I just had an RPS BC2 clutch installed in my 02 Corvette, with a new slave/throwout assembly. When the guy at the stop started the car and drove it off of the lift, there was a squeal noise when the clutch pedal is pressed, that goes away when the pedal is released. When pressing and releasing the clutch pedal, the noise comes and goes at about the halfway point of the pedal travel. Pedal up = quiet, pedal down = squeal. The noise starts at roughly the midpoint of pedal travel, so I don't think over-travel is the problem. And the car drives well, other than the noise.

It could be a bad pilot bearing, but the shop inspected it before installing the new clutch and said it was perfect, and there’s only 39k miles on the car so it seems early for the pilot bearing to fail…

It could be a bad throwout bearing, but that seems unlikely since the bearing was brand new…

Does anyone know of any installation errors that could result in the sort of noise I’m describing?

The shop is willing to take the car apart to inspect the clutch and everything around it, but since they seem baffled by the noise I’d like to give them some suggestions about what to look for.

Thanks!

 

 

Not hard to damage a pilot bearing while installing the torque tube.

 

OMG... They did ALL THAT WORK and failed to install a new $20 pilot bearing. That my friend is the definition of incompetence and or laziness. When I installed the clutch in my 02 ZO6 with 35,000 on the drive train, the OEM pilot bearing was DRY and the rollers inside the cage were loose and ready to fall out.

I cant say for sure that the pilot bearing is absolutely the issue but, IMHO, it should have been changed during the clutch change process. How long do you think this new clutch will last and how long will an OLD deteriorated pilot bearing support that new clutch??

FACT: The only time that the pilot bearing is actually "ACTIVE" meaning the snout of the TT is spinning in the pilot bearing is when the pressure plate/flywheel and the clutch disk are disconnected. When the clutch is released, the pilot bearing just supports the end of the TT input shaft and it spins at the same speed as the flywheel/pressure plate.

QUESTION?

1. If you put the transmission in Neutral and press and release the clutch, does the noise change any??
2. When the car is rolling, If you depress the clutch and change the RPM of the engine, does the noise change in loudness or frequency? I'm trying to see if the difference in TT input shaft RPM and engine RPM increases or decreases or changes the noise. That would for sure pin point an issue with the pilot bearing..

Bill

 

In neutral with the clutch pedal pressed, it squeals. Clutch pedal released, no noise.

I haven't tried the rolling test, I figure the next time I drive it will be the trip back to the shop. They've agreed to work with me on the labor to fix this, we're just waiting for a time slot now. (And I've only driven it about 5 miles since coming home from the shop, due to this noise.)

How would the results of that rolling test differ if the noise was coming from the pilot bearing vs the throwout bearing? I'm assuming that they both handle the same speed difference when the clutch pedal is pressed, but if that's not true I'd love to have a clearer picture of how they differ.

Thanks!

 

when the clutch is pressed in the torque tube is not moving the same speed as the engine that's why its squeaking because the bearing is being used. But when you let the clutch out everything is moving at the same rpm. That's why it doesn't make noise . I c when I did my clutch I replace the bearing even though it wasn't bad. But when I put the torque tube back in I damage the bearing and I had the same squeal noise as what you're describing.

 

 

Isn't all of that true for both the pilot bearing and the throwout bearing? Both bearings handle the difference between torque-tube speed and flywheel speed, don't they?

 

My car has LT headers and some pretty loud Borla mufflers, and the noise is not subtle. Here's the mufflers: https://www.borla.com/products/c5_co...t__140038.html

If you have a video or a recording of the noise, I'd love to hear it just for the sake of comparison.

Here's mine:

 

I personally have never hear of a throw out bearing squeal they usually leak.

 

 

I noticed an interesting thing about this noise last week:

1. Press the clutch pedal all the way down
2. Put the car in gear
3. Very slowly lift up the clutch pedal
4. The squeal stops
5. Lift just a little more
6. The clutch begins to engage

At steps 4 and 5, the friction discs and input shaft are not turning, but the flywheel is turning, so the pilot bearing and throwout bearing are definitely spinning... but there is no noise. That gives me some peace-of-mind. If one of those bearings was causing the noise, then I'd expect the noise to be there any time they are spinning.

Then it occurred to me that if I install a clutch pedal travel limiter (which I experimented with when I was trying to make the original GM clutch stop sucking) then perhaps I could fix the squeal by not letting the pedal go down far enough for that. Alas, that didn't pan out. I can't get the transmission into gear until I hear a squeal. But, after putting it in gear, I can lift just a little bit, and the squeal stops, before the clutch starts to engage. Weird.

Driving with the pedal travel limiter felt strange at first, because the throw is so short that it's kind of hard to believe that it's actually working. But after 20 minutes or so, I really like it. It's basically the same feeling as having a short-throw shift lever, but it's for your left foot rather than your right hand. Now I want one for all of my cars.

I used this one, but it took a lot of grinding to make it actually fit:

https://www.eastcoastsupercharging.c...top-kit-detail

The little tab that presses the clutch switch seems to be larger on my 02 Z than on whatever year the designer was working with. Other than that, it's a really nice piece. They did a nice job of allowing you to adjust the clutch pedal throw, while still keeping the clutch switch working. I still recommend it, just plan on possibly spending some time with a grinder if you have the same revision of clutch pedal that I have.