164L Clutch "Chirping"

[ramzromeo]

Driving my 91 164L 5spd from work yesterday and it started chirpping loudy when I engaged the clutch. I could also smell an odor like brake dust coming from under the hood.

Tranny does not appear to be slipping at all at this time.

Had to drive it about 20 miles to get it home.

I just replaced the slave cylinder and had no problems after that for about 500 miles.

Anyway I ordered a new Valeo clutch kit.

I'm thinking its the pressure plate. Am I missing anything else that it could be ?

[jontg428]

Could be a bad throwout bearing, these usually make noise before failure

[ChazzyD]

If your smelling a brake-like smell, than your disk is likely slipping. Doesn't really matter, your putting a whole new clutch kit in anyway. Make sure the flywheel gets resurfaced too or you will likely still have a shuddering clutch.
Charles

[ramzromeo]

Thanks. Those were my thoughts also.

[AlexGS]

Mine was completely worn out and slipping. Car could hardly move so I think you're doing the right thing by changing it while it is still driveable before you get stuck at the foot of a hill.

As a bonus, I think you'll find the new clutch will be a lot lighter and have a nice over-centre feel in its operation. I didn't change anything in the hydraulics and noticed an improvement in lightness. Then I bypassed and removed the damper - an easy job at any stage, it's bolted to the air filter mounting bracket and the hose fittings are interchangeable with those on the slave cylinder - and the clutch became much smoother to control. I find it easier to have my leg control the engagement rather than some fluid-flow-restricting device that seems to make the engagement more jerky, the opposite of its intended effect

I think the original damper could have worked in some particular high-revs sidestep-the-pedal scenario, but in normal driving I found that it was out-of-sync with requirements and removed the 'feel' from the pedal.

-Alex