (inspect TO bearing guide tube carefully, common wear point), rear main seal on crankshaft. With trans down, replace fluid, output shaft seal, shift rail seal. Inspect & replace worn shifter components, bushings links etc. Replace Guibo & consider driveshaft center bearing. New gaskets for exhaust.

Locking flywheel is recommended when torquing the flywheel bolts, it can be done in a ghetto fashion by using a punch or screwdriver through the hole provided. Loctite them as well as the pressure plate bolts.