I recently bought a Del Sol knwoing it had a faulty throwout bearing. The guy said it was no big issue, however I am concerned that this bearing might cause serious mechanical problems in the future ( It sounds like my trans rattles really loud ). Should I get it replaced as soon as possible? If I do, is it advisable to replace the clutch as well?

 

Yes, and you can easily look at the clutch to see if it needs replacement while doing the TOB.

 

If you plan to pay someone to change the throw out bearing, personally I would plan on changing the clutch. Can't see paying that much in labor to leave a used clutch.

someone will probably counter that the clutch could be new. If so it was put in by someone that reused a throw out bearing, went cheap on it, or screwed it up(is that even possible). In any of those situations I would just change both and know where I was.

 

The big question is if the throwout bearing is actually what's bad. Normally it's the input shaft bearing in the transmission that goes bad.

Input shaft bearing will make noise with the clutch pedal up (clutch engaged) in neutral (and when they get really bad in gear)
Throwout/release bearing will make noise with the clutch pedal in (clutch disengaged)

 

Thanks a lot guys