Not going into accurate details .... but,

Assuming you have a car which is covered under warranty.

The gearbox/clutch area has a noise like a ball bearing rolling around in a metal biscuit tin ..... obvious to me it's a bearing.

Not my car by the way.

With the clutch pedal up, transmission engaged - the noise is there .... clutch dipped, silence.

Now, I'm no mechanic ..... but an Engineer ..... this sounds like a noise coming from the Transmission NOT the Clutch.

Anyway, the owner of the car goes into a Main Dealer and a Mechanic says, "Clutch Release Bearing Gone" .... and it goes in for the work to be done, under warranty, tomorrow.

I'm sure that it will make not one bit of difference and the car will be in the garage for 3 days for no benefit.

Now, I am with the owner tomorrow with the car to give a lift (they know nothing about cars) ..... should I step in and tell the garage what I believe to be the case or keep my gob shut?

Will it affect the warranty at all, if the fault is not cured? Does it just go back until they finally renew the duff transmission bearing? The Warranty expires on 24th February this year - one of the reasons I want to register the fact that it is probably a gearbox fault and not a clutch fault..... I just think it's all a waste of time changing the Clutch Release Bearing.

 

I would go in and tell the garage exactly what you think, I always reckon that qualified mechanics love people like you coming in saying "I'm no mechanic, but you're wrong and it's definitely this".

 

It could be wear in the bearing causing things to rattle around but also consider the gearbox input shaft could be worn or the bearings could be worn.

To do a proper job, they need to examine the clutch mech and input shaft for wear.

Once my clutch bearing "went". It siezed! Anything short of siezed or broken up is just being a bit prima-donna.

J.

 

From your description alone it sounds like the thrust bearing is gone. New clutch kit will solve that. Hard to determine a fault without seeing or hearing it first hand but if it's something worse they will sort that too. A warranty claim will be fixed with the least costly parts being changed first and taken from there.

 

Agree with the above - on reading your post, my first thought was 'thrust bearing'.

If it's under warranty the last thing the garage will want to do is needlessly change something. It will be immediately obvious when they look at the parts if it is the bearing. If that doesn't fix it, then they should be obliged to carry on looking for the fault until it's fixed.

 

Sounds like a thrust bearing but could also be crank float

Not sure if the thrust bearing gets classed as a wear n tear part of the clutch for warranties.
Interesting to find out as mine also does the same on 32 k miles, but has a bit more torque to cope with

Nick

 

The warranty people were telephoned by the Main Dealer and the Clutch Release Bearing is covered ........... but, how can it be that when the noise disappears when the clutch is engaged?

The noise happens when the transmission is turning - when it stops turning (clutch dis-engaged) it falls silent.

I have decided that I will, without telling the Mechanic he is a numpty, suggest that they assess the input shaft bearing on the gearbox whilst they are changing the Release Bearing. That way they will have to make a statement about what they found.

At least they have agreed that something is wrong, a gearbox problem should be covered under warranty.

 

I love it ..... Mate that the release bearing by the description the noise goes because when you put the clutch down it pulls the release bearing, hence its not spinning (When driving). If you were a mechanic then maybe you'd have seen this a MILLION times lol

Trust you wouldn't want someone that hasn't got a clue about what you do telling you, your wrong?!? Would you??

 

I do have a clue about cars - I have been working on them for many decades!

Anyway, it went in this morning ...... I politely asked the Service Manager to request that the Mechanic make an assessment on the gearbox Input Shaft Bearing as it is a 2 minute job once out of the car ...... they have some gearbox specialists, so should be OK once they get to turn the input shaft.

 

Your BMW playing up Pedro? German rubbish eh

 

I reckon this fictional thread will end in a few days with Pete being right as usual and the garage mechanic looking like a complete idiot.

You heard it here first!

 

Really, do you think so

 

Update please!

Were you correct in your diagnosis of a fooked gearbox Pedro

 

Well, it's back .... Service Manager thinks it was just the Release Bearing, as stated - but the last time he saw the car the Mechies were playing about with the Gearbox .... so, it shall remain a mystery

It is Japanese, by the way ....... we asked about the Audio Code if they had to remove the battery - we were told something strange. The car is supplied new without a code, the owner can input a code if they wish, however - if they do not input a code and the battery is removed/goes flat then they have to request a reset code from Clarion/Bose and charge £25 to reset it!!!

Not sure if that is the usual claptrap or actually true!!??

 

Most car audio shops will reset it for you for a bit less!! Sure i saw somewhere you can get these codes on the net!

 

Cheers tomski

 

Noise is back!!

Why are Mechanics so bloody useless these days!? I told the numpties, in the best possible way, that the Input Shaft Bearing needs replacing ....... but, no, they go on their merry way and get the diagnosis wrong - replacing the Clutch Release Bearing - now it needs to go back in, drives me mad when they don't listen to someone who knows what he's talking about!!!!!