I have a 2002 Jaguar X-type with a standard transmission. When driving on the highway, the car made a ping sound and then about half an hour later, made a metallicy grinding sound and smelled like burning clutch. The noise went away when I put the clutch in, but came back when I released the clutch. The clutch seems to grab fine; no gears are slipping. I haven't driven it much since, but the noise has almost gone away. It still has a slight smell of burning clutch, but it's not near as bad as it first was. Do you have any idea what the problem could be?

 

first, I would check your hydraulic fluid (brake fluid reservoir) to make sure that your master or slave cylinder didn't see a catastrophic failure. Has anything else changed with the clutch other than the smell of burning clutch? I would assume that something has happened with either your master or your slave cylinder which allows your clutch to engage partially, but not all the way. To check that your clutch isn't slipping I would recommend putting it in second and slowly taking the engine up to 3500-4000 rpm. Then, stomp the gas and see if the clutch slips or not.

 

Do you notice any judder/shudder when starting out in first gear from a stop?

 

When I initially stopped the car to see what was going on when the grinding noise started it shuddered a bit, but it hasn't since. I really feel no difference when driving the car other than the slight smell it has.

 

The brake fluid reservoir is at it's normal level. Nothing else seems to have changed with the clutch other than the smell. How do I figure out if it's a problem with the master or slave cylinder? I'll try to check this afternoon to see if the clutch slips in second gear as you said to try.

 

It is possible, though highly unlikely, that one of the rivets, springs or other parts of the driven disc fell out and was lodged between the driven disc friction material and the pressure plate mating surface causing slippage and the resulting burning smell.

 

If that's the case, what's the best way to proceed? Can I just leave it as is or will more damage be done by the piece that's basically floating around? I assume to fix it I would need to replace the clutch pressure plate, bearing, and disc, which was what I was originally thinking.

By the way, thanks so much for all of your help so far! I really appreciate all of your input!

 

How many kilometres/miles on the vehicle?

 

It has 165,000 km on it.

 

That was exactly my first guess. He said it started when he was driving. The master or slave wouldn't have caused this if the clutch wasn't pushed in.


I would pull the boot that covers the inspection port on the top the the bell housing. Take a look in there and see if you see anything foreign. You could even take a telescoping magnet and fish in the bottom the housing to see if anything metallic is there.