jasper

Sounds to me like either a throwout bearing or a flywheel. Neither are the end of the world in terms of cost.

If it was the IMS you'd be dead in the water already I think. My understanding is that when the IMS fails the rattle is the sound you hear just seconds before total failure.

Good looking car. We'll always covet the Euro bumpers.

SWK6Cup

Beautiful looking car! Good luck with the fix, hope that it is relatively minor.

Guido911

If i would of had those black rubber bumpers, i would not take them off. When someone backs up his car and hits the middle of your rear end, those bumpers can take up the shock.

Mine is space - or graphite grey, not sure. Should check the sticker under the hood.

Hmm this might be it, i will tell this to the mechanic! Thank you!

Glad someone mentioned the IMS, so apparently this will not be causing it. I also believe it must be some bearing in either the clutch or transmission.

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Thank you for the replies, appreciate it

Turkertwo

Welcome Guido,
Nice cars. I love the food and beer in that part of Europe. You have the right priorities over there.
I think your noise is the transmission. When the clutch is in there is no rotation imparted to the trans internals that's why you don't hear any noise with the clutch in. The fluid in the trans thins out when warm and allows more movement and rattling. The stock, dual mass flywheel is supposed to mask some of this noise. Did the mechanic do something to the stock flywheel when the engine was out?

Mark Rindner

Hi Guido,
Welcome to the forum. My experience with cars and trucks in general makes me think of the throw-out bearing . Very specific sequence of events. Rattle goes away when pressure is put on the clutch pedal. Rattle present at idle with foot off the pedal. Maybe something moved when the engine came out. Best of luck.
Mark

Guido911

Yes indeed, if you want to try out many different beers, you should come visit! Bring a raincoat though, cause the weather is depressing!

And yes it is the original flywheel, and nothing was done with it. Called the mechanic an hour ago and he said 9 chances out of 10 it must be some bearing in the transmission.

Thank you Mark; I'm about to leave now, to drive it to the garage. I will keep you guys posted!

equ

I had a ticking noise in neutral in an e46 330i bmw. Noise went away with clutch in. It was the throw-out bearing.

Guido911

Ok, i just came from the mechanic and a new problem/fault suddenly occurred when hanging the engine to the computer. It is a pure electronic defect

There was a problem with the 'solenoide' (= i have no idea what the English translation is, sorry) in the camshaft. It's a relative small electric piece. Which controls the oil-pressure in the camshaft (i believe it controlled the right bank).

Luckily the fault was quickly found, because it could tear up the whole camshaft and chains.

Each side has those selonoids and the one on the right was causing a problem. So, to be sure, i'm going to change both sides + the camshaft chains. Not cheap to change too...
Stupid electronic

Anyway, today he worked on the camshaft. If this job is done, the transmission will be checked and oil will be changed.

I will let you guys know the progress of this unfortunate circumstance.

C4CRNA

Did he say your noise was from the camshafts or solenoid??
Why wouldn't he fix that problem first?

Guido911

No he didn't, but when i arrived we listened to it, but just then, at that time, the car didnt make the noise... weird. Connected it to the computer immediatly and then the selonoid error came up.
I'm sure the noise didn't come from the cameshaft, it was cleary coming from around the transmission.

But apparently the problem in the camshaft was causing the vibration i had, when idling.

I don't think it matters what problem is fixed first, or am i wrong? It's to late anyway. Next up, is definitly checking the transmission.

C4CRNA

I understand now.
Thanks and Good Luck hope you get this fixed up and back on the road.

C4CRNA

Guido: What happened was it the transmission?

fpb111

Does this sound a little too co-incidental to anyone else? The computer can activate/deactivate the solenoids.

rsr997

Beautiful 996 great color choice.

Guido911

I will try to explain everything (note i'm not a pro at this):

So the right solenoid was broken, did a test on it and that thing gave no reaction.

There was also a tooth broken (and jumped out of its position) on the right camshaft cylinder bank (4 till 6). The broken tooth was due to a worn and crumbling chain guide.

So, because the chain guides were broke and worn, they did not gave enough force/tension. Apparently these knocked against some plastic guides. You could clearly see the wear when the mechanic showed me.

Both chains on the camshafts, chain guides, and solenoids are replaced.
The whole camshaft was adjusted and i can tell that the car feels different, it drives more accurate. No more vibration at idling, and real steady and stable.

About the transmission, nothing was done except that the oil was changed.
I have the car back for a week now and i heard no more noise...
maybe the noise was partly coming from the camshaft (due to the broken chains) and led that noise through to the transmission.

Like i said, the clutch is not stiff, shifting is smooth (only when cold its a little harder to go from 1st to 2nd, but thats it.)

I deeply hope the sound does not come back, and if so, i will replace the clutch anyway in about 9K miles.



No because that error did not came up couple weeks back when another test was done.

Thanks!