A 1985 2.3 16v I bought several years ago sits on the yard and is only moved once in awhile ,when I do move it I have to gengerly slowly release the clutch or else I get a bang from the clutch releasing.Reverse is much ,much worse ,wont hold at all.The problem arose one day as I backed the car up in a hurry ,then moved forward which resulting in this issue.Could something be so worn in the rear suspention to cause an issue ?If so what would be some of the suspention components to look at first? To mention a few added items Ive replaced so far ,drive S centerlink bearing,frt &rear DS dampners, slave cylinder, bleed system.

What is the locus of the noise?

I do have a noise as the car sits at idle and out of gear were the pressure plate seems to be turning ,a bad throw out bearing perhaps?

"releasing" (highlight above)
Are you referring to the action of the pedal? Is the pedal jerky as you bring it up from the depressed position? Or does the word "releasing" actually mean the engagement characteristic of the clutch, that is, that the pedal moves smoothly but the clutch grabs or is jerky?

"wont hold"
Does the clutch fail to engage at all?

Does light pressure on the clutch pedal silence the noise you hear?

One possibility is that the transmission output yoke has stripped splines. The splines may just hold for forward rotation of the shaft, but not for reverse.

Typically the throw out bearing will only make noise when the clutch pedal is depressed, though I suppose a throwout bearing could get so bad that it would make noise all the time. The way you describe it sounds to me like the transmission might have a worn bearing, possibly the front bearing as that is turning if your trans is in neutral and the clutch is out. Do you think it might be possible that all this "jerkiness" or banging that you describe is coming from a very worn set of mainshaft transmission bearings? It is possible that some one, some where drove it many miles with a very low oil condition and you are seeing the results of that. That would also likely give you a reverse gear problem as reverse gear sits at the very back of the mainshaft, and perhaps you may even have a broken bearing on the mainshaft. I would suspect the transmission more then the suspension.

__________________
Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

Upon replacing the frt dampner the 3 bolts that were suppose to be tight were as follow,1 missing ,one tight ,and the last, loss.The unaligned type of load on that rear bearing would be damaging ,hate to think it was just loss bolts that caused this problem but the probability is their.Thanks for your analysis.