As it says in the title,there is a bit of a rattle in the bellhouse,could it be the release bearing ?

Also getting gears when eng is cold but after a warm up 1st is a bit tough to get straight away,i fear its all got to come out

Have just had my Cavalier clutch done as the bearing was on the way out. Started off with 1st being tough and the rest shortly followed. Someone suggested to me that if it's just one gear it could be the syncro rings in the box, but replacement clutch fixed it.

Bob, does it stop with the clutch pressed?
If with very gentle presure poss problem with release bearing or fork, if only after clutch release poss input shaft/bearing.

If it's any help mine does make a slight knocking when cold with very low engine revs.

Yes it does delete the knocking when i put pressure on the clutch pedal,i think i'll leave it for now.

I am a little concerned about the tough 1st gear when driven for half hour,i'm hoping the rear oil seal hasnt leaked a bit of oil and its on the clutch plate.There ae a couple of drops of oil on the garage floor in this area,not much but enough to give me the willy's anyway.

Might just be a slack clutch cable allowing the release arm and bearing to rattle about a bit. That would also tie in with poor gear selection when hot or maybe just wishfull thinking cos its a nice easy fix!

[Edited on 12/9/04 by Dusty]

Hi again Bob,if its clutch travel then it usually affects reverse as well as first.
It doesn't take much loss of travel to start getting tight on gears.
As dusty said it might just need some slack taking out.pedal adjustment?
PS:
My SAAB concentric clutch slave cylinder works lovelly in my Toyota box thank you !

I had rattles twice on previous cars.

A leyland princess rattle turned int a completely disintegrated release bearing in front of my house. Pedal just went right to the foloor with a bang noise.

A hilman imp had total clutch failure when it was found the release boss that all the diapragm fingers go into had broken fingers one at a time, rattling as it became more 'free' until enough were broken to stop release action at all.

atb

steve

[Edited on 13/9/04 by stephen_gusterson]

How much "loose" should there be in the clutch release fork? Any at all?
My fork rattles, as I left a little slack on purpose.
I've got Luego floor mounted pedals is it makes any difference.

Cheers

Intersting

There is a bit of slack so i'll have a look at correcting it at the end of my shift of death.

Thanks for the replys lads

Doesn't sound very serious, a little rattle fron the Clutch release is not unusual on Fords! My XR4x4 (old one with the type 9 'box) did it for at least 15000 miles! Think it was just the plastic release bearing housing rattling about on the clutch fork and hitting the pressure plate (there was a little running clearance there and the auto adjuster always left a bit so I never worried about it)