Throw out bearing.. before I pull my tranny..

Oleg · Jul 11, 2010

My car makes a high pitched squealing noise

I can hear the noise at idle and when driving

The noise is coming from the tranny area

As soon as I touch the clutch pedal (even 1/4" down) the noise goes away completely.

When I looked underneath my car, I saw scratches in the transmission tunnel that looked like the previous owner replaced the clutch at some point. However, there is only 57K miles on the car right now which worries me a little...

I am new to Mustangs and wanted to double check with the experts before I do anything.

I am guessing, this noise is the clutch release bearing and I basically need to replace the release bearing, clutch, pilot bearing, and resurface the flywheel...

Right now I am undecided whether I want to do this myself on jackstands or pay a shop. But from doing some research online, it seems like a lot of Mustang owners are having problems with the release bearing noise even after replacing it with a new unit.

Can anybody give me some advice on this.. Do I definitely need to pull the tranny and replace everything? How can I make sure that this noise will be gone forever? The noise is seriously the most annoying thing Ive ever heard!

Venom351R · Jul 11, 2010

doing it yourself is not to bad, Ive had the tranny out of mine and a friends 03 cobra both on jack stands. If you have a friend help and have basic tools and mechanical knowledge its do able on your own. You do need to pull the tranny for either the pilot or throw out bearing. I dont think its your clutch. A clutch does not really squeek if anything is wrong w/ them they slip if anything. Having a shop do it would cost you in the ball park of $300-$450ish depending on their hr rates. A full clutch job would be around $500+

Javi · Jul 11, 2010

this is something i would tackle myself, shop fees are ridiculous..

http://sn95forums.com/index.php/topic,28703.0.html

ivan12 · Jul 11, 2010

Being that it's your first time, you could drop everything and install it by yourself in a weekend not counting machine shop time. It's not that hard of a job to do just time consuming since all the work is going to be done on your back.

Jrgunn5150 · Jul 11, 2010

I don't know what year your car is, so it's difficult to advise you on this. 94-95's are pretty easy, 03/04 Cobra's are similar, the rest of 96-04 use a one piece bellhousing that requires pulling the entire thing in one piece, and there's the infamous third starter bolt on mod motord car's.

Javi · Jul 12, 2010

its a T45. LOL!

Jrgunn5150 · Jul 12, 2010

Well then it sucks to be the OP, but yes replace everything, use a Ford, or Valeo TOB, and it will be gone for at least 60k or so lol.

Oleg · Jul 12, 2010

Thank you everybody for the replies and the links. I appreciated your help.

The car is a 2000 gt so whatever tranny that is.

I drove the car all day yesterday and did not hear the noise at all... I'm guessing it will come back and it's only a matter of time.

I am thinking about sliding the tranny away from the motor just enough to replace the bearing with an OEM Ford unit. That way it will be a ~$30 fix... hopefully.