Not that I think it matters much... but I have a 1995 Sunfire GT

So... today,... went to pick up my sister from work. Started the car and had my foot on the clutch, and hear this sound, kinda like a baseball card stuck in bicycle spokes. I go "WTF?" Pop the hood and remove my foot from the clutch to see what might be goin on under the hood... and it stops when I removed my foot from the clutch. Put foot back on clutch, there it goes again... off... stopped.

The other day about half of the drive home from York, it felt like a spring was pushing back my clutch when I'd go to shift,.. the last half of the drive home it was or seemed fine.

So back to today. I had two very reliable mechanically inclined people take a look... unanimously... throw out bearing. The noise was louder with my foot on the clutch, but you can still hear it outside the car with my foot off the clutch. They both said to take it home and park it until it could be fixed... but I had to get home in a hurry so I didn't have time for any more questions.

So my question is this. (I know there's probably no definitive answer) but how long would you GUESS I might have on it? I don't drive it much now to begin with, and should be getting it fixed in 2 weeks... and when I do drive it, I don't drive like an idiot, don't do burnouts, ... pretty much have babied it because in the past 4 or 5 months, I've had to replace the coil pack, a brake line (having no brakes sucks to drive with), had a hose blow out from the crank case (the hose that goes to the oil separator black box thing from the crank case)... now this.

The car itself has about 172,000 miles on it. The motor has about 114,500 miles on it... and the dude that owned the car before me said he'd already replaced the clutch and transmission (at least the clutch, but I Think he said tranny too)... but I dont know how recently before I bought it back in April of 03... and the only clutch/tranny related thing I replaced was the lateral cable in the clutch in 03 also.

So... what are your opinions on the throw out bearing? (or however you spell it) I'm supposed to go see my dad in Virginia next weekend (about 340 miles round trip). Ticking time bomb or ok for a short period of time as long as I don't abuse it?

Someone? Anyone? Please??

When they start to go, they go...... cant really give a time frame...... it sounds like its just the bearing, and in that case once it locks up (bearing freezes up) it will still work, just screach as the fingers on the pressure plate will be spinning on the bearing face...... I can tell ya that driving style wont have much effect on it..... its always spinning (pressure plate fingers are always against it) but its only under load when you push it in..... hence why it gets louder.

Now if it starts to leak fluid..... then I wouldnt drive it at all.....




SPD RCR Z - '02 Z24 420whp
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I wouldnt drive it at all as it is. Let me ask you this, what if the bearing breaks apart instead of just freezing up? Ive seen that before, not on a J, but it was nasty.


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Madjack wrote:Like I said before, building an engine like ours (2.2 or 2200) is a painstaking chore , since there is so few custom made parts. It's frustrating to me too, but that's what I like about doing this engine, it's the challenge.

Ok so basically one of two things COULD happen...

The bearing could freeze up and still be drivable...

or The bearing could just break, and make a big mess and clutch no worky?


IF the bearing just freezes, I'd be ok until I can get it fixed. But the chance could be there that much worse could happen, causing a lot more money to fix?

So I should NOT drive it unless it's totally unavoidable until NEXT weekend until I can get it fixed right?

I'm soooo tired of things breaking. When I get my beater car, I'm pulling mine off the road, putting in a new motor, new tranny, new clutch, ripping off the darn body kit (I'm SICK of not being able to go down certain roads or not being able to go over speed bumps), and while I'm at it I have a brand new water pump for the car that was in the trunk when I bought it... I'll replace that too. Then it'll be like a new car almost. I've already replaced:

Alternator (twice), battery, lateral cable in the clutch, radiator, starter, both hub assemblies, tie rod on the pass. side, gas tank, hoses, coil pack, brake line (twice), and probably some other things I missed. ugh...

I wouldnt drive it if you can help it. Cause if it does freeze it would just increase the possibilities of it coming apart. Whenever you push down on the clutch to shift you wouldnt believe how much pressure the bearing is under. If it is frozen the fingers will grind grooves into the bearing and will eventually tear it off. Which like I said would be devastating.


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Madjack wrote:Like I said before, building an engine like ours (2.2 or 2200) is a painstaking chore , since there is so few custom made parts. It's frustrating to me too, but that's what I like about doing this engine, it's the challenge.

Ive got the same issue with the T/O bearing, been that way for a little while now. I'm planning on having it and the clutch/flywheel done soon though. I'd say its drivable for now, just take it easy till you can get it fixed.