CodeMonk

I've noticed a intermittent issue on my 8. When it's happening(havn't noticed a pattern yet) I'll get a repeated squeak squeak squeak noise when sitting in neutral and the clutch fully released. If I rev the engine up a little (1500 rpms instead of idle) the squeak speed will increase and then settle back down as the engine RPMs drop back to idle. If I push the clutch in very slighty, maybe a 1/2 inch, well before it even starts to disengage, the squeak completely disapears. The squeak is very quiet and can barely be heard if the doors are shut and the windows up, if I open the door or stand outside the car I can hear the squeek coming from under the car somewhere. I don't know if the squeek appears while the car is in gear, the sound of driving at all is enough to drown out the squeaking.

I havn't had any problems with driving/shifting/starting. Just noticed this very slight squeak ocasionally. Also the intermitent nature of it is odd, doesn't seem to be related to anything yet. I also did a quick search on the forums, found a number of squeaking clutch issues but nothing that sounded like this.

Any advise or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

nmarz77

That would most likely be your throwout bearing my friend.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

^^^^^^

nope.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...11-06-1724.pdf

beers

CodeMonk

Thanks for the answers but perhaps I wasn't clear. I get noise when the clutch is completely released, not touching it at all. Not during release, but when it's just sitting there. If I depress the clutch about 1/2 inch the squeak goes away. So that kinda bypasses the service bulletin. And I was under the impression that the throwout bearing only did anything when the clutch was depressed not when it is released... Was I mistaken?

swoope

iTrader: (5)

likely gear rollover...

it is you you imput shaft rotating in the transmission.. it is normal..
beers

CodeMonk

Once again with my back talk

The input shaft is still most definitely turning when the squeak stops.

The squeak will be there, with nothing touching the clutch. push the pedal down about 1/2 inch or so, squeak stops, depress it half way to the floor the I can hear the input shaft stop spinning as the clutch disengages.

This is why it seems so odd to me... If it squeaked as I depressed the clutch I could understand, If it stopped when the input shaft stopped turning I could understand, but it stops once the clutch pedal is depressed ever so slightly.

I was just out driving around a bit as well, and no squeak. I'm sure it will be back at some point.

I do appreciate the help, I just don't think that it's the transmission input shaft or the throwout bearing from what I know and can tell of what it is doing. It doesn't seem to be affecting anything so if it doesn't get worse with time I may just ignore it until I decide to get a lightweight flywheel stuck on.

CodeMonk

Also, in case it might make a difference I was able to determine just a minute ago that it does make the squeak while in gear as well. I noticed it squeaking while I sat at a red light and pulled into a parking lot put it in first girl and let it idle about at 4 MPH for a minute.

I was also able to get a better idea of where exactly it stops squeaking. If I rest my foot on the pedal I can't feel any movement. if I begin to push it down, theres a point where I can feel some vibration in the pedal and right at that point is when the squeak stops.

And after about 45 seconds of idling about in the parking lot it stopped squeaking at all so I finished my drive home instead of playing with it any more.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

45 minutes of idling ? wow.

I will say it has something to do with your throwout bearing.

CodeMonk

I said seconds... Since thats two votes for throwout bearing so far I'm going to treat that as the primary suspect for now. I guess this means I have to play fun dealer games. Oh well...

Thanks to all who replied, and to anyone else if they decide to stick they're head in with an opinion on what this is.

nmarz77

I'm gonna say I'm 95% sure it's your throwout bearing. The way in which you noticed that the noise goes away is the exact way that you diagnose a bad throwout bearing.

Here is why:
When the cluth is engaged everything is spinning but the portion of that throwout bearing which is connected to the clutch fork. These bearings tend to squeek once in a while while rotating. As you noted when light pressure is applied to the bearing by the clutch fork(you pushing the cluth pedal 1/2" down) the noise diminishes because you are putting pressure on the bearing and compressing it against the fingers of the pressure plate. At that 1/2" mark there is nothing else rotating that would be effected since the travel is not great enough to say, disengage the clutch.

I would leave it alone as the bearing will probably last the rest of the life of the clutch. It's more a noise annoyance than anything. Unless it bothers you THAT much, but usually the squeaking noise will diminish over time or even go away. I've only seen very few actually cause a squeak because they were siezed....but when a throwout bearing is siezed it's more than just a squeak.

Is your car still under warranty? A throwout bearing isn't a wear item so it should be covered.

CodeMonk

Well with it just being an annoyance thing I'll just leave it. I'm planning on replacing the flywheel with a lightweight one at some point anyway, when I do that I'll just take care of the bearing too. Probably just put a whole new clutch on. or something. but thats probably 6 months down the road or so.

As for warranty, I'm just outside the standard warranty but I think there was a powertrain extension, don't know if that would cover this or not but unless it starts getting really irritating or starts to do something other than just squeak intermittently I'll leave it. I was more concerned it would be a sign of something more serious.

cjwaggs

definetly tob.

nmarz77

I wouldn't worry about it. It's just going to be annoying for a while.

kanie12

I have the same problem. I guess it's nothing to worry about

Razz1

Throw out bearing. Maz mechanics have been able to squirt some lube up there. Sometimes it's dust that's causing it.

Anyway the TB is no problem. It doesn't effect performance. Just make sure when you need aneew clutch they replace it.

