a4avant99

My car had noise when the clutch pedal is depressed, which is the sign of a bad clutch release bearing. I just dropped the transmission, and get the clutch bearing out. It looks fine, and appears to work fine as well when compared to the new one I have bought. Could a failed bearing just look like a new one, or there is other culprit for the noise?

I have no clue of the clutch currently on the car. I did not take the clutch apart, as I do not have the alignment tool to put back. Any homemade way to do the alignment? I bought the car at 120K miles, and now it has almost 150K. No sign of slipping at all. I tend to believe the clutch has been replaced once. On the release bearing I took out, the only label is "SACKS Made in Germany", no AUDI part#. Could the original one do not have part# printed on?

BTW, I see oil on the release bearing. Could there be a leaking seal?

Can I check how much the clutch has been worn without taking it off? I am hesitating if replacing the whole clutch set.

Thanks

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Updates:

It's the pressure plate. Two of the three fingers connecting the two pieces together were broken.

I have bought a single mass flywheel conversion kit.

Now everything is out except the pilot bearing. I tried to pry it out using a screw driver with no luck. Any way to get it out without a special tool?

Thanks

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Updates

The pilot bearing is out. I used a round head bolt. Put the bolt (head inside) into the bearing, and then put in a nail (head inside), so that the bolt head is locked by the bearing, and then pull the bolt out using a pliers.

Worked right away.

AudiMick

My 1996 A4 still had the original clutch at 168,000 miles. Not uncommon.

If was intending to keep the car for a while, I would check both transmission and motor seals and replace the whole thing. Dual Mass Flywheel can make a weird noise also.

David.Norton

Alignment tools are cheap and easy to get, you have already done all the work to get to the clutch, no reason not to check everything. The bearing is also fairly heavily loaded when you press the clutch, with it outside the car you might not be able to tell just by working it by hand. I have also seen a worn clutch disk get noisy, as the clutch wears the fingers on the pressure plate push out and can make noise as they contact the bearing at a different point. I have been known to pull the clutch apart and inspect the flywheel and pressure plate, and if they are in good shape just drop a new disk in there. Don't forget to check the pilot bearing while you are there, it seldom goes bad, but you have already done all the work to see it. As far as oil on the bearing old cars always seem to have a bit, but if it is wet go look for the bad seal.

a4avant99

It's the pressure plate. Two of the three fingers connecting the two pieces together were broken.

I have bought a single mass flywheel conversion kit.

Now everything is out except the pilot bearing. I tried to pry it out using a screw driver with no luck. Any way to get it out without a special tool?

Thanks

David.Norton

You are going to want to use a puller, many of the auto parts supply stores will rent them out, I know of one that rents tools for free, you just need to leave a deposit while you have the tool. That way you don't end up with a tool you are only going to use once in a while. One thing to keep in mind is that you are going to hear more gear noise from the transmission with the single mass, like all things it is a trade off.