Hi guys,

New 350z owner here, love the car!

Got home tonight and realized that when idling there is a very faint rattling noise which disappears when the clutch is pressed down. I've scoured the forums and I'm led to believe that it is the throughout bearing?

I've attached a video. If anyone could confirm this, that would be awesome. I have a load of history for the car, its done 113k miles and pretty sure it hasn't have a clutch replacement. The car is under warranty so theres that I suppose.

Please halp

Thanks

 

Not sure what forum youve check, but if its the throw out bearing, alot of 350z have it then...

Edit: most likely clutch chatter. Throw out bearing sounds way worse.

 

Isn't that how 350's sound? I thought I saw people saying its the type of clutch we they have.


If its under warranty take that SOB in. At the very least you might be able to get a 5 star inspection fo free.

 

Hard to hear on my phone, possibly flywheel chatter

 

Can't hear it on vid but.... a lot of Z's with some mileage have transmission gear rattle that goes away when clutch is moved.

Worse on HR cars, '07-08, but present in many before that.

Don't worry it until you can't shift (seriously), pretty much status quo.

 

I have the same "issue" on my 2007, with 83k miles. Bought it at 80k so not sure if the last owner installed an aftermarket clutch or not.

 

Throw-out bearing makes noise when the clutch it let out NOT pushed in. Pilot bearing can make noise with the clutch pushed in. I didn't watch vid(no sound)

 

Mine ('05) has been making the same noise ever since I bought it five years ago, always assumed the throw-out bearing was the culprit, or perhaps the way our stock flywheel is made.

As others have said, I wouldn't worry about it too much until either it worsens, or you have issues actually shifting. Even at that point, it may be many other smaller things like clutch fluid needing a change, etc.

 

One more time.... it is the input shaft of the transmission that's making the noise. Combine the fact that there's a significant amount of lash on the input shaft (both internal and externally) AND with no load bearing on it when the clutch is disengaged and trans out of drive gears, it tends to rattle around sounding for all intents like a small cement mixer.

The slightest bit of clutch movement puts enough load on the shaft to quiet it down/stop the rattle similar to putting your finger on something inside the car to keep it from rattling in the cupholder.

It is N-O-R-M-A-L. (Unless you have problems with actual clutch engage/disengage and/or resultant difficulty shifting.)

If you search around, there's a lot of speculation on this "noise" and usually people erroneously attribute it to either the throwout bearing or the DMF.

But.... if all that were true, why does it still make the noise (and worse) after switching to a SMF? And how does one explain why the noise also occurs in '07+ HR, VHR, etc. when they do not use a traditional T/O bearing (CSC equipped.)

I am a typical case scenario of "some do, some don't" - my '03 original transmission is dead silent, my '08 Nismo with < half the mileage made it a point to remind me what transmission I had in my car at every stop light (why I turn the radio up), my '12 Z34N made some noise once in a while depending on the weather. Seriously.

 

My 08 did and does the same thing. Had the transmission replaced under warranty at 22k and when I got it back it sounded exactly the same but I got a free tranny!! It's never given me any problems. Just doesn't sound good. It's normal

 

Thank you all for all your input, I'm a little bit more comfortable knowing that its semi-normal. I'm still going to take it to a nissan garage see if they can give me a more accurate diagnosis and also considering changing the gear box oil as I don't think its ever been done. :/

Thanks again, so far love the zed.