I could be way off here (and prob am!) but on all the examples I have seen of a knackered clutch release bearing the rattle goes away once the clutch is depressed, and you only get the rattle of the bearing when the clutch is not engaged? Admittedly this has been on cable operated clutches and not on Saabs so as I say could be way off..

Just thinking out loud..
Ant

 

When I've had this on a C900 it was indeed noisy when the clutch was not depressed but the noise went away with a slight movement of the pedal. However, I suppose a bearing could be noisy under pressure instead.

I just replaced the bearing. The slave has to come out along with the bearing and the rest of the clutch but the whole job was so easy that I decided not to bother replacing anything else until it failed. Everything looked in good condition and it meant I didn't have tio bleed the slave cylinder afterwards. This was on a non-turbo, as I believe Debs' car is. There is more pipework to move on a turbo to gain access to the clutch.

On removal, it was obvious the bearing was knacked.

 

I would recomend replacing the slave, or at least put a seal kit in it. They don't last for ever, and for my money I would rather take the five or ten minutes it would take to put seals in than doing the job all over again. You might also want to consider replacing the rear main engine seal as well. The rear seal can be a little trickey though. I just replaced the slave, and the seal in my 9000, and found that the procedure outlined on the quasimotor site was very good. For the rear seal I found a old hub cover from a Izuzu trooper was the exact size needed to drive the seal home. I used a length of wood to drive it in. You must take care to be sure that the seal goes in evenly, check it after every blow of the hammer so that it does not get pressed in unevenly. If it does it will bend, and leak. I posted on a procedure on this site I found that made bleeding the clutch pretty easy.

Hope this helps
Crash

 

Cheers, guys.

I've just ordered the bearing for now; I'll see what everything else is like when I get in there. As you say, Bill, the car is N/A so it's no big deal if I have to dive in there again.

 

That was exactly my thinking, Mark.

Crash, taking the C900 clutch out is a half-hour job if you take your time, unlike the gearbox-out procedure on the 9000. Taking that into consideration, I'd prefer to leave well alone.

 

Follow up. Replacing the release bearing didn't solve the problem. The clutch was almost completely worn so I put it down to that and got another one to fit, which I did the other weekend (45 minutes!).

That didn't cure it either!!

A quick trip up to my indy... who asked "Did you replace the spigot bearing". No, I didn't

So, took a spigot bearing and took the clutch out again, flywheel off and sure enough the spigot bearing was mullered.

He says they normally recommend doing the spigot bearing when you do a C900 clutch- it's only a tenner and an extra 15 minutes or so to fit.