2008 3.0Si Z4 Coupe - Noisy gearbox?

S

Scuzi

Member
The car is just over a month old now and the clock is about to reach 3k miles. It is an '08 Z4 Coupe 3.0Si Sport.

This may be normal but I'm not so sure as I have only noticed it today. When driving along slowly in first or sitting idling in neutral, there is what appears to be a "grinding" noise from what I assume is the gearbox. If sitting in neutral with the engine at idle it sounds something liek a spinning/grinding noise and can only be heard when the stereo is off and the fans are off/low. When I depress the clutch, the noise disappears and only the sound of the engine can be heard. When I let the clutch out again, the noise returns.

Can anyone confirm that this noise is normal? It sounds like the driveshaft spinning in neutral but seems to be louder than normal. I'd post a sound clip only that it's not quite loud enough for my mobile phone to pick up.

Thanks in advance :)
 
Grinding or more like a rattle?
grinding is not normal.
A little rattle while in neutral with clutch out is normal.
 
It's a really hard sound to explain. Yes, it is like a rattle but it sounds as if something is spinning and rattling at the same time if that makes any sense?
 
Yes... In neutral there's very little pressure on the clutch plate springs,
so you will get this spinning rattle noise.
 
Excellent. Thank you :)

If it was a sign of a problem, what other signs would rear their head apart from the noise?
 
Most gearbox related problems will be related to;
- hard shifting into gear, or one gear to the next.
- grinding when shifting into gear.
- etc...
 
A bit of an update. On the way to work this morning I had a listen for the noise, both when I first started it from cold and when I finally arrived at work after a 20 mile journey. The noise seems to have totally disappeared now which is rather strange.

Does this change hte possibilities of what it could be or is a dodgy clutch/gear shaft likely to be an intermittent problem?
 
Appreciate thread is now a bit old but I had same noise which proved to be a faulty clutch release bearing, Whole clutch assembly replaced under warranty a couple of months ago (I think because one of clutch plates also distorted) and chattering noise in neutral with clutch out has now disappeared.
 
Tintin,

What type of Z4 do you have, how old and how many km?

Thanks
 
I have 3.0 Si Sport Coupe. When problem noticed car was 4 months old and had only covered about 3000 miles which I think is around 5000 kms. The noise Scuzi originally described sounds exactly the same as noise I had. Problem may have existed some time before I noticed it because chattering sound could only really be heard clearly from outside of the vehicle when ticking over in neutral with the clutch out - once clutch depressed noise would disappear. Once I took vehicle to the dealers there was never any arguement that there was a fault somewhere in cluch assembly.
 
Excellent news, thanks tintin52!

I still have the problem and the car has been driving fine but it continues to slowly but surely become louder. I'm going to go back to the dealers and suggest they check out the clutch.

At any point did they suggest that the fault could lead to more serious problems?
 
Sorry to hear you still have a problem Scuzi.
If it helps mine drove fine and if I'm honest I never had any real concerns about the noise other than it obviously wasn't as it should be. Because the whole clutch assembly in my vehicle was replaced as soon as it went into the dealer's for diagnosis, the issue of the fault leading to more serious problems never arose. On mine the problem was very obvious once you were outside of the car - clutch out chattering sound almost like a sticking tappet - clutch in no abnormal noise. I'm sure that the dealer said the noise was a faulty release bearing caused, or exacerbated by, some distortion in the clutch plate.
Hope you get your's sorted ok but if you still don't get any joy post back and I'll be more than happy to put you in touch with the dealer I used.
 
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