Creaking noise when clutch pedal pressed (Hawkeye 2007)
 

Hi all, the clutch pedal on my hawkeye has developed a tendency (on cold starts) to creak when pressed in to change gear. It's done it for a few months now and was something I meant to ask scoobyclinic to have a look at whilst it was in having soime body work done.

Other than sounding like there's a frog somewhere behind the clutch pedal or in the engine bay, all seems well and the noise disappears after the car has been properly warmed up (namely my 22 mile daily commute). There are no problems changing gear and other than the embarrassing noise the clutch seems fine.

To be honest it sounds like something simply needs re-greasing but I'm not sure what. Just wondering if anyone has experienced the same or similar, or maybe knows exactly what it is and how to solve it.

i have a squeaky clutch pedal, i think yours maybe the release bearing?
does it go when the clutch pedal is down?

It croaks/creaks only when I push the clutch pedal down to change gear, and it's only from a cold start. Once I've been driving a good few miles and the car is warmed up, the noise disappears like it was never there in the first place.

I should also add that the noise seems to be coming from outside the cabin, so I don't think it's anything in the driver's foot well.

I've got the same thing on a 2005 blob widetrack.

My blobeye did the same, took me ages to sort but found something on USA forum..what I ended up doing up was where the clutch fork with the stretchy spring pokes up in the engine bay there's a rubber boot( a lot easier with top mount removed ) pull the rubber boot out of where it sits and down there is a long thick rod which the fork pivots on, its the same rod you have to remove with a 6mm bolt if you're replacing the clutch. That rod drys out and squeaks, I got some spray grease and attached a long piece of thin pipe on the nozzle poked it down there a sprayed it with the grease, problem solved been ok (squeak free) for a couple of years now. Hope this helps.

Thanks Peakie, I suspect this is the solution I'm after. I don't suppose you have any pics or references as to whereabouts this rubber boot sits ?

At the risk of many innuendos, roughly how long was your pipe ?

It could also be the clutch slave cylinder. I had this squeaking noise every time I pressed the pedal so I squirted it liberally with wd40 but the noise was still there. Over time it became increasingly harder to press the pedal as it had become stiff. I checked under the bonnet and soon realised that it wasn't actually the pedal, the squeak was coming from the clutch slave cylinder. The pin wasn't moving in and out properly, I think some of the hydraulic fluid may have leaked out or something. In the end I got a new one from Import Car Parts for about £20-30 and it's worked ok ever since.

If you're running a front mount then you'll see it easy but if not you'll have to take top mount off.. its to the left of the clutch slave cylinder as you're looking at the car. You'll see a stretchy spring attached to that fork top. basically it should be right next to the turbo, like to the right of the turbo. As for length of pipe oooh er, about a foot long will do and just keep spraying..

Had a quick look over the weekend and managed to find the top of the clutch fork sticking out of the dust boot. You're right, it looks like removing the TMIC is going to be the way forward (especially if I want to inspect the slave cylinder at the same time).

Removing the TMIC itself looks fairly straight forward, but getting it back on (or rather getting the hose over the turbo inlet pipe) looks to be a PITA. Any tips on how to do this ?

Try getting the pipe onto the turbo first and tilt the tmic towards yourself wiggle it about and it should all go on and line up with the throttle body pipe. Heating the pipes up with hot air gun helps a lot or a bit of wd40 also helps make it a bit easier.

So after just over 2 months of being creak free, the annoying noise has now returned. I'm guessing I used the wrong lubrication and it has since started to driy out again - after the initial treatment the clutch pedal was super smooth and the noise was completely gone. I used white lithium grease and WD40, should I have used some other grease ?

I used comma spray grease and the noise has never come back, sprayed it down on to the clutch fork pivot bolt.

Thanks Peakie, I'll try some of that next time. I must have hit the right spot when I did it back in August as the noise disappeared and the difference in clutch pedal operation was night and day.