MyBad

Dave,

My tech greased my fork by removing the boot and loosening a couple of bolts. It seemed to just pull right out. He definately didn't pull the tranny.

Are we talking about the dame thing?

xviper

I don't think we are talking about the same thing. Although it is not impossible, that fork doesn't need too much attention and shouldn't squeak. The thing I'm talking about is the throw out bearing (a.k.a. release bearing). It rides on a splined spindle which is on the shaft that turns the tranny. That fork you are talking about actually moves that T.O. bearing. There has been several posted cases where this spindle was not lubed before the bearing was put on resulting in the eventual demise of the bearing. Yours may or may not be this situation as it could still be one of those other things I mentioned earlier.

DaveZ

My car is now at the dealer for the 4th (and a half) time and will be going back for a 5th.

Trip 1: Diagnosed issue. Told me it needed a slave cylinder. Ordered parts.
2: Installed cylinder. charged me $206. problem still existed when I picked the car up.
3: Regreased release fork. Refunded the $206 since that was not the issue. Problem came back within days.
3.5: stopped by the dealer to let the service tech drive the car but did not leave it there.
4: Diagnosed problem again - needs bearing and new release fork. Parts on order.
5: TBD

The good news is that although the car has been to the dealer 5 times so far, they are doing a good job of taking care of the issue. They refunded my money when the cylinder was not the issue and have told me that they got a goodwill fix approval for the release fork and bearing replacement. Kudos to my service tech.

cdelena

I have gone through more than one clutch and am pretty familiar with the mechanism. I believe the fork pivot point needs to be lubed but that is not the only thing that can cause noise, sticking, etc. It appears to me that many mechanics ignore a number of things that should be done with a clutch install.

- Cleaning the bell housing interior, shaft, fork, etc. All parts get covered with clutch dust and it takes some time to clean.. most won't vacuum off and a can (or two) of chem-tool is needed to clean up the mess before lubricating the parts.

- The friction disk center and shaft splines need some lube to facilitate movement.

- The release bearing guide and the groove inside the release bearing needs to be well cleaned and greased.

- The release hanger and fork need to be greased before installation.

I don't think any of this was done when my clutch was replaced at the dealership, so the one I put in it felt a lot different.. smooth and quiet. A major omission in the manual (and certainly with dealership replacement) is pedal adjustment. It can make a huge difference, and I am convinced that I caused most of the wear on one new disk because it was not adjusted after a new disk install.

You can get a little grease on the fork by just pulling off the slave cylinder, but if it is real bad the fix requires transmission removal.. and if I was paying the dealership to do it I would make sure they did the work properly before putting it back together.

RACER

[QUOTE]Originally posted by xviper

xviper

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RACER

TimSJ

I just took my car in for this problem. They had me demonstrate the clutch groaning with a technician in the car. I expected them to either grease up the release fork, or possibly tell me I need a new master cylinder. I just got a call, saying that they are going to replace the clutch disk and that there is a TSB for this. I asked them if the bulletin was for a buzzing clutch because my current problem seems different. The service writer tells me that the Service manager says the bulletin applies to my problem. Anyone know of any TSBs besides TSB54 that would apply to this problem?

I only have 12K miles on my MY01, but I figure a new clutch is a new clutch. It's still under warranty, and they gave me a loaner car, so why not? I'm guessing I'll still have the squeaking pedal problem to deal with. It does have the annoying buzz on deceleration that everyone complains about, so I guess the new clutch disk will help with that.

RACER

Not only are you getting a new clutch disk, they will most likely grease the release fork and bleed the system. Hopefully the squeak will be gone. You scored dude

DaveZ

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DaveZ
My car is now at the dealer for the 4th (and a half) time and will be going back for a 5th.

modifry

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RACER