My car has 90k on it. I notice in first gear at 800-850ish rpms, the point where the car propels itself to prevent stalling, my car lunges back and forth. Is this an effect of gear lash? And If so, does that mean my dual-mass flywheel has gone bad? I do notice a little periodic rattling (lasting only a few seconds) in idle with the clutch engaged. Thoughts?

BTW i'm on my original clutch!!! It does need to be replaced though...can anyone say RS clutch/flywheel?!?!?!

 

If you are doing a clutch then do the flywheel anyway...RS ... you will love it.....but then I AM biased.....as to the DMF......the way mine could be detected was to get somebody else (mechanic) in the car in a quiet garage.....car in gear and ease forward....you will hear the dmf knocking (only way I can describe it) as the car engages in gear and moves forward and inch or so....anybody else car to comment

 

Normally problems with the DMF are encountered or certainly more pronounced when the engine is hot, this is because the heat has the effect of loosening the gel material between the dual mass parts....dmf problems are normally more evident in gear coming off the power and the clonk as the slack is aken up.....your problem could be perhaps DMF/gears, clutch or driveshafts, hard to tell on the net....just trying to point out if the problem gets worse when running gear is hot, then that is often a SMF sympton...good luck!

 

Could this be worn CV joints?

 

my DMF failure symptom also included a vibration when cruising at 3-4K rpms. Particularly noticeable when not on or off the gas but when there was slight slack in drive train.
The rattle could be DMF... but normally you would hear that momentarily when shutting off engine.

 

It sounds like you are getting surging if the car is essentially idling while in gear. It could be a number of things. My car will do that under the right circumstances, I just don't drive at 850RPM in gear! :-)

The rattle at shutoff should go away if the clutch is in when you shut the car off...if that happens then its likely DMF.

Cheers,

Mike

 

I would think any car would surge at such a low RPM in 1st gear. Unless I'm misunderstanding your description, I don't think you have a problem at all.

 

Thanks for all the responses guys. The only reason I discovered such unpleasant surging was because if traffic. I don't normally put-put around =).

Some of you guys raised more serious issues that could be causing the "problem." I'll definitely have my mechanic take a look at those during the clutch job. Thanks again guys.