Shreiking Engine/Clutch Noise

My otherwise perfect '99 has begun making a high-pitched whine/shreik
intermittently. It starts when the car is in neutral, and I can stop it by
revving in gear up to about 4,000 RPM and then throwing out the clutch. I
can hear the whine decrease in volume and pitch and then go away altogether.
My daily commute is 26 miles at about 30-40 mph, and the noise only occurs
on the way home, sometimes only at the end of the trip, sometimes right from
the start.
Usually the noise is too loud for me to locate it by lifting the hood and
listening.
Any thoughts?

In article >,
"KKennedy" > wrote:

> My otherwise perfect '99 has begun making a high-pitched whine/shreik
> intermittently. It starts when the car is in neutral, and I can stop it by
> revving in gear up to about 4,000 RPM and then throwing out the clutch. I
> can hear the whine decrease in volume and pitch and then go away altogether.
> My daily commute is 26 miles at about 30-40 mph, and the noise only occurs
> on the way home, sometimes only at the end of the trip, sometimes right from
> the start.
> Usually the noise is too loud for me to locate it by lifting the hood and
> listening.
> Any thoughts?
>
>

Throwout or pilot bearing zorched would be my first wild-ass guess,
followed by pressure-plate spring-fingers jacked out of shape somehow,
or something wrong with the clutch disk, or perhaps even the flywheel.
Might also be a front tranny bearing. (How do you kill one of those,
though? I mean short of clobbering the entire gearbox along with it?)

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info

Sounds to me like the throwout bearing is dry. Since the bearing is sealed,
I'd expect that a new one is in order. You may find that the clutch and
pressure plate are due for replacement. If so, don't forget to have the
flywheel resurfaced. The machine shop will usually be happy to replace the
pilot bearing if they have it in hand.

When things are going back together, a bit of high temperature grease should
be used --
four places on the clutch fork (Where the slave cylinter rod contacts, The
socket for the bell housing swivel ball, and the two fork ends.)
on the pilot bearing
on the tranny input shaft where the throwout bearing slides
on te surface of the throwout bearing that contacts the pressure plate
fingers.
on the surface of the throwout bearing sleeve that the clutch fork rubs
against.

The inside of the bell housng is usually quite cruddy, due to an oil film
and clutch residue. A good cleaning is appropriate. Check the front tranny
seal and the crank seal for leakage, and replace if necessary.
Care must be taken during tranny removal and reinstall. It's possible to
damage the pilot bearing, the front tranny shaft, and even the front tranny
bearing.

Others may disagree, but I'd also flush the tranny out by filling with a
mild to moderate solvent and draining several times, then replacing the
tranny lubricant. I'd change the lubricant again after no more that about
one thousand miles. You would be suprised to see how much metal powder is
present on the inside of a moderate milage tranny!

"Don Bruder" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "KKennedy" > wrote:
>
> > My otherwise perfect '99 has begun making a high-pitched whine/shreik
> > intermittently. It starts when the car is in neutral, and I can stop it
by
> > revving in gear up to about 4,000 RPM and then throwing out the clutch.
I
> > can hear the whine decrease in volume and pitch and then go away
altogether.
> > My daily commute is 26 miles at about 30-40 mph, and the noise only
occurs
> > on the way home, sometimes only at the end of the trip, sometimes right
from
> > the start.
> > Usually the noise is too loud for me to locate it by lifting the hood
and
> > listening.
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> >
>
> Throwout or pilot bearing zorched would be my first wild-ass guess,
> followed by pressure-plate spring-fingers jacked out of shape somehow,
> or something wrong with the clutch disk, or perhaps even the flywheel.
> Might also be a front tranny bearing. (How do you kill one of those,
> though? I mean short of clobbering the entire gearbox along with it?)
>
> --
> Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my
whitelist,
> or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text
"PopperAndShadow"
> somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without
my
> ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more
info