I've started hearing some chirping or whining from beneath my car and in the engine bay. I've got a 350 with a rebuilt NWC T5 behind it.

First thing I did was remove the belts, no luck. It sounded like it was coming from the rear of the engine. I checked/topped off my trans fluid in case it had gotten low, no luck, the noise persisted. I noticed the noise stops when I put any pressure on the clutch pedal. even touching it with my foot a little bit makes the noise nearly stop, then as soon as I actually apply pressure it's gone. It stops before my clutch fully disengages, so I don't think it's coming from the trans itself since it's still rotating at that point.

I'm thinking I've got a noisy throwout bearing or pilot bushing. It still seems weird to me that when the throwout bearing is being pressed into the clutch it does not make noise. I never installed a dust cover on the clutch, could that be contributing? This noise is super annoying, but I might run the car a bit and see if it goes away or gets worse. Any additional thoughts are much appreciated.

Sounds like a throwout bearing to me. Many of them are garbage I generally thowout the one with the kit and install a hays. Mine did the same thing it was a bad ball bearing in the system. See thread below
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...t-bearing.html

Thanks Midias, I'm really hoping it's the TOB and not something too serious. What bothers me about it being a TOB is that the noise goes away when the bearing is engaged, I would think it'd be the other way around. With the pedal all the way at rest, it shouldn't be spinning the bearing, right? I had adjusted my clutch fork pivot ball all the way "engaged" to give myself a higher clutch release point when I installed the trans. Maybe if I backed the clutch fork pivot off a bit the bearing would see better disengagement?

Someone else had the same issue last summer. I just looked to see if he posted back to tell if he solved the problem, but he didn't. Unfortunately, it's pretty common on these forums that people don't.

My guess is, having experienced this myself many years ago, it's a simple vibration.

So with the engine idling, and the little bird chirping, lay down to hear if your ear can get an idea of where the chirping is coming from. If it sounds like the area of the fork, and it's clearly not coming from within the bellhousing, then reach underneath and try to put pressure on the fork against the slave piston ball to see if the chirping stops. I bet it does. It shouldn't take much pressure, maybe even just touching it or the slave piston will stop it, if that's the issue.

Edit: That won't necessarily tell you how to solve the problem, but at least you'll know where it's coming from.

What you described is exactly what my last two bad TOB have done during failure. You must have a mechanical clutch because the hydraulic has no adjustment.

LA, will do. I've listened close to the trans and in the engine bay but manually messing with the fork will help confirm what's whining.

Midias, I meant the adjustable ball for the fork pivot on the back of the bell housing. Adjusting that will change the fork geometry, might help my chirp (won't save the TOB though). Sucks to pull the trans but it is what it is.

LA and Midias,

Thanks to you guys, I fixed this issue. As suggested I got close to the source and manipulated the fork, the chirping stopped. A dollop of new grease solved the issue for me. The metal-on-metal contact of the slave rod and fork with the vibes of the engine caused my chirping. I ordered a new slave so I can remove the wear cap and use it on my existing slave. Probably unnecessary and there seems to be debate over whether or not the cap is for shipping or for working function, but I figure it'll give me less headaches to include it and stop wearing the fork and slave rod for a bit.

As always, thank you guys so much for your insights. Not having to pull the trans for the 7th or 8th time certainly made my day!

Shayne

Good to hear it was simple. I figured it was. And it's nice that you reported back. Wish more people would do that. Enjoy the silence!

Thank you! Will do, until it inevitably needs more grease