Clutch issues
 

Been browsing forums and cant seem to find a solution as of yet, wondering if anyone can help me out:

Problem is that while im driving im getting a squealing sound from under the car. However it goes away when i push in the clutch but then i get a whirling sound and upong releasing the pedal towards the top when it catches it feels kind of gritty. Gears dont slip or grind. Only thing ive found is that it could be a throw out bearing? Just curious if anyone has had this problem recently.

Sounds like your clutch-release (throw-out) bearing is on its way out. Replacement requires transmission removal, may as well replace the whole clutch assembly if going that far in.

Thanks guys greatly appreciated. If its pretty noisy how long do you think i could baby it? Dont have the cash rn to fix it. Mazda wanted 2100 or 1600. My guy wants 1100, reasonable?

Wow, $1100? I can pull and reinstall the transmission in 4-5 hours.

Shops usually operate at $75-125 a labor hour, most are above $100, so that price isn't unusual depending upon part cost. Considering the potential situation of no discounts and you could be looking at $700 just in parts for OEM clutch equipment. Resurfacing or replacement of the flywheel should always be done (not that it always is) which is an added process with its own labor to consider.

I guess I've been doing my own work on my car for so long that I've forgotten how expensive it is for other people to do it.

I'm a newbie to this site, but found a long discussion about changing the clutch in a S2 2011. Can't find it now. I am ready for try #2 at aligning the tranny to the engine to reinstall it after replacing the bad TO bearing, pilot bearing and seal, clutch and friction disc. Figured it made sense to replace the slave cyl while I'm in there as it is impossible to get to otherwise. This turned out to be a 2 month ordeal rather than a 1 month putter-at-as-I-want-to project. I can go on with things I've learned but it seems to better fit on that other string. Any help to find it? I've tried the Google search route.

I have about $600 into parts, and more parts, and $2,000 worth of frustration. Mazda dealer quoted me $1950 to do the job. learned that you can't get all your RX8 parts from one place. I've used Rockauto, Parts Geek, Autozone and checked 3 other dealers and sites too. Dealer got $51 out of me for 3 cat convertor studs and nuts - no one else has such a thing. Its called Ed U Ca Shun.

here is thread for removal of trans and clutch replacement. https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-...cement-226541/

Many thanks. That was the thread I wanted. First try at installing the tranny was with the main cross member in place - supposedly you can work around it. I've pulled it off so I can see better to get alignment to the engine right. Am I just clumsy?

Yes you can work around it but I do find it easier with out the cross member there. How are you going about this are you using a hoist or are you doing it on jack stands. Do you have some sort of trans jack, someone to help?

IT'S IN !!!!!!! My dear wife helped me and we got it in first try. Car on jackstands, Tranny jack worked OK. Things I did to help myself: removed front crossmember so I could see alignment, made a yoke to support the end of the driveshaft so I could turn the tranny to mesh the splines, had several 4" long 10 MM fine thread bolts that we threaded into the opposite side tranny bolt holes to assure alignment as we brought the tranny in, had the jack positioned under the balance point of the tranny so we could easily control its position, jacked the engine up a little so it was stable, and worked ever so slowly. Brought it in and got into mesh and into the pilot bearing first try. Pheewww. I lost a lot of sleep the last few nights trying to figure out how I was going to do this. next challenge - bleeding the clutch cylinder - and I'll chase those threads for help there.

How to bleed the clutch release cylinder? Find a small person who can help. My dear wife (5'1") crawled into the wheel well and sat behind the brake caliper and reached in to open and close the bleed fitting. I wish I had pictures! She did it only finger tight, then held her finger over the fitting to seal it while I released the pedal. Then she unscrewed it just enough and we pushed a lot of fluid through. Got it bled out first try. There are many reason why I married her 43 years ago, and this is one of them!