Throwout bearing howl

lendaddy · 07-26-2001, 05:22 AM

I believe there is little or nothing you can do about this, eventually it is gonna really start screaming. But is there anything you can do to limp it along till winter? If the car sits for a day a so it's pretty loud until I depress the clutch a couple times then it quiets right down. I just want to make it thru the season! I am gonnna pull the whole business this fall and have an awesome winter project in my basement. Are these bearings sealed? Or can you lube them thru an inspection cover or something? Sorry so naive but most of my wrenching life has been wasted on an MGB (throwout bearing is a graphite block on those damn things)

bpcsguru · bpcsguru's Garage

I was getting the same howling sound when depressing clutch in my 1987 Carrera. But after bleeding the clutch slave cylinder, the sound has almost disappeared. Why not try it first - it won't hurt.

Boris
1987 Carrera 3.2

john walker's workshop · 07-26-2001, 07:25 AM

it's sealed, and your chances of lubing it are slim to none. i've heard of some folks spraying something in the general area of the bearing to lube the sleeve it slides on, but whatever goober you get in that area slings out on the disc.

lendaddy · 07-26-2001, 07:43 AM

Yes I figured such. However this may seem off the wall but if it is the sealed type with the urathane/rubber seals and providing you could even get to where you can see it, could you not use a large gauge hypodermic needle to inject some grease in there? Any thoughts? Am I sane?

Jim T · 07-26-2001, 07:48 AM

By the time you've disassembled the car enough to get to the TO bearing to inject grease, you'd be in a position to simply replace it with a new one.

lsolon · 07-26-2001, 10:14 AM

Mines been doing it for over a year now. I Only drive the car about 5,000 miles a year though. I'm not going to replace it until I need a new clutch. I can live with the noise at stop signs.

88911coupe · 12-02-2008, 10:39 AM

Is there some way to just look at a throw out bearing when it's removed to see if it's okay? Mine is out and was not making any noises before I removed the engine for a rebuild but I'd like to be able to tell if it's about to fail.
TIA

Tim Hancock · 12-02-2008, 10:51 AM

Ha Lendaddy! I just jacked my daily driver 291,000 mile 325i BMW up on the lift last night to begin a clutch change. The d@mn thing is original and stills works great, but the throwout bearing has gone from a slight whirring noise to more of a crunchy groaning that can be felt when pushing the pedal. I decided I pushed my luck long enough and did not want to risk a grenade going off in there when bearing parts start to come unglued.

1982911SCTarga · 12-02-2008, 11:52 AM

Quote:

It's sealed, and your chances of lubing it are slim to none.

I have messed around with my old throw-out bearing from my cabriolet that was dry (lack of grease) on removal. I cleaned it up and was able to get some grease back into it by hydraulic-ing it repeatedly in a manner similar to how you grease a wheel bearing in the palm of your hand.

Anyway, I couldn't get enough back in that I felt comfortable re-using it, although I was successful in getting it to turn smoothly without sounding all dry inside. What about using one of those bearing-packer tools to force some grease back in?

Brian

88911coupe · 12-02-2008, 12:06 PM

What's the acceptable grease for this application?

1982911SCTarga · 12-02-2008, 12:09 PM

I was using high-pressure bearing grease in my experimentation.

By the way:

Quote:

The d@mn thing is original and stills works great, but the throwout bearing has gone from a slight whirring noise to more of a crunchy groaning that can be felt when pushing the pedal.

Does Tim get the maximum useful life out of his equipment, or what?

Brian