Joe944

Just recently I've been occasionally experiencing a rubbing sound accompanied by a light vibration felt through the clutch pedal. It doesn't always happen, and I'm not sure if it's my imagination but it appears to happen when the suspension dips down or I'm turning, etc.

My suspension is fairly worn, and my springs are most likely shot due to the car being jacked up with suspension hanging for long periods of time while the car was not in use.

Had the car in a shop for other reasons but I told them to check it out. They gave the car back to me saying they fixed the issue by tightening a few bolts in the bell housing, but I haven't noticed any change.

Any advice?

xsboost90

how old is the clutch? been replaced? Could be slipping alittle. Also could be throwout bearing or the bushings in the clutch petal just need replaced.

Joe944

Clutch has not been replaced recently. I'm not sure how many miles are on the clutch or if it's the original one, engine has about 150k on it.

I was under the assumption a bad throwout bearing made noises at other times.

xsboost90

depends on when you feel the vibrations - liike while your disengaging, or when its all the way out etc... If it happens while excellerating and when you are almost fully disengaged i would say check clutch disk thickness- but otherwise the TO bearing usually makes noises when pressed all the way down.

Joe944

I haven't driven the 944 much the last few days, but it just started making an interesting sound when the clutch pedal is pushed in, especially after I've had it in a gear.

TO bearing is starting to make more sense, I'll have to investigate and see what kind of sound it is supposed to make when it's faulty.

Joe944

After doing a little searching on the forums, I am now even more confused than I was before.

Seems half the posts I read say that the TO bearing makes noise when the clutch pedal is pushed in and the other half say it will stop making any noises when the clutch pedal is pushed in...

Now.. which is it? Or both?

Car also has a "sandpaper"ish sound when decelerating, especially at low speeds. Sometimes I will hear a clunk sound when I shift. In fact, that whole area just "feels" loose.

One more unrelated question:

My car has a nasty vibration and lower idle when I first start it up. Thinking some kind of sensor may need to be replaced. It does it for quite a while unless I just start driving.

Wipeout

Does it jerk really hard after downshifting and letting the clutch out? Hard to get into gear (2nd especially)? That sounds like the impending failure of a rubber-centered clutch. At least, that is how mine felt. Made lots more noise after downshifting, made clunks, and the like. I had the clutch done, replaced my transmission fluid...great success!

There's a great mechanic in Santa Clara who did some of this work on my brother's 85.5 (I had to have someone up here in Oregon do my 85/1).

Joe944

I will probably end up doing the clutch myself, but thanks for the mechanic recommendation.

No difficulty at all getting into gears, except sometimes it doesn't want to swing all the way around into reverse.

It doesn't jerk after downshifting either. Say I'm in 5th gear and have the pedal all the way down and let off the gas suddenly. It will clunk slightly. Same thing for if I'm off the pedal and push it down suddenly, I'll get a bit louder of a clunk. When I ease into the gas, which is what I normally try to do, it engages smoothly.