Throw out bearing?
 

Back in 2018 at about 98k miles my throw out bearing failed. From what I remember, white smoke coming out of the hood, real bad and loud grinding noises. I’m guessing the transmission shop replaced with an OEM tob, but I wasn’t even thinking about it at the time. Fast forward to now with 155k miles, my car sat for 3 weeks while I was out of town and when I drove it when I got back 2 weeks ago I noticed a humming, almost light hissing, noise when the clutch is pressed lightly or engaged. Noise goes away when not touching the pedal, and doesnt happen when I touch the pedal in idle.
Guessing it’s the tob? But what’s odd is the noise is only there half the time when I’m driving, not every time. Is this just early stage failure and the noise will likely continue to worsen until it fails? Also does anyone know roughly
how much time you usually have before it’s really gotta be changed? Thinking about tackling it myself but it’s been quite a while since I’ve done a job near that big before, and just have my garage space to try.

Any help is super appreciated!

I caught mine early and the first sign was a whistling noise like a turbo BOV when the clutch pedal was pressed. It just started one morning and was extremely consistent for the 5 minutes it took to turn around and bring it home. Replacing the TOB fixed it.

Better to replace the TOB as soon as possible rather than wait for it. It IS a big project for most people who want to tackle it for the first time, but it's fairly an easy/intermediate job if you know what you're doing. There are several YouTube videos for tutorials on doing the TOB/Clutch replacement.

You may want to pick up a transmission jack from Harbor Freight if you want to DIY, but if you have someone who can help you take out the transmission, it won't be necessary. Below is the link to do the Clutch/TOB replacement.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25054

Also, if you want to spend a little more on the TOB, I would suggest getting the Battle Garage TOB if you want longevity. It's $200+ BGRS TOB vs. $80+ OEM TOB.

https://shop.battlegarage-rs.com/pro...earing-upgrade

Or get a PDM TSK. Super smooth actuation without having to replace the snout itself. Replacement bearings are expensive because dumb reasons, but there's always a trade off.

Great information in the last 2 replies, Thanks guys!