Spigot bush failure?

Morning All,

I've got a slightly odd fault with my 110 300tdi. At idle or revving when not moving the engine is sweet. At speed (and in gear) the engine is sweet. However when I depress the clutch whether to come to a stop or change gear just as the engine is returning to idle speed I get something of a screeching noise. It sounds almost like a belt but I've ruled that out because it doesn't make the noise when it's idling and stationary.

My first thought was the spigot bush or bearing (or perhaps the clutch release bearing) but would like to rule out any slightly less expensive / time consuming issues first!

Any ideas? Thanks,

Jon

spigot bush is unlikely on a 300 but the way to tell between spigot bush and release bearing is bush will only be noisy at half pedal noise will go when pedal fully depressed ,bearing will be noisyall the time your foot takes up the slack on pedal

Thanks James. Its noisy when the clutch is fully depressed but fine when the engine is engaged.

From what you say and the symptoms I have it might not be either as it should either be noisy all the time or noisy until the clutch pedal is half depressed - this is noisy when the clutch is depressed and only as the engine is returning to idle! Any other ideas?!!

The other thought I had was that it might be the cam belt idler but I replaced that when I did the belt about 3000 miles ago and I can't see why it wouldn't do it when it is idling.

i had this problem with my 300tdi and was squeeling like hell whenever you put any pressure on the pedal.
I just figured that whilst i was in there i would change the whole thing as its not too expensive, if your doing it yourself.
when i got in and split the gearbox from the block the bearing was jammed in the back of the pressure plate and the little plastic lugs had melted down into the bearing. needless to say the bearing was solid and wouldnt turn at all the fork was also knackered cause it pressing against the whole thing had worn the wee metal lugs down.

anyway i changed the whole clutch assembly and put in a hd clutch fork for under 120 quid and all is good now.

Thanks Jugg. Can't quite work out what was jammed - was it the release bearing that was the culprit?

Sounds like I'm splitting the box then - I'd agree with you that it can't be sensible not to change everything while the box is split.

What sort of a job is it? I've got a pit and am fairly handy with the spanners, but equally have a proper job and can't really afford for it to be off the road for too long.

Thanks for the help.

Update...

After much searching, head scratching etc etc I found it was the fan that had siezed causing the screech. It was the fact that it would only do it under load that made it more difficult to work out but hanging a head out of the window while driving tied it down to the engine bay rather than bell housing.

Replaced the fan and all is fine. Yet another element falls prey to the Billing mud run last year. Still good fun though!

Thanks for the suggestions.