Clutch/Throwout Bearing

[Newbury]

Can anyone confirm the use or nonuse of grease on a throwout bearing for my G20 (bearing provided by the dealer) that has a plastic inner sleeve.

My G20, 15,000 miles after the clutch was replaced by the dealer, was giving me a fit with hard pedal effort. So I replaced the cable which made zero difference. Soon after, I started getting a noise as I engaged/disengaged the clutch. Sometimes the clutch pedal would stick.

Infiniti was useless, so I decided to take the tranny off and see what was happening. I found that the throwout bearing and input shaft were covered with a sticky goo. Apparently, whatever lubricant the dealer used mixed with the clutch disc dust and caused all of the problems.

The shop manual and Haynes both say to use a lithium lubricant. Before I put this all back together, I decided to ask around and got an interesting answer from my local BMW dealer. They have a technical bulletin that says if the inner sleeve of the bearing is plastic, do not use a lubricant, as it will result in all of the problems I had.

This seems to make sense to me. Infiniti and Nissan are useless in getting an answer. If this is why the bearing failed, I think Infiniti should pay for the parts to repair. (But this won't happen, as I wasn't the owner when they repaired the clutch)

I would appreciate anyone elses opinion on "to grease or not to grease".

I have noticed alot of people have had problems with excessive pedal effort and wonder if alot of clutches are being repaired just to have the same problem in a relatively short time. The mechanics (other than BMW) haven't gotten the word that new bearings with a plastic inner sleeve don't need lubrication.

It's interesting an Infiniti parts guy argued that the G20 bearing they sell doesn't have a plastic inner sleeve until he pulled the part from the shelf. He looked at the part and said "I had no idea they were plastic".

[P11GT]

if youre refering to the Thrush bearing then it shouldnt be made of plastic. Ive recently replaced my clutch and both the stock bearing and uprated bearing were both made entirely of metal. Also, i didnt have to put grease on any part of it.

[Newbury]

I assume thrush bearing is a UK/European term and in the US it's throwout bearing. It slides on the transmission input shaft and puts pressure on the pressure plate when you step on the clutch pedal to.

Definitely the inner collar that makes contact with the input shaft is plastic. Plastic apparently only started being used in 1994 and based on the number of people I have spoken with not well known. Perhaps in the UK they have not switched.

I put everything together with no grease or lubricant on the inside bearing sleeve. Clutch pedal effort is so much easier than before.
We'll see how it holds up.