Hey everyone,

So I have a 2022 Cooper S with a 6MT I bought earlier this year. It was brand new on the lot with 30 miles on it, now has 2,700.

At around 1,800 miles I started to hear a strange intermittent metallic chattering noise coming from under the car when under load in 1st and 2nd gear. Pressing the clutch would make the sound go away. I took it to the dealer but wasn't able to duplicate it. I wasn't hearing it much either and hoped maybe it had gone away, but it turns out you have to drive the car for 30 minutes or more for the issues to really show up. In addition to the intermittent chattering, when parked in the garage the clutch makes a groaning noise when you press in and out on it. I've struggled to get a video of the chattering sound because the wind noise seems to drown it out on video, but I did get a video of the clutch noise and took it to the dealer again.

This time they performed a service bulletin where they re-lubricated the slave cylinder. Everything seemed okay for a couple of days, no groaning noise, no chattering, but unfortunately after a 40-minute drive yesterday both the chattering and groaning noise are back. I'm going to try and get a video from the outside of the chattering noise, but I have a link below of the noise the clutch makes when you press in and out.


Anyone have any thoughts? It will be going back to the dealer soon, but it obviously wasn't the slave cylinder. I don't think it's an operator induced error either since I have owned a 2010 manual Honda Accord since new that has 140k miles on it and the original clutch, throw out bearing, etc...

 

Creaking when pressing the clutch pedal and nothing running is a lubrication issue, nothing more, I’d perform the classic fix of turning up the stereo since the dealercan’t seem to lube it. Or you could try lubing yourself, it may be inside the transmission though.


The clattering while driving is more worrying, that could be indicative of an issue that could cause big damage such as a failing throw out bearing. Or it’s a loose shield or something that only vibrates under specific conditions. Hopefully you can capture that soon for either the internet or the dealer.

 

Here are two videos, first is probably a bit better. It’s much more metallic sounding in real life; my phone microphone is just pretty terrible.

 

The dealer was able to replicate the noise so they replced the entire clutch assembly and fly wheel under warranty.

Interestingly, when they took a look at the old parts they could find no obvious faults with them.

So far, no noise, so hopefully that major job was what was needed.