Hey ppl I need help. Iv noticed that when moving off in 1st, when bringing the clutch up to biting point, the car makes a slightly high pitched 'wheel spinning' squealing noise. Im bringing the biting point up quite slowly with more than enough gas. I have the mk1 1.6 and its done 80k.

Any help please?

Might just be a belt slipping - does it do it more when the weather is wet?

Nope it sounds the same. Sometimes its not a high pitch screech but a low pitched noise. Also might just be me but I hear a rattling too when moving off

Sounds like it might be the DMF (dual mass flywheel) then - if possible get an expert to look at the car (you may be able to get a mechanic/ smaller independant garage to diagnose it for free, in order to give you a quote)- can be quite expensive to fix (for both parts and labor)

Yeh best to get it checked out. Also ive just bought this car and used to have a fiesta 1.3 and im still trying to get used to the higher biting point and when to lift off and how much gas to put down. When giving it a lot of gas and slowwwly bringing the biting point up, it makes no noise......so its either cos im a newbie or what you just said about the DMF. Ill definately get it checked out though just in case

aviod 'MR CLUTCH' i wouldnt reccomend to my worst enemy, had a bad experience few years ago with them and since then have never heard anything good about them

The 1.6 petrol doesn't have a dmf so no need to worry about it. The squeal is caused by the clutch disc glazing ( general wear and tear) and used to affect escorts quite badly. It's not a sign of anything worse happening. If it gets on your nerves too much changing the clutch will cure it.

Thanks clutchman. Had me worried there for a sec. How much do reckon a garage would charge to change the clutch?

Varies, depending who you go to. £250-£350 all in. I've no idea what Ford charge but there's no need to used main agents if you don't want to pay through the nose. The job is straightforward and genuine or patterned parts readily available