I've got one for you guys. I had my clutch and flywheel replaced this week as per the service bulletin. Thankfully, the dealership did it for free without much hassle (other than the fact that they took a week). However, when they were doing the work, they said that one of the clips holding my throwout bearing in was badly bent and almost broken off. I had to pay $160 for a new throwout bearing assembly (I'm trying to get SOA to pay for that too). The dealership claimed that they had never seen a bent throwout bearing bracket before. I'd never heard of a throwout bearing problem on the 5mt either. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar problem. Also, could the clutch shudder problem have caused a problem with the throwout bearing?
Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

psycho

 

Note: pertains to 2002 WRX.

Possibly. At first I thought 'no', because of the way the throwout bearing sits on the input shaft collar it helps keep it in alignment. The clutch disc itself is sprung to absorb driveline shock when it engages the flywheel. Then I thought that if the clutch shudder issue was severe, it might transfer much of that shuddering force to the throwout bearing regardless of the cushioning effect of the clutch disc.

A throwout bearing that isn't able to apply pressure evenly to the clutch cover plate may exacerbate the clutch shudder problem. So the problem might become worse over time.

I've got 48k miles on my MY02 WRX with no issues on original clutch/flywheel/throwout bearing. Maybe another member has had a similar problem to yours.

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