clutch or gearbox problem?

[VarG]

hi all,

over the past couple of days i have a problem i'm not sure about.

started getting a weird noise, sort of like a faint "grinding" sort of thing which i at first thought might be knackered alternator bearings.

but its gotten a lot worse and it seems to be something to do with the clutch.

this morning the clutch pedal feels really strange, it's sort of like imagine that the clutch operated with oil in it and it was all lovely and smooth - well imagine that clutch operating dry without oil and its kind of how i imagine it would feel (i know there is no clutch fluid in a saxo but its the best i could think to describe it), and there's a strange horrible noise that definitely has something to do with clutch operation.

what's also weird is that the clutch seems to work pretty much fine?
it DOES feel a little sketchy now moving off in 1st but it does engage and pull - i can change gear fine, all gears work fine and i can move off from stationary in 1st, 2nd and 3rd and it pulls strongly (it just feels and sounds wrong) - if the clutch was going i would have thought that would not be happening?

i am not in any way a professional mechanic or anything but i do enjoy messing about with the spanners on my car so i was hoping someone my have any idea of what i should be looking at.

thank you very much :-)

[Gabbastard]

Does the noise change or go away if you depress the clutch pedal? If so, clutch release bearing. Wont affect operation of clutch itself but can produce a horrible dry whirring noise.