I have developed a very loud squeaking noise in the area of the bell housing on my 240D with a recently swapped 4 speed manual. The noise is there when the car is idling and driving but it goes away as soon as you press the clutch pedal. Any suggestions on the cause? The entire clutch was brand new when I did the 4 speed swap last winter and it only has about 700 miles on it. I'm not excited about dropping the transmission again but it looks like it will need to come out.

Sounds a bit like the trouble JB3 had with his astro van conversion - I'll try and dig out the necessary...

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I've remembered that incorrectly - his problem was related to custom flywheels and adapter plates...

...OK...

Clutch pedal down - clutch friction plates away from the flywheel - no drive to the gearbox.

Clutch pedal up - everything connected

Squeaking in neutral and in every other gear = possibly lay shaft bearings...

...so have you checked the oil level recently?

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Oil was changed when I had the transmission out before. I think I'll change it again and see if that does anything. It wasn't making any funny noises in the donor car IIRC but I only drove it once to get it up to speed in all gears.

I was thinking of something you can do with out removing the gearbox...

...could be the clutch release bearing...

...you can also check the position of the slave cylinder plunger up against the clutch pack without removing the gearbox - but after that that's about it...

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

My initial guess is also the clutch release bearing. Second guess is the bearing in the end of the crankshaft (don't remember the proper term for that just now). Regardless, I think you need to pull the transmission to see what's going on.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

Thing is it is more typical for the clutch release bearing to be making noise when it is holding the clutch away from the flywheel - but I think I've heard tell of them causing trouble the other way round too...

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Reviving this thread since the weather is getting nice and I'm getting motivated to get the 240D back in service.

I'm planning on pulling the transmission at some point in the next month or so and was wondering if its possible the clutch fork could be the culprit. It seemed much looser than the fork on the 5 speed that I installed in the 300TE and almost wanted to fall off a couple of times while I was installing the transmission.