Possible clutch master or slave cylinder problem?

About a week or so ago my clutch on my 99 NB started making a noise. Sort of a whirring, low grind kind of noise when the clutch pedal is pressed all the way to the floor. When it does it I can even feel it on the stick shifter. It doesn't do it all the time and when it does do it I can put the car in neutral, let the clutch out and the noise quits. It may or may not return when I push the clutch pedal back down. Guessing it's possibly a throw-out bearing.

This weekend while autocrossing at mineral wells my clutch pedal quit working after my fourth run. no pedal, just went to the floor. I finally managed to get enough of a pedal to limp my way home and bought a new clutch slave cylinder to install. There was no evidence of any fluid leakage. Went to replace it the other night and it turned out that the upper bolt on the slave cylinder was missing and had allowed it to rotate way over and the plunger was extended way out and at a pretty sharp angle to the release fork on the bell housing.

I rotated the slave cylinder back over where it should be, put in a new bolt, and replaced/bleed the fluid since it was dirty. Now I have my clutch pedal back but I'm still getting the noise with the clutch pressed. Any possibility that this is related to the slave cylinder? i.e. with the bolt missing, I'm guessing that the release fork wasn't being pressed as far as it should have and possibly this is when I first started noticing the noise. Is it possible that the master or slave isn't working as well as it should failing to fully press the release fork at times and letting it make the noise? I'm trying to decide if it's worth replacing the master and slave to see if it will correct the issue. If not, then I guess I'll be replacing the clutch soon :-(

Any thoughts?

Oh yeah, so I parked the 99 NB Sunday when I got home and got my 90 NA out of the garage to drive until the 99 was fixed. Tuesday evening as I was arriving back home from work I pulled in the driveway, pushed the clutch in and guess what.... no clutch pedal :-( apparently the slave cylinder on it decided to go also. I checked and at least it still had both the bolts. What's the odds of that happening to anybody else other than me? ::Rant::

TIA,
Keith

+1 for the throw-out bearing. Time to call Rogue. ;)

We should start calling you lucky!

How loud is the noise??

+1 on the throw-out bearing. How many miles on the car? While you are in there, go for the full clutch kit and rear main seal. The labor would be the same cost.

Quote:

Originally Posted by POS Racing

How loud is the noise??

Not too loud. just enough to be a little annoying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cone-cerned

+1 on the throw-out bearing. How many miles on the car? While you are in there, go for the full clutch kit and rear main seal. The labor would be the same cost.

180k on the car so I'm sure it's due for everything you mentioned. The front seal is also leaking and I had already bought the parts to do the timing belt, water pump, main seal, cam seals, etc. wonder if I wouldn't be as well off at this point to remove the radiator cap and slide a whole new car underneath it :-) Actually by the time I replace everything I know about I may be better off just replacing the engine/transmission with a low mileage replacement.