Technical Bad clutch sounds

[yvesthepunto]

Whenever I change from 2nd to 3rd, a sound like a turbo hiss kicks in as I bring up the clutch...and then stops as soon as my foot is away from the pedal. Any ideas?

And on a seperate note, a very 'tinny' sound from the engine in low gears. Normal?

 

[DaveMcT]

It's related to cltch pedal movement so its probably needing a new clutch (or at least the release bearing which amounts to the same thing).

Have the gears got knotchy & harder to select?

 

[Ziggy122]

Hissing could be air or an Air Leak?

But it does smell trouble

Ziggy

 

[yvesthepunto]

No the gears are fine. Heard the mystery turbo again today, it's as my foot reaches the floor a tiny hiss come from under the bonnet, only when changing between 2nd and 3rd though! It's got 57k and never had a clutch, previous owner had it up til 45k and couldn't drive to save their lives...glad it's going for a service next week.

 

[Ziggy122]

at nearly 60k if you having your first clutch that seriously aint bad going


Esp if the previous owner tortured it as well

Give it a test - Put handbrake on as tight as you can
Put car into 3rd and lift clutch up

does car
A - Stall Straight away
B - jumps forward / stalls
C - Struggles for a second then stalls
D - Struggles to run eventually stalling
E - Runs fine

If you get A - clutch is good so is handbrake
If you get B - Clutch is good - hanbrake not strong enough - might need cleaning up

C - D - E = New Clutch time

while the Clutch is been done - the Input shaft should be checked for play and signs of leaks

Ziggy

 

[yvesthepunto]

Thanks for all the advice. Firstly, the service went well...but this shows why you should always get a second hand car checked straight away and not leave it for a few months like myself.

Oil hadn't been changed in years, spark plugs were original air filter/oil filter were full of crap, and they diagnosed my door problem...like I hadn't seen that one myself.

As for the clutch, apparently it's just wear and tear on the linkage. Garage said its nothing to worry about but if it's annoying me that much they would happily fit a new clutch for me...at a cost of course. The sound has now changed as well. It does it in any gear inc neutral but only when the car is warmed up. It sounds like someone doing up a cable-tie really quickly.

 

[Sqwidge]

at nearly 60k if you having your first clutch that seriously aint bad going
Ziggy

Really? I feel honoured that I'm on 84k and still on original clutch, I use the car for everyday family crap and then I deliver chinese food at night for a little extra so its not like I drive it like an old biddy either.

 

[DaveMcT]

Not so sure about that mechanical linkage diagnosis. The mechanism from pedal to clutch lever is hydraulic so works pretty much silently. The lever into the clutch housing is just a see-saw action so noise there isnt likely. The clutch istelf has lots of spring fingers that sit around the release bearing. If they or the bearing are going home they will make a noise. The only other option is the pedal return spring or pivot pins.

The pedal should be totally smooth top to bottom. Any boingyness (tech term) or lumpy feel isnt a good sign. Add in stiff gears and its looking clutchy.

My HGT had a new clutch at 70K and it looked like an original that came out. But it never slipped and would stall on the clutch test. It just refused to properly select the gears - In normal Fiat style the clutch wasn't releasing properly.

 

[Sqwidge]

My mk2b clutch is on a cable, well there is a cable on the gearbox lever, I'm off to go consult my haynes manual

 

[DaveMcT]

The gear shift is cable. The clutch is hydraulic with slave cylinder on top of the gearbox.

 

[Sqwidge]

Nope, I have a cable and when you push the clutch pedal the cable pulls the arm on top of the box which engages and disengages the clutch.

Only fluid in my bay is oil, brake, water and wiper and thats on a 53 plate 1.2 16v.