Squeaking and Grinding When Pressing Down Clutch

Let me ease your mind with one statement, your transmission has a problem or problems but doesn’t require the $2,000 investment in time and money you will need to replace your Hyundai’s manual transmission.

Let’s get to your specific issue, though. From the sound of it the problem area is the clutch/throw-out bearing/pressure plate and related parts. The reason I say it is because I am just repeating the information you gave me. However, to take this a bit further, when you press the clutch in, the throw-out bearing is activated and it pulls the clutch plate clear of the flywheel on the engine.

In all of this, the throw-out bearing is an actor with a limited role. It simple is activated by the clutch pedal and it causes the clutch plate to, as noted, separate from the engine. When you release the clutch pedal, the throw-out bearing relaxes and there is a hard connection between the engine and transmission.

I suspect the throw-out bearing is the culprit here. There are times when the bearing becomes lazy and sloppy causing shifting to become sloppy, though you don’t see this directly. Instead you receive noises like rocks being crushed or whining.

I’d have the throw-out bearing replaced asap to end the immediate problem. I would also have the clutch plate facing changed as it might also be slipping, causing the transmission to whine or grind.

Changing the throw-out bearing is roughly a $420 repair while the clutch plate facing costs about the same. If it still grinds after these repairs, have your tech look at the specific gears as there might be a problem there or it could be a synchronizer is failing.

Let me know what happen, will you?