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need help with diagnosing clutch/gearbox noise after engine swap
novacaine - 8/6/12 at 08:38 AM

Hi all,

Bit of a query for you all

I have recently changed the engine on my alfa, with a few hiccups along the way, of which I have posted questions here 

My engine is in, the car drives and im a lot happier than I was, apart from the following:

Having not really thought that much about what I was doing with the engine ( I had very very tight time deadlines to get the engine in and I really did rush it, re-using a lot of parts that came with the engine rather than swapping my old ones over that I knew worked.

I have been stung re-using the breakers PAS pump by having to replace it (variable length inlet manifold and all associated gubbins off for access)

I have a high pitched whine coming from the gearbox end of things, it makes noise with the clutch up and the noise changes when I put the clutch in. I am assuming it is a clutch release bearing.

Could my clutch whine be down to using the breaker’s clutch with my release bearing? Do release bearing/pressure plates bed in with one another? And as a result using an old pressure plate with an old release bearing cause problems?

One thing in my mind as well is that I struggled to get the gearbox and engine to mate up. Could I have damaged the input shaft and associated bearings with the fiddle of putting the gearbox back on?

Finally, the clutch release bearing/slave cylinder is an all in one unit (“concentric slave cylinder”) – looks like this



I (possibly rather foolishly) pressed this bearing backwards and got a gulp of fluid gushing out of the connector. Could it be that this noise is associated with an air lock in the clutch?

The puzzling thing is that the release bearing was absolutely fine before I fitted the new engine, I don’t understand why its all of a sudden gone south?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Matt


r1_pete - 8/6/12 at 09:10 AM

Are you sure the clutch etc. compomnents were all compatible?

Often manufacturers for reasons known to themselves use different size/spec clutches, and if you have mixed components it could account for your whine.

Does it have a spigot bearing in the crank? and did both engines have the same size bearing? i

I doubt your juggling to get the motor lined up, or compressing the cylinder will have caused anything.