jeffrec

My 2009 C2S MT was in storage for the past month while we had a home remodel job underway. It was stored in a BMW race club warehouse, warm and dry. Since getting out out and back on the road I have noticed a very slight chatter when I release the clutch pedal to engage 1st gear, the term being very slight. It appears to go away if I give it a bit more throttle than I normally do when I release the clutch pedal. The clutch pedal isn't any harder or easier to push in, and there is no clutch slippage whatsoever. I typically give it the least amount of throttle until 1st gear is engaged then I throttle up. Should I apply more throttle upon releasing the clutch? Can anyone share what RPM they typically reach on the tach before releasing the clutch pedal?

Thank you in advance for your comments/suggestions/ideas.

nwGTS

What is 'chatter' and where is it coming from? Engine? Pedal? Metal on metal? Plastic on plastic? At what RPM does the clutch begin to bite and at what RPM are you releasing the clutch.
Need more info.

jeffrec

Feels like at the clutch pedal, not the engine, no metal on metal or plastic on plastic. As far as releasing the clutch pedal and RPM's, I typically release around 1000 RPM.

extanker

is this your first stick shift car

mike9186

For slow starts: Between 1100 and 1500 rpm. On the lower side if I'm paying attention to my revs and the higher if I'm not.

jeffrec

Not my first MT car, in fact have had several in my 40+ years driving including a stint driving an 18 wheeler as a summer job when I was in college. This is my 6th MT car and I pride myself in clutch life, although I bought the car CPO at three years old with 19K miles on the clock so I have to trust that the prior owner knew what they were doing. Thanks for all of the advice, if things don't improve or get worse I'll take it to my Indy and have him drive it.

sub150

Sounds like it could be a throwout bearing.

I just had to replace mine on my Z06. Started with a chatter releasing clutch (and I could make it go away by revving up more), then got to the point where any time i depressed the clutch it was making a chatter. For example...sitting parked in neutral with clutch out, no sound..press clutch in, chatter.

Warning, I've never owned a 997...waiting for the right one to pop up...but wanted to chime in since I had this happen to me beginning of March.

Philster

It really helps to know things such as:

Original clutch?

Miles/Kilometers on car?

jeffrec

Original clutch, 35K miles, never hard on clutch at launch. Like I said, I have owned it for the past three years, who knows what the original owner did.

Carmichael

What you described is usually the pressure plate getting worn, but it could be any of the clutch components going bad.

I have the same "chatter" on occasion, not often enough that I think something is going to go horribly wrong immediately, but enough to tell me I should probably think about changing my clutch soon.

I only have about 20k miles since I bought the car in Jan. '15. Car had 10k miles on it since it was rebuilt with a new clutch from FSI. I'm starting to think Sachs made a bad batch of clutches or something.

Have you noticed an increase in clutch pedal effort?

cerbomark

Just came back from a ride and it seems like 1000-1200 seems to be a slow easy take off. No noise.

RaidersR1

Maybe a Ferris Bueller Day Off scenario!!

JK

golftime

More than likely just general clutch parts wear, although I am not sure why parking it for a month caused it to show up now. My 996 had some clutch chatter when I bought it, but after I replaced the clutch and pressure plate, it was as smooth as butter. My 997.2 has it to a lesser degree but I have found I can avoid it if I add a few hundred RPMs on clutch take up. I don't know what that number is, but I know it is higher than it was with my 996 after the new clutch install.

Macster

If you are smooth and slow enough with the clutch pedal release the DME will maintain idle speed as you let the clutch out and the car will move off from a dead stop with no RPMs over idle RPMs.

This works but is too slow for normal driving.

In my cars I give the engine a bit of throttle and then release and as the RPMs fall release the clutch. The clutch starts to engage at around 1K RPMs and I let the flywheel do its magic and get the car moving. The clutch is engaged very quickly yet smoothly with minimal slipping. This is one reason why even at 300,000 miles the clutch in my Boxster is original.

But what you are up against is not a lack of RPMs. What I suspect is going on is the clutch hydraulic fluid is bad, contaminated.

My advice is before you use more RPMs and only succeed in accelerating the clutch's wear have the brake and clutch fluid flushed and bled.

I suspect afterwards you'll find the clutch works just fine with minimal RPMs.