Clutch chatter

[dp213]

My sons 2002 Wrx had a bad clutch chatter on take off. I had to pull the motor to do heads so I had the flywheel surfaced. It was great for about a month, now it's doing it again. Any thoughts.

[montana tom]

Could be a bad pressure plate, but I'm thinking a worn snout on the tranny is causing the throw out bearing to bind. They offer a kit for this, but you'll be pulling the motor again. 

[Caboobaroo]

I'm going to say that it probably needed a new flywheel if you replaced the clutch and resurfaced the flywheel. If the flywheel had gotten too hot, resurfacing it only hides the problem. I've run into this issue a couple times on the pull type clutches and have had it bite me when I didn't replace them.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Caboobaroo

[dp213]

If it is the worn snout, will it eventually do a lot of damage, or is it something I can tell him he has to live with :-)

[kamesama980]

I'm going to say that it probably needed a new flywheel if you replaced the clutch and resurfaced the flywheel. If the flywheel had gotten too hot, resurfacing it only hides the problem. I've run into this issue a couple times on the pull type clutches and have had it bite me when I didn't replace them.

This. overheating makes hot spots, hot spots change the metallurgy visibbly, changing the color and hardness with significant depth. Resurfacing smooths the surface but as soon as you warm it up a few times (like a month of driving) those hard spots show proud again causing vibration and chatter.

 

Did you replace the clutch or pressure plate? If the FW was bad enough to justify cutting it, the PP would be just as bad. Cutting the PP has the same problem as cutting the FW.