sleepertib

So this past week, every once in awhile, I would hear a slight buzzing noise happening whenever I'd touch the clutch pedal. Didn't matter if my foot barely rested on it, or it was down all the way. Figuring it was just the clutch release bearing going out, I thought I could replace it this weekend. Well, after a helluva struggle, I finally got the transmission off and found this:








Obviously, the pressure plate seems to be rubbing on the inside of the trans housing everytime the clutch is released. Anyone have any ideas on what would cause this? Was the TOB just not properly installed the first time or something?

Thanks guys

Stocker

Either the PP is the wrong part, or there is something pushing it too far from the engine. Is there a crankshaft mounting flange under the flywheel? That's the only thing I can think might be spacing the pressure plate too far out. That's weird.

DTN

um.

Yeah...

um...

wow.

Ok...

I've never seen or heard of that happening before.

So obviously the clearance between the pressure plate and bell housing decreased to 0 somehow. So that leaves a few options. The bell housing warped and came too close to the pressure plate. The pressure plate is loose or warped. The pressure plate is mounted to the flywheel, so the flywheel could have warped, or the the bolts on the flywheel could have come loose. The flywheel is mounted to the crankshaft so the crankshaft could have come loose..

Ok, so, obviously the bellhousing didn't warp or there would be gear problems too.

Obviously the crankshaft is in place or you'd have problems with your crank sensor.

It looks like all the bolts on the pressure plate are fine.

The pressure plate looks in tact and unwarped, if this is questionable, I have the same pressure plate here if you'd like a picture.

Have you checked the bolts on the back of the flywheel? Does the flywheel look warped?

Did you install the spacer, if so, will the flywheel stay in place without the spacer? Has it done this since you installed the clutch?

Is that the XTD lightweight chrome moly flywheel?

supercow

um, wow!

In order of most to least likely:

1. bolts on the flywheel are loose or bolts on pp
2. wrong pp
3. wrong flywheel

hamhead

Gonna have to agree. Never seen that before.

I'd probably look toward the flywheel as being the problem as its generally the weakest point as DTN suggests.

DTN

I'm not suggesting that at all. It looks like a XTD Pro-Lite. In fact that is probly the only pressure plate for our cars which has been tested and meets SPEC 1.4 drag racing standards as being an all-around badass flywheel. I have the same flywheel. If it is a pro-lite, then I'd say check somewhere else.

I have the same pressure plate as well. That pressure plate is the same as my last pressure plate too. I can see the 3 from the 312 marking on the front of it near the bottom. I have no question about the quality or craftsmanship of the flywheel or pressureplate.

I do question the workmanship as far as locktite on the threads, using the spacer when it's not needed, torquing the flywheel to spec, and so on and so forth..


What do you see behind the pressure plate? is the flywheel tight?

sleepertib

Thanks for all the responses guys.

The pressure plate is the "red" level from clutchnet, whatever that equates to. DTN I would assume that the chromoly flywheel is the XTD one you're mentioning, although I bought it from a different company, so it didn't have any of the same packaging and whatnot.

As for the pressure plate being the wrong one, I'd be very surprised as it's pretty much identical (dimensions-wise) to the stock one that came with the transmission. Even has valeo stamped on the back. tongue.gif

Thanks for the offer on the pics DTN, but I don't think I need them at the moment. To answer your question, the entire "assembly" seems pretty snug. Nothing seems loose, which is why I'm beginning to think that the damage may have been caused by my overly eager buddy who was helping me remove the bellhousing and was getting a little rough with it. He might have spun the whole thing while still connected to the output shaft. That may account for the nasty scraping. This is why I usually don't let anyone else work on my tib. owned.gif

But just to be certain, I'm going to take everything off and then reinstall the clutch and pressure plate and also check the torque on the flywheel bolts. I would hope the thing isn't warped already since it probably has less than 1000 miles on it.

I'll post back when I figure this mess out.

As always guys, your help is appreciated! fing02.gif

DTN

Make sure if you have a spacer between the output of the crank and the flywheel, that it is infact needed.

I highly doubt that gouging was caused by hand. That's extreme gouging.

I would not re-run that pressure plate.

I found the perfection zoom from Advanced Auto to be a great clutch. Same pressure plate with a organic disk clutch and a good bearing.

You might want to keep your clutch, i assume you're running a ceramic for the turbo?

btw... clutchnet, xtd, perfection zoom, DXD... they're all the same pressure plate.. All made in china with different coats of paint and different markings

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff111/D...ed/100_4148.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k231/Ven...ch/100_1842.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff111/D...ed/100_3958.jpg

But they all have 312 stamped on the pressure plate splines.