Whiny Clutch 02 Ford Escape XLT 4x4 V6

[BrandonVA]

My clutch whines. It's been slowly getting worse. Maybe my clutch is reaching the end of its life. 96,500 miles. it seems to change pitch with rpm and goes away completes when i press the clutch pedal in. only does it under load. should i start budgeting for a new clutch? are they normally noisy?

 

[DoiInthanon]

Is it your clutch or your wife? Now that I think of it, my wife growls. Probably the clutch.

 

[AandPDan]

It isn't the clutch that's whining.

If it goes away when you depress the pedal then your input shaft bearing is likely bad - since the input shaft stops turning.

Throwout bearings usually make noise when you depress the pedal.

A pilot bearing would also make noise when you depress the pedal - as the engine is rotating and the input shaft isn't (when in gear).

 

[BrandonVA]

the input shaft stops turning even when the car is moving?

 

[BrandonVA]

god [censored] every car i buy has so many [censored] problems. i hope this is covered under warranty. i still have 4 years of payments left.

 

[Lubener]

Possible bad pilot bearing.

 

[BrandonVA]

well i guess for this car replacing the input shaft bearing is likely the same price as a clutch job...might as well kill two birds with one stone

 

[expat]

Originally Posted By: BrandonVA
well i guess for this car replacing the input shaft bearing is likely the same price as a clutch job...might as well kill two birds with one stone


Input shaft (main shaft) bearing is in the middle of the transmission. They do not normally make noise in 4 th ( direct ) gear.

Pilot bearing will not normally make noise when your foot is off the clutch pedal.

Clutch release bearing will make noise if worn but the sound will likely change if you place your foot on the pedal or depress the clutch.

From your description I would suspect the input shaft bearing as you say the pitch changes under load.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted By: BrandonVA
god [censored] every car i buy has so many [censored] problems. i hope this is covered under warranty. i still have 4 years of payments left.


No need for such language. That will not help the issue, please try and keep it clean on here. Hope you are able to get the problem sorted out.

 

[BrandonVA]

it's censored.

 

[expat]

Originally Posted By: BrandonVA
it's censored.


It's life!

What car, What year?

 

[Drew99GT]

I feel your pain Brandon. My Corolla does the exact same thing, especially when it's cold. Has for several years. In neutral idling with foot off the pedal, there is a distinct whining noise. When I push the clutch pedal in, the noise goes away. I also was under the impression it's the input bearing.

Does anyone know whether the input bearing on most manual transmissions is lubricated by the gearbox fluid, or is it a sealed bearing?

 

[kschachn]

I've never seen one that was sealed but my experience may not be exhaustive

On my ECHO all four main bearings (two each on the input and output shafts) are in the fluid. In fact, every bearing on the transmission is in the fluid, none are sealed.

And the symptoms you describe - are you sure it isn't the output shaft bearing? In a way if its a main shaft bearing (which it often is), it doesn't really matter which one. If you take the transmission apart to replace one you really want to replace all four. There isn't much reason not to. Generally the needle bearings don't go bad only the ball bearings.

BTW my ECHO's transmission does not have a pilot bearing, a lot of them don't.

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I feel your pain Brandon. My Corolla does the exact same thing, especially when it's cold. Has for several years. In neutral idling with foot off the pedal, there is a distinct whining noise. When I push the clutch pedal in, the noise goes away. I also was under the impression it's the input bearing.

Does anyone know whether the input bearing on most manual transmissions is lubricated by the gearbox fluid, or is it a sealed bearing?

 

[Drew99GT]

Thanks for the input (no pun intended) kschachn. I'm fairly certain it couldn't be an output bearing because it does it while the vehicle is still and in neutral.

 

[kschachn]

Right, I don't know why I said that. If the car isn't moving then the output shaft isn't turning.

Anyway, it was one or other of the input shaft bearings on my ECHO that were bad. When we got the transmission apart (the hardest part was removing 5th gear), none of the bearings felt bad when turned by hand. No roughness or anything. But after reassembling it with new bearings the noise was gone.

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Thanks for the input (no pun intended) kschachn. I'm fairly certain it couldn't be an output bearing because it does it while the vehicle is still and in neutral.

 

[expat]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
When I push the clutch pedal in, the noise goes away. I also was under the impression it's the input bearing.


With the car still, Does the noise go away if you press the clutch pedal just slightly?

I have had Clutch release bearings do this, they just rub on the clutch diaphragm fingers and squeal.

 

[BrandonVA]

so someone edited the title to put my ford escape up there...lol it's sold i need to edit my sig.


this is in a 2006 corolla le. not a ford escape.

finally got an audio clip. you might have to turn your sound way up to hear it.

View My Video

 

[BrandonVA]

yea, i've heard a lot of corollas do it and most of the time then whining sound is just annoying and never gets worse. mine doesn't do it in neutral though. Only very faint in some gears, particularly 2 is the loudest and a tiny bit in 3 all around 20 mph. goes away when i press the clutch pedal completely down. does not whine at idle.

 

[Drew99GT]

Brandon, my Corolla sounds identical; it's the lower gears in the transaxle I think; when in 1st or 2nd you have a tiny gear spinning a bigger gear so the speed difference between the input and output sides of the transaxle is higher than in higher gears. That's my take anyway. My S10 I used to have with a 5 speed manual sounded the same way in lower gears.

But yea, sound totally normal to me! I've had multiple Corollas with manual transaxles and they all sound like that.

 

[BrandonVA]

great, good to hear from someone with the same car! Thank you.



btw these cars shift terrible with gl-5 fluid. i don't know why the manual says you can use it.