RX-Fate

I know this is an incredibly old post... But I have the same problem. However, I also have a noise that only appears when the clutch is engaged. Upon full depression of the clutch pedal this noise will subside. The noise sounds like a dry airy exhale (very similar to the sound one makes when trying to imitate a crowd of thousands cheering in the distance). I've heard this noise before on an 89 probe gt and my old turbo del sol. Both times it was diagnosed as a throwout bearing and once the clutch, PP, TO bearing and Pilot bearing were replaced... The noise never came back.

So with the "crowd" noise and the squeeking (that disappears at the slightest depression of the clutch pedal) I was wondering if I should replace the clutch, flywheel, PP and TO bearing or are BOTH of these sounds normal?

xexok

The squeaking is not normal. I have had some mild squeaking with my clutch pedal but that was with a full depression of the pedal, not the slightest touch. Mine went away after happening only a few times. You just need to get under there and inspect your pedal, there are lots of threads about that problem. The bracket may be starting to rip apart.

RX-Fate

@XEXOK - you misunderstood my inquiry... "I have had some mild squeaking with my clutch pedal but that was with a full depression of the pedal, not the slightest touch." - my squeek GOES AWAY when I touch the clutch. Exactly like CodeMonk. And there are NO other posts describing this exact problem. At least none that I have found. I also have that "crowd like" noise... Which you failed to address.


I see these kind of brush offs all the time. A lot of you guys seem to want to tell others to"go search"... Maybe that's because you never do it. And maybe tiu havent realized, but there are so many poorly labeled posts with a lot of garbage to filter through. So Instead you should try to just help people. Giving a straight answer probably doesn't take more time than deriding the poster. Furthermore, many of us may be new to rotarys or rx-8s, but that doesn't mean we are new to the car scene, trouble shooting, engineering, physics, math, etc. And when you need help, I'm sure you'd want more from one of us than: "Go Search!"

Sorry for the rant...

New Yorker

Couldn't agree more! I've been here longer than most, and I can't tell you how many hours – no, make that days – I've wasted wading through poorly written, rambling, threads in search of the answer to a simple question that could be answered in 90 seconds. Some threads are so long, it turns out the first two thirds of the posts are dated with info corrected months or years later. What's more, sometimes you need an answer not in 3 hours but NOW. So ask away!

xexok

You SHOULD be sorry indeed. I didn't just say "search noob!" like most of the others here. I told you what I thought the problem might be, and said there was a thread with pics to help you locate the bracket if you didnt understand where a clutch pedal bracket is. If you are not using google to search like everyone suggests then yes you may have trouble if you do not understand how a forum search works.

I am not here to do your searching for you, it is your problem not mine. Do you walk into the store and ask where pants are, and expect them to walk you to them and put the pants on for you?

If I misunderstood your original post(obviously I did) then sorry, next time I wont since I wont be able to see your posts anymore. Way to bite the only hand that fed you there, regardless if it was the right food or not.

CodeMonk

Wow. 3 day vacation with no cell service, get home and find notifications about this in my inbox! Ha!

I no longer have my RX-8 but apparently was still subscribed to this thread...

Anyway Xexok your answer looks an awful lot like the second answer that I was given, which as I remember was a service bulletin about the bracket. I never actually got around to getting my bearing fixed but my clutch bracket never collapsed either.

RX-Fate: The squeak was never "normal", and mine never did the "crowd noise" that I know. Unless you're just talking about the gears in the transmission spinning? I suppose I might describe them as that kind of noise... ish... maybe.

Also: The search on this forum sucks. Just like every other forum out there. Google really doesn't help that much either for a lot of these things. Furthermore I believe that there were 2-3 other posts about a similar situation at the time I made mine, you'll notice how no one told me to search and instead linked me to relevant information. This is because unlike a computer the human brain is almost perfectly suited to pattern recognition and can recall details that are relevant to actually finding the useful thread. I'd suggest actually linking to one or two of the useful threads instead of being a dick about it. But hey, what would I know about it? I only run multiple forums that have had single threads that gathered 3500+ posts in a single day.

</rant>

xexok

The search on all forums sucks, unless you know the proper way to search. It can be amazing and find you the exact thread you want, you just have to give it the proper info.

I understand linking to a thread for someone is a better idea, but oh well. If you compare my post to what most other people usually say mine would be on the mild side. I misread his [ost anyway and posted the wrong info.

RX-Fate

Thanks Monk... That's what I needed to hear. I suppose I'll start looking for a flywheel clutch kit and counter weight. Thanks for the useful, apt and prompt response.

Also, Google search works fine. That suggestion was in one of the first threads I read on rx8club. Using quotation marks to group connected words works even better. But the biggest problem is that a search, regardless of the engine used, will find the keywords in post headings as well as the bodies of threads. This obviously makes things more coplicated.

xexok

Like I said its all about understanding how to search, not thinking you know how. I never had a problem searching titles only with any forum search.

RX-Fate

^^^ that's cute...do you think you're pretty clever? Now it's my turn; you should search the forums before you suggesest in site forum searches. You would find that the rx8club search engine tends to drop words it's finds irrelevant from certain search queries. Ergo, using the google search engine and searching rx8club.com at the same time tends to yield better and more accurate results.