Throwout bearing?
 

Ok, well I did an engine swap about a month or two ago, everything went well and my car has been running great ever since. So anyways when I swapped the motors, I decided to change over the clutch disc and pressure plate since the clutch had been replaced on the old (blown) motor. No problems, everything worked great...until a few days ago I noticed that there was a slight whirring or light grinding noise when the clutch was depressed. I am assuming this is the Throwout bearing I DID NOT replace when I changed over the clutch componants. Is this what it is, and also is the noise a big deal? I know it should be replaced but im just wondering how long that my car will survive without causing itself any major damage? Also what happens when the throwout bearing goes? Any help would be great.

The throwout bearing is the bearing that rides onthe clutch fork that presses into the springs on the clutch plate to release the clutch. So, if youre hearing noises when the pedal is down, thats probably the throwout bearing. The noise is caused from lack of grease in the bearing, so the bearings inside are just rolling around without grease for lubrication. Worse case scenario is the bearings sieze causing the bearing to stop spinning, causing it to chew a hole right through the springs on your pressure plate, destroying the pressure plate and probably making a big mess. As for how long? Who knows. The bearing doesnt do anything unless the pedal is down, so not a lot really. Could last a while, could last a week. It depends.

~T.J.

EDIT: Oh, and if you tear into it to do that bearing, do the pilot bearing too and save yourself from this exact same problem down the road where you have it all together and start getting bearing noise again and gotta go tear it all apart - again. IMO, the times you have that area open are so far and few between that you might as well get em done when you have it open. Clutches too unless theres really not that much life off the clutch. I mean, an OEM clutch kit is like $100 and comes with both bearings, pressure plate, clutch disc and the alignment tool.

might be the pilot bearing did you change that?

Nope, Did the poor mans swap. Would the pilot bearing make noise only when the pedal is depressed like the throwout bearing? Also, if all that stuff is like 100 dollars, then can I just drive it till it all craps out, then replace it, or will this cause more damage then taking the time now to fix it up right? You say big mess...How big a mess?

Isn't the throwout bearing a sealed bearing? How is that greased? I didn't do the swap on my car so I'm not sure if grease was packed into it but I know that grease was packed into the pilot bearing

What if my car makes a noise when in neutral? Is that also the throwout bearing? I was assuming it was, but it doesn't do it when the clutch is depressed, just when it is in neutral. Thanks, and sorry about the thread jack.

my car did that...but once i changed the clutch with the pilot and throwout bearing the noise stopped...

if you are going to change either bearing you'll want to change both at the very least since you are in there...

parts needed:
throwout bearing
pilot bearing
pilot bearing seal

in my case we changed the tranny, clutch, bearing, pilot bearing, rear and front tranny seal so i'm not exactly sure which corrected which because i had more issues...