High pitched whistling, squeaking noise ...

[surreyboy]

... that stops when the clutch pedal is just slightly depressed.
Does this indicate a worn clutch?
I'm new to standards and have been tough on the clutch.
But i would have thought that if this noise was from slipping, it would be worse when the clutch is slightly depressed, not the other way around.
It's not really loud, but it wasn't there before.
Any ideas as to what it might be?

[wytbishop]

It's the throw out bearing. When there's no pedal pressure it's just sitting on the input shaft spinning. Because it's getting all worn out and loose, it squeals. When you lightly press the clutch the sufrace of the bearing comes into contact with the pressure plate and sort of compresses everthing in the bearing together and it stops squealing.

When you buy a new clutch plate you will get a new throw out bearing with it. Do your clutch...it's probably not in very good shape either.

[surreyboy]

Thanks, Whythis - sounds like you nailed it.
I called Canadian Tire and asked for an estimate to replace the clutch plate - $800.
Ouch.
Does that sound right?

[wytbishop]

If you lived in Edmonton I could do it for you in an afternoon for $100 + parts.

It takes about an hour to remove the transmission, barring complications, a half hour to resurface the fliywheel if they have a machine in their shop and another hour to reinstall the transmission...if you're fast.

they're probably charging you flat rate 5 hours for fwd clutch.

[surreyboy]

Hmm.
Does this noise indicate imminent failure?
CanTire said no, but how long do you think I can keep driving it before it becomes a serious problem?
I do a lot of stop and go city driving - I use it for deliveries so lots of miles.

[wytbishop]

Well you're rolling the dice but it could go for a long time. It's impossible to tell. When the bearing does fail you will lose your clutch. So just know that it could be coming and be prepared.

You can change it yourself with basic hand tools and a bit of reading. The first time I did a FWD clutch I was feeling my way through it and I got it done.

EDIT: Here I wrote this down for another member a while back...

I changed the tranny 3 times in 2 days once without removing the engine. Way, way easier to leave the engine in.

Raise the car, chock the wheels and support it on jack stands...make sure it's really stable cuz you're going to have to wrestle with it a bit and get it nice and high so you can get in and out from underneath easily,
remove the front wheels,
drain the tranny,
unbolt the ball joints from the LCA's,
disconnect the outer tie rod ends (optional...if you do disconnect them be careful not to change their lengths or you'll need an alignment),
remove the intake,
disconnect the reverse switch,
disconnect the neutral switch,
disconnect and remove the starter,
remove the distributor and set it on the front valve cover...just for more space,
if you still have a battery in the engine compartment (loser, everyone puts the battery in the trunk for ballast) remove it and the tray,
disconnect the speedo sensor,
unbolt the clutch slave cylinder and unclip the hard line from the top of the tranny, put it aside without disconnecting it,
unbolt the fuel filter bracket (the worst part of the job by far),
put a jack under the engine with a wood block and put just a little upward pressure on the oil pan,
unbolt the front and rear tranny mounts from the transmission mount member,
remove the crossmember and tranmission mount member if you are taking the tranny out the bottom (recommended),
remove the clutch dust cover from the back side of the tranny,
disconnect the shift linkage,
unbolt the half shaft from the engine block,
have someone pull the passenger side wheel hub away from the car to disengage the drive shaft from the half shaft and remove the half shaft,
have that person now pull the driver side wheel hub away from the car while prying between the CV joint and the transmission to disengage the drver side drive shaft (if you pull it far enough away you can actually get the CV joint through the frame and prop it out of the way,
completely remove the driver side tranny mount (unbolt it from both the tranny and the frame rail...you'll want the room),
remove all the bolts connecting the belhousing to the engine block (there are 7...or is it 8?),
lower the jack supporting the engine just a little so that the tranny can pass under the frame rail,
wiggle, pry shake hammer and otherwise massage the transmission off of the 2 locating dowel pins which are inevitably corroded solidly in their holes and slide the input shaft out of the clutch.

It's out.

The only difficult part of reinstallation is aligning the splines on the input shaft with the clutch. Have someone strong...your brawniest buddy get under the car and you get at it from above and lift the tranny into place together. Once it's sort of in place you'll have to turn the whole tranny side to side to find the place where the splines mesh...it can be tricky. Don't try to do it by yourself...it's a little too heavy unless you are extremely strong. I've had to do it and I am very strong and it sucked.

If you get stuck PM me. I could do it in my sleep.

[surreyboy]

Hmm - sounds a bit complicated for a newb like me.
I'd be tempted to tackle it but don't have much in the way of tools or even ramps.
However, I might be passing through Edmonton in the near future.
If I do, how about I take you up your offer to do it for $100 plus parts?
I'd help, of course, if you wanted.
What do you figure the parts would cost?

[wytbishop]

Depends where you get it and how good a quality you want. You could get a clutch for $100-150. Partsource should have an inexpensive option. Ebay has an Exedy for under $100 but you'd have to pay shipping.

You should be easily able to do your clutch for $250...and about 5hours.

Let me know. I need the money.

[Dark_Rider2k3]

I just wanted to comment that our cars are relatively easy to do. Not trying to persuade you to do it, just something I noticed.. I had to do mine a while back and I was ready for it to be daunting, but when I got home at 4PM and started it around 5 PM... I was done with it around 7 to 8 PM...

[surreyboy]

Really?
I don't have tools though.
No ramps either.

The clutch is starting to go - I can hear it.
It's beginning to make noises it wasn't before.
How long will it be before it's completely shot - any way to guesstimate that?
I'm saving money for thye clutch delivering pizzas.
I'd hate for it to give out suddenly and need a tow.

[wytbishop]

if you can feel it and clearly identify it as a problem, you probably don't have a lot of time before it caves.

You will start to have a hard time disengaging the clutch...you'll have to work harder to shift and the pedal won't feel quite right. And then something will give. Hard to say how long but the sooner you get it taken care of the better.