*I have had "gearbox rattle" for about 6 months now whenever in neutral, I have read this is caused by a loose throw out bearing OR the release bearing, can someone confirm this?

Okay, so earlier today I was driving along doing about 40mph and then I pull up to a stop light. It was at this point where I shifted my car into neutral and took my foot off the clutch. My car then proceeded to idle for about 10sec, then it jerk and died; The same way it would if you left it in gear and just stopped. I started it back up and then I could not shift into any gear at all. I waited for about 10sec for it to work itself out and then I could shift into 1st. I then proceeded to pull over and check to see what was going on, it all looked okay, so I left. Then as I was leaving I put my car into reverse and slowly let the clutch in and gave it some gas, but the car didn't move at all (it felt as if the E-Brake was on, and it WAS NOT ON) until I juiced it and forced the RPMs above 5000, which at this point it began to move backwards, but also jerked back and fourth quite violently (Clutch chatter?) I took it to a friend who took it for a spin and told me it was my clutch was really close to going out. It seems possible since I am running about 7psi boost on a 420a on an Eclipse with 87,000 miles on it. Can you guys please help me out? I really appreciate everyone taking time to read this and to help me out, thank you so very much.

~Alex

those symptoms dont sound like just the clutch going out. Violent jerks as you described dont point to the clutch at all. You may have the following problems:

-a clutch to flexplate bolt working its way loose
-a flywheel to block/crank bolt working its way loose
-or worse, an internal trans problem.

I'm sorry, but if it continues, you would want to pull it off and inspect before you lose your transmission.

6 months is a very long time to drive with gearbox rattle. You really took a chance doing that. Hard to say what damamge was caused. In this situation, pull the trans and see what is going on in there. Perhaps the TOB gave up, and did not take your pressure plate and/or clutch with it.

I say new tranny after dropping and inspecting it, you can try a new clutch first and see how that works out. just make sure you install it correctly.

Theres a few write ups how to drop the trans through here, just search the forums for it.

Im actually still using and following it to this day, makes it really simple and easy to follow just in case you miss a step along the way.


http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/eatonclutchsupply/

You can get a new clutch from there, cheapest in the US that i have been able to find, unless you know someone or course lol

There main website is, eatonclutchsupply.com