Ok, this one has me a bit worried: Today was my first day driving my new '05 (legally, at least), and I noticed a faint, rhythmic clicking from the engine compartment at idle that I don't recall hearing before. It goes away when I depress the clutch, which tells me it's coming from the tranny. I drove the car for a while to let it get warm, but the clicking was still there. It seems to occur intermittently - in other words, if I depress the clutch a few times, it sometimes goes away. It only seems to happen in neutral, but of course it'd be hard to hear it while rolling in gear so I can't say for sure.

Is this just normal tranny noise, or should I be concerned? My Z makes an audible "whirring" noise in neutral, but I usually just chalk that up to 37+ year old technology and all it's inherent abnormalities. I've only just passed 39k miles, and the car was well maintained by the PO, so I hate to think this is an issue. Searching seems to indicate it could be a (normal?) dual-mass flywheel thing? There's no "OORT" noises upon operation though, just a faint tapping / clicking when the clutch is engaged and the car is in neutral...

 

Dual mass fly wheel. Do a search on this and a few were able to have it replaced under warranty

 

+1 Dual Mass Flywheel. Mine has made the noise for more than a year, it started making noise 45,000 miles ago, and no problems. I've been out of warranty for some time now so I'm just waiting for the failure to happen.

 

Looks like it could be that. The dealer should be able to tell me whether or not it comes under warranty, right (search results only say '04 and earlier were recalled)? I just don't want to pay someone to work on my car if there's even a remote possibility that I can do it myself. Doesn't seem like it's a critical problem, either.