I have several concerns and I need to get some advice as to how I should proceed:
1. The other day after having driven the car I parked on a sidewalk for about 3hrs. When I went to leave, I took off (turning left) in 1st. The whole car shook as the clutch was being let out. I immediately put the clutch in, checked the parking brake, and took off again. Again, the whole car shook violently, and I put in the clutch. I said "screw it" and just took off, got through the violent vibrations, and got rolling.
Once I got going, there was no evidence of the shaking when either upshifting or downshifting, or taking off in first. I rode the clutch a little in 1st to see if I could duplicate, and I got a moderate pulsing through the pedal (although not through the steering or gas pedal or seat as from the first time) that I could tell was a similar yet lesser example of what I had experienced previously.
I have a sachs clutch kit... but is it the clutch or drivetrain? Was it just heatsoak from sitting that made the cluch grab erratically?
2. Whenever I take off out of first or reverse, there is excessive slack in the take-up of the tranny and/or clutch, resulting in a "clack" or metallic sounding "clunk". When I disengage the clutch while the car is under a little load, I get the same noise, as well. I have jacked the car up and taken the wheels off, and I am able to rotate the discs (both left and right) either foward or back while in gear for about an inch of circular rotation (measured at the outside of the disc) without any take up by the tranny. When the tranny does take up (and stops the easy rotation of the discs) it replicates the sound I hear in the previously mentioned situations. The slack is past the cv joint, as the axle moves in sync with the disc when I turn it, so it must be in the tranny or clutch.
What is going on here? Do I have a F***ed up tranny/clutch? Or is this normal drivetrain characteristics (which I doubt, because I have been around other CSVT's and none ever made that noise). If the tranny/clutch is messed up, what are the possibilities of what is going on?
3. Whenever I got over a bump in the road or make a fast shift, I hear a "click" in the front left wheel area. This noise surfaces both when I go over a bump with the front tires and with the rear. I have checked for loose/rattling items in the engine area, but have found none that might make this noise. When I first got the car, I don't recall hearing it, either.
Is this sound related to the other two issues? Or is it a normal sound generated by, for instance, swaybar movement or worn out strut bushings?
Sorry for the long post. I am very concerned, as the worst case scenario for these problems runs in the thousands of dollars and several weeks of time to fix. Anything you guys can do to help me troubleshoot would greatly help. Thanks.
