Clutch whining
 

I put a ACT 6 puck unsprung clutch in my b16 hydro tranny about a year and a half and maybe 15,000 miles ago. About a month or so ago I started to notice a whine sound when I let the clutch out in 1st gear. It doesnt make this sound every time but there is a certain point in the middle of engagement that it makes an audibly loud shreak. Ive tried searching for this but cant find any convincing info on what this could be. Bad throwout bearing? Original TOB was replaced with the ACT one when the clutch was installed. Any other thoughts?

Re: Clutch whining
 

Ive never heard a clutch whine. You got tranny problems bro.

Re: Clutch whining
 

throwout or trans

Re: Clutch whining
 

I really dont think its a tranny problem. It definitely sounds like a bearing but Ive never heard another car do this before. Its only during engagement in 1st gear which is the wierd part. Has anyone had an issue like this before?

Re: Clutch whining
 

How's your transfluid?

Sounds like the syncros could be wearing as well, happens to scoobidoos. Is it louder when you engine brake?

Ask Complex about it.

Re: Clutch whining
 

scoobies are notorious for whining, mileage regardless. the newer sti's whine in all but 4-6, my wrx sounds like straight cut off-throtte, (in order of worst to least; 2-1-3) and has a slight whine in 1-2 but even stock low mileage ones do.

Re: Clutch whining
 

I think my trans fluid should be good. Wouldnt the whine continue through the whole 1st gear instead of just engagement if it were syncros? Maybe I should describe it as more of a shriek or squeel rather than a whine but its definitely loud. Theres certain degrees of it but it can be extremely loud if I let the clutch out just right.

Re: Clutch whining
 

i have also heard the noise in his car. its not in the tranny for sure. when i heard it i thought it kinda sounded like it was just the friction of the clutch disk causing the noise, but i have never heard a clutch disk make noise.

did we change the pilot bearing when we changed the clutch, i dont remember. it could be that.

Re: Clutch whining
 

my friends LS/VTEC w/ ACT disc used to do this, he said the clutch wasn't broke in properly.

Re: Clutch whining
 

Pilot bearing will howl all the time.

Clutch not broken in properly could make weird noise.

Re: Clutch whining
 

We didnt change the pilot bearing so maybe thats it. I know we changed the throw out cause Ive seen my stock one laying around the garage since.

Re: Clutch whining
 

Not properly broken in is what my first thought was. My problem with the pilot bearing is that it should make noise anytime the engine and the input shaft are moving at different speeds. Like anytime the clutch pedal is pushed

Re: Clutch whining
 

Yeah we know its not that. Youve heard how it only happens during engagement in 1st. I guess maybe the way it was broken in could have something to do with it. Its just wierd that after close to 20k miles it started doing this. Im not pulling the tranny anytime soon so I guess I'll just live with it and hope it eventually goes away. Until then I'll just deal with the wierd looks from bystanders.

Re: Clutch whining
 

I used to have a 4 puck unsprung clutch in my fatty prelude. And it would either chatter the whole front of the car, or shriek/squeal like I just ran over a puppy. There was no smooth take-off's

It'd only do it in 1st gear or reverse. That clutch never got broken in, just went str8 into ricer mode (bangin gears and doing burnouts in a stock car)

I believe because it was a puck'd and unsprung clutch disk that never saw any kind of break-in period, that since it was "attempting" to slip during take off's, the friction surfaces made noise trying to catch each other.
There's no problem with my trans other than it having almost twice as many miles as my motor. No grinds, no kick-outs...

On a side not, when that clutch gave out it sounded like rod knock.... It was still driveable (barely)....but it sounded like a rod was gonna come out of the block. Changed the clutch and the "knock" disappeared

Re: Clutch whining
 

buddy has the same thing in his LS/VTEC 6 puck un sprung

Re: Clutch whining
 

So Im going to conclude that this must be some kind of an unsprung clutch issue and theres really nothing to worry about. The thing still seems to hold great so I guess its just the surfaces trying to catch each other like marcj said that are making the shrieking sound. Man is it ever loud and annoying though.

Re: Clutch whining
 

You can combat this problem with an open downpipe.

You know you want to.

:6

Re: Clutch whining
 

Yeah, had a ACT 6 puck unsprung in my old DA with clutchmasters flywheel and it made a school-bus like "WHERRRR" in first gear.

Re: Clutch whining
 

lol I know all about open down pipes. I made the 3+ hour drive home from school with an open header n/a and another couple times with about 2 feet of an open downpipe. With a b16 tranny revving close to 5k on the highway and no a/c driving with the windows down for that long I thought I was going to have permanent hearing damage by the time I got home. My days of open downpipe are over.

Re: Clutch whining
 

I have the same thing, 6 puck unsprung and it makes the same sounds.