Clutch / Gearbox Rattle

[DPG]

Got a bit of a rattle that I had a good chance to listen to today as I was sat in m62 traffic for an hour.

Basically, when I first start the car and its sat at idle I hear a helicopter type noise, as the car warms up it gets slightly louder.

The noise goes away completely when the clutch is pressed fully. (Could it be flywheel or gearbox)

Only really noticed it today as I didn't move for an hour and had my radio turned off.

Anyone else come across this?

[corsaire77]

Clutch noise on idle without the pedal being depressed has been mentioned here and is pretty normal, unless it gets REALLY loud. Sometimes it depends on temperature - mine is slightly audible only in cold weather. People have replaced clutches and flywheels, only to get the same sound after some miles. A search might help. The 350z is pretty much the same.

[jan_tekin]

If you do a search it's a common problem with the si. I've had a new gear box, clutch and release bearing under warrenty and the noise was back withing a month after which the dealer decided it was normal and nothing to worry about

[NeilP]

I noticed mine the day I picked the car up.

Mine only happens in neutral without the clutch being depressed.

[DPG]

Glad I'm not the only one. Cheers guys

I'll still mention it to the dealer next time it's in.

[-Tom-]

Exactly the same ... Especially once warm and pulled into the drive after a journey. Also as mentioned ... My brother's old car - 350z did exactly the same with clutch released on idle. Hoping as documented that it is nothing to worry about (3.0 si)

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Incompatible]

Normal sound, nothing to worry about. It's been explained in other posts as related to our dual mass flywheel.

[richarddaviesgb]

I've got the same. Worse when car is hot. Thought it was the HVAs at first then noticed it not happening when clutch in.
Sounds horrible but apparently normal.

Wonder if thicker gear oil would dampen it down?

[mad4slalom]

I have similar on my renault master ( oops is that a swear word on the forum ) garage said it is just the entry shaft chattering ? I hope so

[mjgerrard]

Ok so as a bit of a thread re-awakening I took some videos of my 3.0Si Sport E86 and the noise we're talking about. There's a bit of an intro on the first one but the noise is quite quiet. It's more pronounced on the 2nd video, where you don't really need any talking over it.

I've spoken with a colleague at work who had DMF failure and he agreed that I should get it checked out, given his experience of what it sounds like. I'll probably be using Soper BMW as we're doing some work with them (IT related) at the moment and I'll see what they say.

Just a couple of points:

- Noise is after a 50 mile journey
- Noise occurs in neutral with clutch not depressed, also a very slight rattle when operating clutch normally (But no slippage felt)
- No loss of drive or power, as far as I can tell
- Car is a 58 plate (2008) UK model
- Current mileage is circa 43,000 miles
- Car is under BMW AUC Warranty, so if it does need work I'll have to see whether this is covered.

Video #1


Video #2



Are any of your cars similar to this? It's a little hard to judge noise through Youtube, but the volume of the problem for me is quite noticeable (When fans are turned off).

Mike G.

[AndyBeech]

It's normal, don't worry about it and enjoy the car It's clutch related and if people are having brand new bits put on and it's back after a short time i wouldn't see the point in getting these costly bits replaced, even under warranty. For the record I've experienced it on numerous cars and never had a clutch failure.

[corsaire77]

It's not the gearbox. The helicopter-like noise is the flywheel, the rattle is clutch springs), and while driving during 1st to 2nd you can probably hear the input flange from the differential area (much further back, but sometimes confused with the former). If there is a rattle in the front when shifting, it's also the springs. These are common things on the Zed. I would not replace the clutch/flywheel unless the noise ceases to be the typical "clutch chatter" and becomes really loud. For your comfort, the 350z is very much the same, if not worse.

[Caemon]

2nd video sounds exactly like mine... 3.0si 07

[DPG]

Mine sounds like that too.

It's booked in on Friday for an mechanic to have a quick look.

If he says its normal then I'll forget about it.

[Jamestnewson]

Mine sounds exactly like video #2. It is going in for a service tomorrow at Gilberts in Ealing tomorrow, but when I mentioned it to Adrian to book the car in he said that it is normal and due to the type of gearbox oil used which is a little thinner. He mentioned you could change the oil, but it will not fix it completely, but is completely normal.