Hi all,

About 9 months and 10k miles ago, my friend and I did a full clutch job in my 08 R56S. Clutch, flywheel, throwout bearing, clutch fork, pivot pin... pretty much everything inside the bellhousing got replaced. The car ran great, clutch felt tight, I was happy.

I few days ago I was driving and I thought I heard a rotational clicking or rattling noise coming from the front end, the kind of noise that matches the pace of something that's rotating. I got out and checked the wheels to see if a stick was caught or something like that, but I didn't see anything. I noticed as I drove that I heard it in low gears and when I launched the car.

When I got home I experimented with pushing the clutch pedal in, and I could hear it pretty clearly; the sound of something rattling or ratcheting or clicking, and it seemed to be matching the speed of the clutch as it disengages from the engine. That is, it starts rapidly, then the time between clicks quickly gets further apart. Once the clutch pedal is down (clutch disengaged), the noise goes away. Then, when I set off, the noise gets louder, and persists through first gear (matching the engine speed), through second gear, and into third gear. I don't hear it in other gears, but it's possible that road noise is just drowning it out.

I know I'm going to have to pull the trans again and poke around inside to see what might be the problem. My gut feeling is that the throwout bearing is bad. It's possible I did something to it when I installed it... but, how hard is it to install a throwout bearing? Maybe the part is defective... or maybe it's something else.

Has anyone else had experience with the kind of noise and behavior I'm describing?

I'll try to post a video of the noise before I tear into the thing.

Thanks in advance!

 

+1 on the throwout bearing since the noise disappears when you push the clutch pedal.

 

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead - with updates!

They're not good updates, unfortunately. The car has sat since August as I had other things going on in my life. Over the course of the last few weeks, I basically repeated the clutch job, and took the components of the clutch to a transmission shop for inspection. He looked at the throwout bearing, clutch fork, pressure plate, and clutch, and said they were all fine. He said the new flywheel had a dead spot, and he suggested replacing it, so I ordered a new one under warranty and reassembled the whole shebang.

Very frustratingly, the noise is still very much there when I run the car. I took a video this morning and have linked it below. You can hear the noise at the beginning of the video - that's in neutral with feet off the pedals. When I push the clutch pedal down, the noise spins down and goes away. When I release the clutch pedal quickly, the noise comes back as a constant. When I release the clutch slowly, the noise either doesn't come back or comes back very quiet.


I'm at a loss as to what to do next. I have a new slave and master cylinder that I can install - maybe one is worn out and not engaging the clutch fully? Any and all suggestions, advice, methods of diagnosing will be welcome.

Thanks

 

Vibration from bad engine mount possibly?

 

This description would make me think the noise is related to the gearbox, and could be entirely coincidental that it started after repairing the clutch.

 

I've been thinking on this a bit, and it seems that my first step should be to get in there with a stethoscope and try to pinpoint the area from which the noise is originating.

I'll check this out tonight to see if holding or applying pressure to the engine mount itself causes any change. But, the noise does sound pretty clearly like it's coming from within the bellhousing, so I'm not sure that it's that.

After reading a few threads that my friend found on other sites (related to other cars) I'm inclined to agree. People online seem to disagree (strongly) about whether it's a throwout bearing or an input shaft bearing. If it's the latter, I'll have to take it to a transmission shop, as I can't find a part number or any transmission internals on realoem or elsewhere. Either way, I'll replace the (1 year old) throwout bearing just to be safe.

 

Bringing the thread to a close.

It was the transmission. I drove the car to the local transmission shop, and they put it up on the lift and listened and said that it sounded like a broken tooth on one of the gears. Anyway, I found a junkyard trans from a clubman for a decent price and my friend and I spent Saturday morning swapping that over. We're getting good at this; what took us 2 full weekends last year, we can accomplish in an 8-hour day now. So that's... good, I guess.

I also replaced the throwout bearing, for safety. Started the car up and the rattle was gone. Shifts are tight, clutch feels strong. Still plenty of other hassles to deal with on the car, but at least that's one thing checked off.

 

Oh damn. I think I broke a tooth pulling off the clutch in second at mph last year. I thought the car was in first and I was thinking about a girl at the moment XD.

🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