Saki GT

Just noticed this yesterday, I'd started the car up after it was sitting for two weeks, driven it about 500 feet, and was idling in neutral, and I noticed a faint noise that I can only describe as dragging or soft scraping. Car was out of gear, idling normally. depressing the clutch pedal brought the sound to an end as you could hear a part wind down and stop spinning, which I assume is the clutch disk coming to a halt? Drove the car for around 30 minutes tonight, and the sound is still there - whatever is engaged when my foot is off the clutch is definitely making some noise...

So, being paranoid about my car, I figure I'd ask. Is this a sign of a damaged clutch disk dragging on something? Fwiw, the clutch shows no signs of drag or slip.

RacerXI

I'd guess a throwout bearing. Is it a groan? Can it be heard at any time the car is in gear with the clutch not depressed.

Saki GT

Yes, but I don't think its the bearing because you can hear the part slowly stop spinning once I press the clutch pedal. If it was a bearing, the sound would disappear quickly when I put pressure on it by pressing down the clutch pedal. It almost sounds like what you'd call gear rollover noise, but it just started happening.

To me, that seems like the friction disk is spinning down after its disengaged from the flywheel, but it shouldn't be contacting anything at that point, right?

RacerXI

A worn bearing will drag though. I don't know of anything else it could be minus the input shaft bearing. The disk shouldn't be moving in such a way.

xviper

Could be a cracked or broken clutch disc spring retaining bracket/clip. These have been known to fail and the sound is very faint and appears as you describe. There are 4 springs on an OEM disc, held in a sort of retaining bracket. If one is cracked the spring can rattle around a bit. If that's what it is, it'll get steadily worse as the bracket cracks more and then there's nothing holding it in on one side. No way of confirming this without taking the tranny off. Leave it for now and see if it gets worse.

zeroptzero

I posted of this type of noise a few months ago, and everyone that replied thought it was normal and nothing to worry about. I have since replaced my clutch unexpectedly since then and the noise has gone away. I don't really know what it was but it is now gone, possibly the throwout bearing noise, I had 60k miles at the time.

Saki GT

This was one thing I suspected - thanks for the info. Nothing catastrophic can happen with it in this condition?


Did you replace all parts in the clutch system?


Thanks - considering its just starting at 75k mi, I'm assuming its a worn bearing or broken disc - something is off.

zeroptzero

Yes I replaced all parts, disc, pp, and flyhweel, pilot and throwout bearings. I went with a lighter flywheel otherwise I could have resurfaced my oem one. My disc was pretty much worn down all the way so it was actually good that I did it when I did. I had engine issues so I just decided to do the clutch at the same time while the tranny was off the motor.

xviper

Just keep track of the sound. I recall seeing one case where the broken spring retainer allowed one end of the disc spring to completely come free. This caused the spring to grind up against either the flywheel or the PP, eventually jambing up and locking up the drivetrain. The clutch becomes very "draggy" as it's about to happen.

SpitfireS

I think you can call it "clutch buzz at idle"
Those springs are there to absorb shocks when the clutch engages and when they get loose the trans input can allow & transmit gear noise by backlash, even at idle.
What you could do is jack up the rear, put it on jack stands and remove the rear wheels.
Start enigne, in gear, clutch engaged (pedal not pressed) and listen.
Then use the e-brake to put some load on the gearbox - or the normal brakes, you're not moving anyway.
(but e-brake you can do alone, so leave e-brake on while you're under the car)
If the noise stops when there is load on the drivetrain while in gear = springs.
Just like coasting in 3rd for normal clutch buzzzzzz.