I own a 02 Legacy GT wagon with manual transmission, and love it... but there are just few little things that I have noticed for some time but haven't taken the time to find out what is happening. The thing I would most like to know the answer to is this- when the car is fully warmed up, after being driven for maybe 20 minutes or so under normal city conditions, the clutch pedal, when pressed down makes a 'creaking' noise/feel only between about the last inch or so and the floor. It doesn't have anything to do with what gear it is in, it just seems isolated to the clutch. Happens when car has been turned off as well. It doesn't affect anything, but feels a little weird and you can hear it from outside the car if it is idling. I started thinking I should do something about this when I noticed myself trying to get home from work before the creaking started

 

If anyone knows what this might be caused by, please let me know. Thank you!!!

It could be your throwout bearing. A bad bearing will make a squealing noise just as soon as the clutch is engaged.

 

How many miles on it? The bearings will usually last quite a while, but that depends on factors like holding the clutch pedal in at stop lights. Maybe it wasn't greased properly at the factory.

It has about 17,000 miles on it, however mainly city driving.

This seems to affect the 01/02 models Legacy, Outback, Impreza and Forester.

The point where the clutch slave actuator contacts the clutch fork has to be greased with a lithium type grease. If you use a standard grease or wheel bearing grease, the creak WILL come back.

This is under the hood, below the air filter, on the drivers side. Push the actuator rod back into the clutch slave enough to allow you to clean the point of contact, them apply a small dab on lithium grease. Less than a 5 minutes job after you find where the clutch slave/release fork is.

Then slowly push in the clutch pedal repeatedly about 1/3 of it's travel until it fills the slave and pushes the rod out to contact the release fork again. At this point you will feel pressure once again at the pedal. I caution against 'flooring' the clutch pedal as the seals may get damaged.

Good Luck...:-)

I know how to really fix it! install a cable clutch:brow:

 

ScoobySchmitty:banana:

Two people above have hit it right on. More than likely its the grease problem. But I've also had a bad throw-out bearing make that noise on my '98.