I realize this is a long shot but am interested to see if you car guys have an answer
I have a 2007 tacoma 4 cylinder manual. When I released the clutch it would squeal. This isn’t the ‘typical’ clutch noise you find on googleing it. It was worse if the truck was loaded or if I revved it abouve 2 grand when releasing the clutch. If I had any real knowledge I would have guessed the through out bearing was the culprit
A couple of weeks ago, the e brake was sticking and took it in to the shop. They found a rear seal leak, fixed it, repaired the rear brakes and probably some work on the emergency brake.
Now the clutch squeal is gone. I can’t figure out how one unrelated repair would have apparently fixed the clutch noise.
Any ideas?
Ironically, this is opposite to what normally happens when you take it into the shop…
Maybe it was the brakes actually squealing. When you release the clutch, the vehicle starts moving. If something was wrong with the brakes, they could squeal then.
it was the seals in the rear differential. THe oil got all over the back wheel drums and brakes.
The squeal wasn’t always there, if I didn’t rev the engine above 2 grand or just rolled forward without load there was no squeal
What probably happened is the boss said “I’m taking a long lunch. Change the rear seal on that Tacoma while I’m gone” and then when he got back they were just putting the transmission back on…
More seriously, it could be that the squeal is gone simply because without the drag from the grabby rear brakes it’s engaging more easily. You could see if you can re-create the problem by trying to get the truck moving with the parking brake slightly applied. It could also be that they noticed the problem but were able to fix it by adjusting the clutch pedal and didn’t mention it because it only took a couple minutes.
Although I certainly wouldn’t discount JerrySTL’s theory. Stuff like that can have a way of telegraphing up the drivetrain. Having the clutch in or out can also change how the vibrations can travel and resonate, even if the problem isn’t related.
The mechanics took it for a test drive. They’d know how to make noise go away with a minutes effort… Perhaps only a very temporary solution, but enough for their purpose.
yes. In terms of the clutch mechanism itself, “releasing” it can mean “disengaging the engine from the transmission.” if you’re talking about the pedal, “releasing” can mean “taking your foot off of the pedal.”
If the noise was actually coming from the clutch, I would think it would have to be rooted in the surfaces of the flywheel/clutch disc/pressure plate. However, I don’t recall ever running across a noise like that, and I can’t think of a convincing explanation for why the stated repairs would affect it. One of the previous answers might be correct.
A squeaking noise right at the point where the clutch grabs is a pretty textbook release bearing problem. The only thing is I think it’s usually more pronounced when you’re releasing the clutch (putting the pedal down), but I believe it can sometimes be noticeable when you’re engaging the clutch (pedal up) because you usually linger near that engagement point as you get the car rolling.
Still no idea why the work on the rear differential would fix it though!