Weird tapping/thudding noise after clutch job

[afskwarek]

Hi there

My transmission started to slip every now and then. Especially at high gear, high rpms. Typical signs of the clutch wearing out. Anyways, I did a clutch job. Everything was great until I took it for a test drive and around starting around 50mph there is a weird thuding/tapping sound coming from the transmission area. It taps at a rate of around six-seven taps per second. The tap is much more noticeable when my foot is off the gas and no power is applied. Happens when in neutral and with the engine off as well while coasting. Also, the car was shifting fine for awhile. But on the way back third gear would shift fine, but shifter wouldn't go all the way forward.

Idk what the deal is, pretty sure I did everything right. But I guess not. I've done clutch jobs twice before. Getting the transmission splines lined up and mated to the engine was a huge pain in the a** though. Not sure if that had anything to do with it.

[billr]

Were you able to finally push the bell-housing all the way against the engine by hand, or did you resort to forcing the mating using the trans-to-engine screws?

Did you change the flywheel?

How about the shift cables, did those get disconnected from both the shift arms and the bell-housing?

[afskwarek]

Please disregard what I said about the shifter not going forward all the way. I haven't driven a Saturn in a few months and forgot the shifter doesn't actaully go that far forward. Drove another one and remembered it was normal. Whoops

[afskwarek]

Alright, so after taking a closer look after work, turns out it was a whole lot of nothing. Checked the diff pin. It was fine. It ended up being me being an idiot and not fully seating the lower shift cable clip. It came out and caused all sorts of weirdness. Apparently, the weird shifting situation wasn't my imagination.

[billr]

I did one of these clutches, for the first time, a couple of weeks ago. I am well aware of how tricky it is to get those big U-clips holding the cable housings back in (one reason why it wasn't the "easiest ever" clutch job...). When you hinted there was some shifting problem, those clips were the first thing that popped into my mind.