Is my u-joint going out?

[Strider]

when I am in the car coasting at around 5-10mph the car is fine when I am out of gear or in gear. Only time I get the clicking and back and forth motion is when I am in gear with the cluch to the flore. When I let out and start giving it gas the car is fine. Even coasting in gear is fine. The sound is like click...click....click....and I can fill it each time like it's trying to stop the car cuz it's catching on something.

Thanks for all the ideas. I hope it's not the u-join because I heard I will have to replace the whole drive shaft if so...

Strider

[sammm]

CV joint?

[Strider]

Wouldn't is make the noise if it's in gear or not then?

[Walsted]

My universal joint only made noise in reverse and when coasting when it was going out. No noise if the car was in gear going forward.

Hope this helps

[Strider]

well when this rain stops and I get a chance to look under the car what should I look for? My dad said if the u-joint is going out I will be able to move it back and forth. Not sure if anyone has a better way to explain how to tell if it's going bad or not. LoL

[motorollow]

If its bad you will be able to see the damage.

[OZMDD]

The play in a u-joint should be minimal if it is ok. The worse it gets, the more you can wiggle it noticeably. Usually a u-joint will wear out one side worse than the others. Its not too tough to disconnect the drive shaft so that you can take a close look at it. If you don't trust your skills or don't know what to check, you might be better off taking it to Track Dog Racing in Dallas or Miata Solutions if you are closer to N FW.

[Jiggerachi]

FWIW, even you can wiggle the driveshaft and it makes the offending clank, still take a closer look. In my case the clutch springs/bearings were going out making clicking noises and allowing almost 1in of rotational play. The driveshaft(well, clutch) clanked when wiggled. Ujoints were still good.

However in my case, in second at low speed, clutch out I could tap the gas and recreate the clanking noise. Might not be your problem, but something to think about.

Take a look at the busted springs, the spindle was pretty much free to move.




Edit, re-reading sounds more like something might be clanging inside the bell housing. The driveshaft/rest of drivetrain should be static with respect to clutch engagement. If the clutch fork got bent or something came out of allignment, could it cause the clutch plate to clang on something?

In both my miata and honda those springs broke and did weird things. In the honda a piece of the spring wedged somewhere preventing the clutch from even releasing.

[Strider]

FWIW, even you can wiggle the driveshaft and it makes the offending clank, still take a closer look. In my case the clutch springs/bearings were going out making clicking noises and allowing almost 1in of rotational play. The driveshaft(well, clutch) clanked when wiggled. Ujoints were still good.

However in my case, in second at low speed, clutch out I could tap the gas and recreate the clanking noise. Might not be your problem, but something to think about.

Take a look at the busted springs, the spindle was pretty much free to move.

Just what I wanted to hear. I have been having problems shifting into gears. It's a pain to get into first some times I have to get the car rolling to get it to slide in. So I have been thinking that my pressure plate is bad some how. The shifting problem has been going on for over a year now but has not really gotten any worse. I just replaced the master and slave cylinders and that did not fix my clutch problems so I have been thinking I need to replace the pressure plate. Think that could very well be the cause of my noise? The noise is a new problem and seems to be getting worse and the car is my daily driver.

Thanks for the idea Jiggerachi