Jwslick

hey guys.Lemme know if you know what this noise is?When I shift my car from neutral to first gear, I sometimes hear a clunk or thud while putting the car back into gear.I feels like something under the car is releasing.Any ideas?

s2k_4life

if you rolled to a stop in neutral then yea its normal.

Jwslick

what is it?

thomsbrain

I would imagine it is the free-wheeling crankshaft coming to rest in the synchros and transferring its energy to the gears/driveshaft/wheels. That's why you feel it "bump" the car forward a little bit. Obviously it also represents unnecessary wear and tear on the synchros.

If you leave the car in gear until you are completely stopped (push the clutch in, obviously), then put it in neutral after you are stopped and shift to first while leaving the clutch in (to keep it from spinning the crankshaft back up), you shouldn't feel any more clunks.

Jwslick

thanks brian

2slow2Bfurious

have had this problem, don't know what mechanically causes this to happen, but i've read here on the forum and i've tried it, that if you suppress and hold the clutch pedal for 2 seconds before engaging first gear the you shouldn't hear the clunk anymore.

it works for me.

thomsbrain

Yup, this also works! You disconnect the shaft from both the clutch on one end (clutch pushed in) and the gearbox on the other end (stick in neutral), so it eventually slows to a stop because of friction. Again, letting the clutch out in neutral spins the shaft back up to idle speed and would cause the clunk again if you quickly put into gear without letting the shaft stop first.

This is related to the purpose of double-clutching. You double-clutch to change the speed of that shaft and save wear on synchros (or engage gears on cars that have no synchros). Not that you ever really need to do it on our cars (no Fast and Furious!).

jimbosr1

i sometimes get the clunk when the car is cold after sitting all night.its not loud and i can bearly feel it..

Talavah

Its hard to make habits of some of these techniques . I tend to roll up in neutral, wait till I hit 5-10mph, then shift into 1st (keeping the clutch in of course). Its usually a pretty smooth shift then.

IlleztImportz

its normal, posted numerous times..