Clutch Pedal Sqeak
 

So I was driving to work this morning, and heard a squeak. I turned down the radio and listened, and I heard it again when I shifted. Uh oh. It was happening when I let the clutch out, and I know what a squeaky clutch pedal can mean.

After I got to work I took a look at it. Pedal does not move side-to-side, seems firm. The bracket didn't have any cracks as far as I could tell, but it's a bit loose, you can wiggle it around. Seems like it may be designed that way, don't know if it was like that before because I never looked at it, is that normal?

Anyway, I went ahead and made an appointment with the dealership this weekend to get it checked out. The squeak went away on the ride home so it may be nothing, but I'm concerned. Any other symptoms I should look out for, other than squeaking and side-to-side play?

The plunger switches which engage at the top and bottom of the pedal throw can develop a squeak as well.
If you are worried about a break there are clutch reinforcement brackets as well as welding services available to strengthen the flimsy construction.

There's a plastic bushing where the spring hooks onto the pedal. That failed on mine, resulting in an intermittent squeak. Sometimes nothing, sometimes like a rusty screen door. A couple of other members have reported the same.

So you have three possibilities.

Ken

mine spit the spring bushings, a little grease on the spring and top pivots eliminated the issue.

i just had mine in for this and they lubricated everything, but couldn't get the noise to go away. they are trying to tell me the noise is in the clutch itself.

Thanks for the replies, sounds like it could be a lot of things. The squeak went away the next day and hasn't come back so I cancelled the appointment to get it checked.

It seems fine, I'm probably just too paranoid about having that pedal break. If it doesn't start squeaking again or become loose I'm not going to worry about it.

i've worked on cars with bracket failures and they were still drivable but difficult to get in and out of gear with the clutch dragging. i would say the possibility of it breaking to the point of being undrivable immediately is fairly low.

I genuinely do not mean to insult your intelligence - but as this is an intermittent problem that your having problems replicating (and obviously the RX8 has a well established history with the clutch pedal assembly) - but in the interest of being thorough; is it possible it was your shoes squeaking on the clutch pedal? I know that the shoes I wear to work (but not my casual, every-day shoes) will squeak on the pedals (clutch mainly but the others as well) when they are wet.

Like I said, I'm honestly not trying to insult your intelligence or anything of the sort, just want to be thorough and hopefully help you resolve the problem.

When my original bracket broke more than two years ago, I actually drove the car for two days before my replacement arrive when I ordered it from the dealer. Of course, I would not suggest doing it; however, it wasn't that hard yet dangerous specially on stop lights.

I actually laughed when I read this, but true! All my NIKE Air Jordan shoes will cause squeaks when I drive the car, even more if the soles are wet.

Nah, same shoes I've been wearing since I got the car :) Different sort of sound, too, clearly from the pedal. May have had to do with temp/humidity or something.