Hi all, I got a bit scared today starting her up after about a week or so... It started with a very loud rattle, which did not match the engine speed, just like something very loose out the back. BUT: As soon as I engaged reverse to back out of the garage, it stopped completely. Could it be related to clutch/flywheel system?? Driving for about an hour, no ill or adverse effects; changing smoothly and working well otherwise... . Nothing feels out of the ordinary... Stopped to get some stuff, started after 20 min or so, all normal. What can cause that loud rattle or could it be the gearbox; any input is appreciated! Cheers
Try this. start the car, leave it in neutral for a few minutes do u hear a light rattle in the gearbox?
No, it does not; I left it idling for quite a bit in neutral waiting for my son to come out, and it all sounded like usual.. What is rattling in neutral if it does?
I'm not a 100% sure but I think it has Something to do with throw out bearing. My Maserati and both of my f430s that were manual shift cars had a slight rattle in the gearbox at idle after a couple minutes. Once I pressed the clutch pedal in it stopped. Mind you there was never an issue and i put quite a few miles on the cars. I was just trying to narrow it down for you. The rattle I'm referring to wasn't to loud either
Mine was very loud, almost as loud as the engine, so I could not miss it.... Car was in neutral when I started it; and was rattling. When I pushed "R", it stopped immediately. My M3 dual mass flywheel also rattles when you let out the clutch, but its normal. This was much louder... like something was loose and it compressed down when I engaged the clutch...
BTW, can you tell the clutch wear by looking at inspection point; here is mine: Image Unavailable, Please Login
I can see a decent groove on one side, the angle is bad or disk position does not show groove on other side : Image Unavailable, Please Login
Don’t know if related but I had a rattle at startup also. Turned out to be the exhaust bracket that had cracked in half. When the car exhaust warmed up the rattle diminished.
Any other manual car and I'd say it was the throw out bearing, but there are enough other points to rattle here. If it were mine, I do still get a slight exhaust butterfly valve rattle on occasion that goes away pretty quick.
I think I have a theory on what happened. I did not mention this because I thought it's unrelated, but the engine did not start right when it rattled, it revved very low and almost died after starting. The exhaust valves are activated by vacuum from the engine; and the engine not idling properly I think they were flapping/rattling not being engaged properly. When I slammed into Reverse the engine recovered and shut off the valves immediately as vacuum was achieved. The engine was not starting right because of MAF contamination, as I found later... I opened up both airboxes only to find oil inside the left side one... Where from you should ask. Well, my oil pump failure on track: oil was thrown as high as the bottom of the airbox (by the rear left wheel, due to the long right turn ... ) , and the engine sucked it inside via the 2 small holes at the bottom. I cleaned the MAFs with sensor cleaner and it started really good this morning. I also bought the only remaining MAF from summitracing guys, and ordered a second one too.. just in case. Cheers
I've had many manual cars that have had that rattle while idling in neutral, especially BMW's. I was told it's synchro rattle and yes quite normal.
I never really new for sure what it was. I always thought it was maybe the throwout bearing. Either way I don't like it haha. So I don't let that go on to long
