The clutch in my
winter beater 2000 Metro has always been annoying garbage ... until it apparently "self-healed" this week.
Note: it shouldn't be worn out. The previous owner replaced it in 2013, about 25k kms ago.
Symptoms prior to this week:
- An exceedingly thin friction point that made it very challenging to engage smoothly, (but it could be done with more concentration than normal)
- Sometimes noisy (vaguely rattly) in gear or out, clutch up or down
- Loud squeal from the friction surfaces when slipping it aggressively from a stop
Then this week, I took off from a stop more aggressively than usual (on a hill, too) and it squealed like a stuck pig (which I expected). Probably the hardest launch I've done to the car.
Demon be gone!
At the next stop, as I pushed in the clutch to go into 1st gear, there was a distinct "clank!" and a brief rattling, as if something had fallen off something else and bounced around inside a metal case.
Immediately following that, the clutch has worked normally! Normal friction point, much quieter, no more mystery rattles. And it squeals much less when slipping aggressively.
Any ideas what was wrong before? I've never done any clutch work in my life. But I'm guessing maybe something was lodged in the clutch disc, caught either between the flywheel or the pressure plate... screwing things up, until it flew out. Does that make any sense?