clutch whining on acceleration

|I have a 92 vw jetta, 5 spd manual. It has almost 200,000 miles. The |strange thing is, when I first bought it, I hadnt checked the clutch |fluid. Than one day while doing 70 on the highway, the clutch just |flew out of gear while I was accelerating, I put her back in gear and |it was fine. After that I checked the fluid level and sure enough it |was empty. I had driven the car over a year like this. I put in |clutch fluid the next day, not oil or hydraulic fluid, maybe no |difference but wanted to be sure, and put in the whole quart. It |seemed to run fine for awhile, and after a couple weeks, the clutch |started whining on acceleration. But its not all the time. Some days |it doesnt make any noise, some days its 2nd and 3rd gear, some days |its just 5th. |Why would there be no problem with no clutch fluid for so long? This |car is supposed to have clutch fluid, right?

You are either very messed up, or a troll. I'll assume the former.

There is no clutch fluid on that, it should have a cable clutch. That means you must be talking about transmission oil. Unless you are positive what you put in there was exactly the right thing, you need to change the oil iimmediately. While you are at it look for places where it might be leaking. Only 3 possibilities: Left axle seal, right axle seal, and input shaft (inside the bellhousing. If you see a lot of oil under the car you should plan on fixing the leak. Find some Redline MTL, either at a performance shop or online. It's about $8/quart, you will need 2 or 3. This is a synthetic oil that is formulated perfectly for synchronized transmissions. It may save yours. Fill it until it runs out the hole.

Good luck. Rex in Fort Worth

Assuming your car does have a hydraulic clutch--and there are numerous cars & pickups with them--the fluid probably leaked out slowly over the miles/years. And, like a hyd. brake, you can often 'pump' the pedal & make it work when the fluid is low. And, just depressing it once is one pump! I'm afraid the whining you're hearing is probably unrelated to the clutch. Sounds like a trans bearing. See if it is quiet in 4th gear, which is straight thru, i.e., no side force on the input shaft. In 3rd &

5th--really all but 4th--there is sideways force on the inp. shaft which is absorbed by a bearing; & when that bearing wears, it will be noisy in most gears EXCEPT 4th, the straight thru, 1-to-1 gear. BTW, the tranny jumping outta gear while accelerating indicates wear in the side-load-carrying bearing(s). I'm betting you were accelerating in a gear other than 4th!!! HTH & good luck. sdlomi

In a VW jumping out of 5th usually means low fluid level. 5th gear is highest in the case and will be the first to overheat when the oil level is low.

nate

Thx, Nate. We learn every day. BTW, are you referring to low gear(trans) oil or hydraulic clutch fluid? TIA, sdlomi

Gear oil. Low clutch fluid won't cause a trans to jump out of gear.

Still wondering why Im a troll. Im tall and have long hair, an elf maybe, but not a troll.

Anyway, I picked up some transmission helper fluid, good for auto or manual. As I watched it pour in the top, a gooey river came out the bottom. I believe the thin metal is the pressure plate and it was pouring out the side of that. Can the clutch be saved by repairing or replacing the bearing and/or the plate or is the whining noise a sign that its too late for minor repair? And if so, what kind of cost might I be facing?

Thanks all for your help except for the fruitcake that thinks Im a troll.

Ummm, did you buy any chance pour this fluid into the big opening on top of the transmission that has a plastic cap?? If so, you just dumped it all over your clutch and not into the transmission. The trans needs to be filled through a plug on the drivers side or the speedo cable.

Chris

gear oil... actually most of my experiences with VW boxes are the old

020s which don't have clutch hydraulics (they come with their own set of problems though, like the amazing clutch cable pulls through the firewall trick...)

nate

Uh oh. This is my first foriegn car. This is not like any of the other american cars Ive owned. So is it normal for fluid to be pouring out even if I did pout it in the wrong spot? What kind of repair bill am I lookin at because Im fed up with this german engineering freak show.

If you poured the fluid where I think you did, then it will come out the bottom because it's not sealed. However, this could turn out to be an expensive learning lesson if you killed the clutch by drowning it in gear oil. I don't know how much it'd cost to have someone change your clutch if needed because I do my own.

Chris

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 00:30:02 GMT, Nathan Nagel wrote: | |gear oil... actually most of my experiences with VW boxes are the old |020s which don't have clutch hydraulics (they come with their own set of |problems though, like the amazing clutch cable pulls through the |firewall trick...) | |nate

Nate, if you poured all that gear oil into the clutch area, what you did was wash all the old debris and dust out the bottom. Debris and dust accumulation is normal with clutch wear. The bad news is you may have killed the clutch by soaking it in oil. Here's what I'd do: Get about 4 cans of brake cleaner aerosol and hose them into the hole your poured that stuff into (assuming it IS the bellhousing where the clucth is). You want to wash as much of that oil out of there as possible. After the first can, I'd draft soneone to hold the cltuch in while I emptied the other cans. This is a long shot, but worth trying. Rex in Fort Worth

I will try the brake cleaner solution. The cars going in on Monday, hope they dont laugh at me too much or charge extra, hehe. But the car is actually running better and hasnt made any whining noise since. Only time will tell I suppose.