My workhorse HC estate tends to get a bit neglected - a while ago there was a nasty metallic scraping noise on each rotation of the engine when the clutch is depressed - this was indicating to me something metallic loose in the clutch department - due to other distraction this was ignore and then went away. Last week it was back so decided it was time to investigate - broken clutch plate spring or pressure plate finger broken off we favourites
Stripped the gearbox off - release bearing was not looking too hot but would not explain the clacking noise - pressure plate looked ok - clutch plate wearing thin on the flywheel side but all the springs were in place - spigot bearing looked ok too So nothing obvious
replaced the clutch plate and the clutch release bearing and started putting it all back together. When I was about to put the cover plate on the bottom of the bell housing to keep the dirt and road grim off the flywheel I noticed that the flywheel had been rubbing on the plate
Could this be the cause of the noises? - my thought is that there is end float in the crank shaft and that when the clutch release bearing engages with the pressure plate it pushes the flywheel forward thus rubbing on the cover plate.
I will leave the cover plate off initially and se if the noises have gone - if so then try putting the plate back and seeing if the noise returns
Any thoughts on the situation will be welcome