I noticed a few days ago that there was a sound like when a belt is slipping. But it only happens when I'm at low speed, and usually only when I'd decelerating. Then today I was in the drive thru, and I had the car in neutral and it was doing it again. I pushed the clutch in a little and it went away. Let it back out and it came back. It's a v-6 T5 and the car has a little over 102K on it, although I'm not sure if the tranny/clutch has ever been replaced. Does this sound like a transmission problem, or could it be the accessory belt that's slipping and I'm just mistaking it for something else? Thanks, Joe

 

check the belts, if they aren't making the problem, it could be the throwout bearing

 

If it is the throwout bearing how major of a problem is it? Any idea how much a shop would charge to replace it? I've never worked on transmissions before and I don't have any of the specialized tools. Thanks, Joe

 

it is kind of a problem, i have no clue what a shop would charge to do it, but i do know that you and a friend could do it in a day, provided you had all parts. as far as tools go, if you have a basic standard and metric socket set, floor jack and ramps, or stands. you got it covered, the only special tool needed would be a torque wrench and even that is not an absolute must it is the proper way however.

go to the parts store and pick up a repair manual made by chiltons, or haynes, they will give you the run down on what it would involve.

also if you are going to replace the throwout bearing, while you have it tore apart, install a new clutch, and pilot bushing, and get the flywheel resurfaced, as i'm sure it will need it, not to mention it voids the warranty on the clutch if you don't.

basic parts list,

clutch kit, normally includes pressure plate/disc/throwout bearing, and alignment tool, ~$80-$100.
pilot bushing ~$4 for bushing, ~$14 for bearing
resurface flywheel, most machine shops can do this, some auto repair places too, it only takes a matter of minutes once they get it on the machine, ~$25-$40, depending on location

so thats roughly $160 plus fluid to refill the trans because you should change the fluid anyways
the parts are availible at the local parts store like autozone or whatever you have in your town

 

That doesn't sound too bad, I was thinking that I'd need a tranny jack tho. My main concern is that I don't want to put another cent into this engine and tranny cause I'm gonna do a swap sometime after the first of the year, maybe sooner. Is this something that will last that long, or should I just avoid any potential problems and just replace it.

 

it may last it may not, it depends on how much you drive the car.

its kind of a judgement call, i can understand not wanting to dump money into something that is being swapped out. i was in the same situation, and it forced me to do the swap before i was ready, i lost 3-4 in my tranny, and had already planned to move to a v8 so i just did it then.


a throwout bearing really wouldn't leave you stranded, if it finally locked up or something. as long as you can shift with out the clutch. IMHO it is not worth the time to pull the whole tranny out just to put a throwout bearing in, i would conteplate moving your swap to a time as early as possible

oh and you don't need a tranny jack, just use a floor jack that has a large diameter plate on it, and your hand to balance the tranny on it, or depending on your strength, assuming you can get the car high enough, you could just bench press it it only weighs around 80lbs or so

 

mien did that when i put a new clutch in, its no big deal its justa cheap and old throwout bearing, if u are doin a swap soon and can put up with the noise then its fine, if it bothers u tha much look under your car and u will see a clutch fork coming out of the bellhouseingf and a thing called a slave cylinder ithaq rod pushing into the fork, just get some heavy duty wheel bearing grease and put it in the fork where the slave goes into it and it should go away for a while, i just did a swap so i used a good one and i get a squeak liek onece a month for 1 sec. good luck