F1 Clutch squeal

[ecarca]

Hi,

My clutch is squealing. I guess this is the famous bearing problem. Is that correct?

What it does is that when I am starting from a stop, it squeals, maybe for 1.5 to 2 seconds, so quite a long squeal. The engagement is also probably a tiny beat slower than usual. I can avoid that giving it very slight throttle instead of flooring it right away...

I am not overly worried. My clutch had was already at 70% of its life according to the reading when I got the car at 23500km, It is now around 32500km and the squeal started only recently. Before that, it would only squeal if I was in 2nd gear on a parking ramp. Remember that my use of the car is mostly hyper urban, so it probably does not help. This said, I only drive in sport mode.

There was only a very few occurrences (less than 10 in total in the last 6 months) of clutch slippage after being very rough on the car, so I guess it still has quite some time before it dies.

I've seen these complete kits (including bearings, flywheel, sensor) for sale on ebay at 2300 USD. Is it what I need? In any case, I might purchase the kit now but will only replace the clutch when it is very close to the end of its lifetime, so when it will slip too often.

Thanks for your recommendations.

 

[conaero]

Yes that is correct, it will not affect the clutch it's more irritating than anything else.

I would buy genuine parts from Maserati as they only sell the upgraded spigot bearing.

Clutch plate and cover should cost £500 plus another £300 for the clutch bearing and £100 for the spigot bearing, seals and a few other bits. Labour to fit at Maserati shout be about £1000.

My advise is to drive it till it breaks.

 

[midlifecrisis]

Just had my clutch replaced, it was at 87% wear, and squealled like a banshee. Since I'm going on this trip I chose to replace the clutch AMD the release bearing. Costs were a bit about what Matt said, but no more squeal and 100% clutch wear available for the trip and not 13%!

 

[2b1ask1]

ecarca, be positive when pulling away and you either won't get the squeal or you can reduce it to a fraction of a second, dithering or going gently doesn''t stop the squeal and actually increases clutch wear, I'm on a very high mileage clutch that squeals all the time so I've got quite adept at driving through it

 

[ecarca]

Thanks for the tips

It doesn't squeal all the time. I am just back from the garage, I replaced one of the high beam connectors by smaller connectors because it was melted and no more high beam on one side. Maserati wanted to change the headlight, so we just found out 2 standard pin connectors from some kind of plug that was lying in the garage, cut the wires, put one pin connector on each pole of the bulb and "voilà". On the way back, driving without MSP, I just floored it at the light and I guarantee there was no squeal LOL

This complete clutch kit at 2300 USD on ebay has the Maserati OEM bearings. I guess thus this is the upgraded spigot bearing. It has the flywheel too. Should I replace the flywheel or not?

I will have the clutch fitted at a local garage here. Maserati do not accept you coming with your parts plus they charge 5 times the regular labour rate for a quality that is inferior to the standard one, not even equal... It might only be the case of our dealership here in Shanghai, but it is quite annoying. So I will have local labour rate I don't expect more than 200 GBP. I know I won't be able to reset the life indicator but it doesn't really matter as long as I know when the clutch was changed.

Well I will deal with the squeal for now and we will see later. I will purchase a new clutch when it starts to slip more regularly.

 

[CatmanV2]

I think the SD is absolutely needed to set it up at all, isn't it?

Not just for the life indicator, but to tell the TCU *where* the new PIS point is.

C

 

[hodroyd]

Just had my clutch done at around 75%, I was not sure about the wear indicator and going to Italy, so decision made..!! Total cost with clutch, release bearing, spigot bearing etc and labour, will not be far off £1,500 using OE parts..!!

 

[stefanocirillo]

I have a slight groan when i pull away but it only seems to happen from cold? As mentioned if i pull away more forcefully it only makes the sound for a second. Doed that sound like clutch bearing too? Always drive in sport mode. I guess i will keep driving until it goes completely....

 

[ecarca]

I have a slight groan when i pull away but it only seems to happen from cold? As mentioned if i pull away more forcefully it only makes the sound for a second. Doed that sound like clutch bearing too? Always drive in sport mode. I guess i will keep driving until it goes completely....

Seems like it yes. For me it is usually when its cold but stays kind of all the time these days. And maybe has a tendency to come back after a beating
Let's drive them until they give up on us.

 

[Chrisbassett]

I always though of it as a "hoot" sound, like a startled owl was living in my clutch. It went away for a while when I had the clutch done & bearing replaced, but came back again eventually.

From what I understand, it's just the outer casing of the bearing rotating inside the part its attached to, which isn't doing much damage to anything.

 

[2b1ask1]

It sits in a hot and abrasive place with the clutch dust and all so no suprise the have this issue. I'm really not fussed by it.