garrett376

When the tranny is in neutral on my 92 C4, the clutch sounds like it's full of rocks in a tin can. When the clutch pedal is pressed about 1 inch, the sound goes away. The function is perfect of the clutch - no slipping, smooth engagement, it just sounds like hell when idling, and during the idling I can feel additional vibration in the gearshift handle.

Any ideas of what is the problem!??!?!?!
Is it a bad flywheel, a maladjustment? I am lost.

Thanks so much. I just hope I'm not dropping the engine.... again...

Andy Roe

Sounds like gear chatter. Possibly the flywheel breaking down as this dampens the vibration. Have you got the LWF fitted? How loud is it? I've got a LWF fitted and the chatter is noticible, but not very loud & I"m not sure if I can feel it in the gearstick. Maybe greabox/engine mounts?

garrett376

Crapper..... It's the standard dual mass flywheel that was fine before... I had installed a new clutch disk and pressure plate. Ugggh. My hands hurt way too much to go and drop the dang engine again, but it's looking like I might not have a choice!!!

garrett376

I have a LWF in my other car and this is completely different. It almost sounds like a broken valve it's that loud - but when the clutch is in, all is quiet. Sounds pretty bad.... not the subtle noise like a LWF.

Andy Roe

It you get no noise when the clutch is in, it's likely to be gearbox/flywheel related. Perhaps a gear has popped out? Can you select them all ok?

garrett376

Hey Andy, thanks for helping me through this!

The car drives perfectly in all gears - it just idles with a lot of noise and vibration. The tranny was fine before with no issues, so I doubt a gear problem is present. When I am under the car, the noise seems to come from the clutch area, not the gearbox.

KirkF

My vote:
Throwout bearing.
When the clutch is pressed in you are loading up the throwout bearing, when the clutch is out you are not.

Kirk

garrett376

I don't know - wouldn't the throwout bearing make noise when the clutch is pressed??
What does a bum dual mass flywheel sound like?!?

This is what my garage has looked like for the past week.... I just want to drive my car!!!!!!!!!!!

Dunasso

Garrett,

I've got my fingers x-ed for you.

FWIW, the noise that you are describing sounds like a DMF issue. If you decide to go with a LWF, choose the 89 C4 flywheel, that's what I'm running, and I've had no issues with stalling or fluctuating idle. It is a little heavier than the RS LWF but is still alot lighter than the DMF.

Duncan

garrett376

Crap, it's looking more and more like I need to spend 5 hours taking out the engine again and swap out the flywheel. Oh man.... my fingers just can't take it!!!

garrett376

If it was a bad flywheel, why does it make the most noise/vibration at idle, when the clutch pedal is not activated at idle? When in gear, the engine is NOT as smooth as it was; it seems to have some vibration to it also. I guess that would be pointing more along the lines of a bad flywheel, eh?

You can see I am putting off going through the entire engine/tranny removal process again! Uggh.

Jasko

I have a similar noise in my 89 C4. Its noisy when at idle, but when the clutch pedal is depressed, the noise goes away. My mechanic thinks its the throwout bearing (like KirkF says). I guess when you load the throwout bearing, the rattling stops. Otherwise, no problem with shifting, no slipping, etc. She drives just fine.

Just my 2cent.
Dave

garrett376

Mine is more than noisy - it sounds as though there are a bunch of rocks (or even bolts) in the bell housing that are getting "tumbled" when the car is idling in neutral.

Is that what your's sounds like Dave? I think I need to go and do a quick recording of the sound.... I am already getting myself fired up to pull the engine again

Jasko

Its more like a soft clatter. Since I haven't driven her all week, I just went outside to go for a quick ride to listen for the noise. Its definitely a softer noise. Now that the secondary bypass and cat bypass last are in place, I can barely make out the clatter over the exhaust note. I'll take her out tomorrow for another listen.

Dave

garrett376

Ok, here is a 5MB clip that shows how terrible the car sounds. WHOA!!!! Does not sound good especially at startup. Back in I go... I just wonder which part is causing this noise...

http://homepage.mac.com/guessendo/bad.MPG