I brought the car in for service on Wednesday for a few things in addition to the two recalls... A couple had to do with the clutch lever-- a strange whining noise at a certain spot when depressing the clutch, and some knocking/clunking sounds when letting off on the clutch slowly (sounds and feels like the lever spring is catching on something)

I got notice yesterday that my clutch is being replaced..

Wow.. .14K and replace the clutch already.

The service advisor told me there was a problem with the "pressure plate"..

Maybe somebody can describe to me what this part does?

 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/clutch2.htm

Enjoy - it's a great site!

 

What a great site!

 

thanks that was an excellent primer!

 

You should check out their sections on automatic transmissions and differentials and all the other good stuff - they even have one on rotary engines, although the site http://www.rotaryengineillustrated.com is better for that. The animated interactive pictures on howstuffworks.com are a gem. Of course there is plenty of good information on non car-related subjects as well.