adammj

First of all, thanks for any ideas you might have here...

My throwout bearing is in need of replacing. That, I'm pretty sure of. Bearing that in mind - no pun intended - I get a strange and unnerving scraping sound coming from in or near the bell housing on a cold startup when the clutch is NOT depressed. The sound changes when I step on the clutch (evidence of the bad bearing).

I would compare it to, well, the sound a bad bearing makes I guess. Except it can't be the TOB if the pedal depressed, right? Reminds me of the metal-on-metal scraping sound your brakes make right when they're about to go.

Here's the catch. The sound only shows up when it's below about 55F outside. Any warmer, and I don't hear it and of course, when the engine warms up to full operating temp., the sound goes away entirely.

I just drained and filled the transmission for the second time. Did it once at 44k and now again at 72k. Normal fine metal filings. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Thoughts? Please don't say input shaft bearing. That repair's gotta be a nightmare.

Thanks