Squeaky clutch

[Stevo F]

The clutch on my '05 OBS has a squeak when you push the clutch pedal in. The squeak comes and goes in intensity, but I had my wife push in the clutch I while I listened under the hood and there is a definite squeak (like a squeaky hinge) coming from the clutch/ transmission area under the hood (it's not the clutch pedal assembly).

 

It makes the same noise whether the car is running or not.

 

Something in the clutch assembly itself? Throwout bearing? Just an annoyance or something to be concerned with?

 

The car has 132K miles on it (I bought it at 129K, and I assume the clutch is original) and I'm hoping nothing has to be done immediately as I know the clutch will need to be replaced sooner or later (hoping for later...). The clutch itself engages and disengages fine and does not make any other noises.

[Xois]

Spray some wd40 on the spring and push rod under the dash inside the car. Mine was doing that to, WD-40 fixed it right up

[Stevo F]

Tried there, but the noise is definitely coming from the under the hood

[Fairtax4me]

The pivot ball on the release fork has gone dry. Happens on all of these.

 

It's tricky to do, but I get a long bendy straw and fish it down into the hole for the release arm and spray white lithium grease in the straw and it flows down and gets on the pivot. Pump the pedal a few times and the squeak goes away.

 

You bend the straw only about 15 degrees. Stick the straw in behind the release fork and let the groove shape of the fork guide the straw down about 5-6". Then stick the smaller straw on the grease can nozzle into the end of the bendy straw and spray a couple shots down there.

[Stevo F]

Thank you- Is the release fork the arm that is moved by the shaft at the end of the slave cylinder? I assume I would just need to remove the rubber plug that sounds it to be able to put the straw down there. What brand a lithium grease spray do you recommend?

[1 Lucky Texan]

[Fairtax4me]

Yes, you do need to remove the rubber dust cover if its still there. It may help to unbolt the slave cylinder and slide itnout of the way. Just dont remove the hydraulic line because they're kind of a pain to bleed.

You may then be able to look down and see the pivot stud.

Be sure that it sprays only in the back of the fork. If it sprays everywhere it may get on the clutch disc and make it slip.

 

Any brand of white lithium grease should do. Walmart usually has it pretty cheap in their Supertech brand. I've used the Walmart stuff for a few years on various things and it works just as well as any other brand.

[Stevo F]

Thank you- Have to pick up some of the Lithium grease. Definitely don't want to mess with the hydraulic line to the slave cylinder as I decided to bleed it out this past weekend and had to pull the master cylinder away from the firewall before the rod would clear the port in the master cylinder to allow air and fluid to bleed out.

[Stevo F]

I tried the lithium grease. I didn't have a bendy straw, so I used an old piece of vacuum hose. I stuck the hose down until it hit the pivot joint on the release fork   I squirted some of the grease down the hose until it came out the bottom. Afte rthart tried the clutch and it's been quiet so far. Thank you for your help.