Bizzy
SHO Member
- Joined
- May 1, 2001
- Messages
- 13,222
- Reaction score
- 1,462
All is well, but I feel that you all should know the outcome of the situation regarding what I thought was a problem with the ceramic throw out bearing (TOB) purchased from Josh at SHO Nut.
When listening to my car in the beginning there was a ticking sound in the area of the trans which would go away when the clutch pedal was depressed. Eventually the sound grew louder as some of you heard from my audio clips. After contacting Josh and John (the maker of the TOBs) they were also concerned and so Josh invited me to his place so they could take out the trans to find out exactly what was wrong.
To make a very long story short, there were NO PROBLEMS with the TOB itself. It came out looking as new as it was on the day it was installed. It passed several rigorous tests with flying colors. There was no damage to the bearing what-so-ever, there was no damage to my pressure plate or any other component. Very normal wear was seen for the 6k miles that had been put on it since it was installed.
The problem actually was inside my transmission. Apparently the VSS connection was leaking quite badly. I have to add this disclaimer...I have had a leak in my power steering cooler. It has been leaking for quite some time now so when I saw the fluid that had leaked out on the concrete in my driveway it did not raise my eyebrows nor did it cause me any concern because I thought I knew what it was. Had I been thinking I would have (& should have) kept my eye on the fluid level inside the tranny. We discovered upon opening up the case on the tranny that there was maybe 2 TBS of fluid left inside which is what was causing the noise (shrieking) that I was hearing - the tranny was running essentially dry, and the dry bearings were making noise.
Josh replaced one of the damaged bearings - the input shaft bearing - and a seal as well as the VSS itself, put new fluid inside and now all is well and she drives as well as the first day I drove her home. Amazingly, the remaining bearings that were run dry do not make any noise. I guess I got really lucky because bearings get destroyed quickly with no fluid. I owe Josh and John both my car's life, for had they not volunteered to open her up for me (and so quickly I might add) I would more than likely be dead in the water and be in the market for a new transmission.
So, for all of you who were concerned about buying the ceramic TOB...DON'T BE. It has a perfect track record even still. While I was there I saw the TOB that came out of Jason Gibb's car with 30k + miles on it and it looked as new as mine did with 6K miles on it. These guys have a quality product to offer you so buy away. My weekend was just a very small example of how committed Josh (& John as the maker) are to this product and well being of the SHOs in our community as a whole. Rest assured that you will get a quality product.
If anyone has any questions ask away. I hope that you all will learn from my mistake. If your tranny is making even a slightly strange noise, the very first thing you should check is the fluid level...even if you don't notice any traces of a leak in your driveway.
This is all very embarrassing for me as it was a very simple thing to prevent, but in all fairness to Josh & John it had to be posted publicly as my previous post where I thought it was the TOB could have caused those who were interested in buying one to not buy because of my issue.
Many thanks to Josh and John for making time as quickly as you did to help me out. You both went way beyond the call of duty and it is much appreciated.
<small>[ January 14, 2003, 10:13 PM: Message edited by: Bizzy ]</small>
When listening to my car in the beginning there was a ticking sound in the area of the trans which would go away when the clutch pedal was depressed. Eventually the sound grew louder as some of you heard from my audio clips. After contacting Josh and John (the maker of the TOBs) they were also concerned and so Josh invited me to his place so they could take out the trans to find out exactly what was wrong.
To make a very long story short, there were NO PROBLEMS with the TOB itself. It came out looking as new as it was on the day it was installed. It passed several rigorous tests with flying colors. There was no damage to the bearing what-so-ever, there was no damage to my pressure plate or any other component. Very normal wear was seen for the 6k miles that had been put on it since it was installed.
The problem actually was inside my transmission. Apparently the VSS connection was leaking quite badly. I have to add this disclaimer...I have had a leak in my power steering cooler. It has been leaking for quite some time now so when I saw the fluid that had leaked out on the concrete in my driveway it did not raise my eyebrows nor did it cause me any concern because I thought I knew what it was. Had I been thinking I would have (& should have) kept my eye on the fluid level inside the tranny. We discovered upon opening up the case on the tranny that there was maybe 2 TBS of fluid left inside which is what was causing the noise (shrieking) that I was hearing - the tranny was running essentially dry, and the dry bearings were making noise.
Josh replaced one of the damaged bearings - the input shaft bearing - and a seal as well as the VSS itself, put new fluid inside and now all is well and she drives as well as the first day I drove her home. Amazingly, the remaining bearings that were run dry do not make any noise. I guess I got really lucky because bearings get destroyed quickly with no fluid. I owe Josh and John both my car's life, for had they not volunteered to open her up for me (and so quickly I might add) I would more than likely be dead in the water and be in the market for a new transmission.
So, for all of you who were concerned about buying the ceramic TOB...DON'T BE. It has a perfect track record even still. While I was there I saw the TOB that came out of Jason Gibb's car with 30k + miles on it and it looked as new as mine did with 6K miles on it. These guys have a quality product to offer you so buy away. My weekend was just a very small example of how committed Josh (& John as the maker) are to this product and well being of the SHOs in our community as a whole. Rest assured that you will get a quality product.
If anyone has any questions ask away. I hope that you all will learn from my mistake. If your tranny is making even a slightly strange noise, the very first thing you should check is the fluid level...even if you don't notice any traces of a leak in your driveway.
This is all very embarrassing for me as it was a very simple thing to prevent, but in all fairness to Josh & John it had to be posted publicly as my previous post where I thought it was the TOB could have caused those who were interested in buying one to not buy because of my issue.
Many thanks to Josh and John for making time as quickly as you did to help me out. You both went way beyond the call of duty and it is much appreciated.
<small>[ January 14, 2003, 10:13 PM: Message edited by: Bizzy ]</small>
