Rattle Noise in Neutral

[editguy29]

I hear a noise when I am in neutral. Rattle mat be a bit over stated. Lets say a light rattle. It goes away once I engage the clutch. Any ideas or thought? I could just be being overly protective.

[blackblack99]

no it's not normal, and do not let them tell you it's normal, bring it in and have them fix and also call the nissan line and let them know this puts pressure on the area reps. we all gotta band together and force nissan to consider this part a recall and a saftey problem. Clutches are sticking to the floor, making noises. sloppy sychros, they need to get a bullet proff trans on this car. Any car is subject to these kinds of problems, especially sports cars.

[Zybermunster]

Mmmm...I notice the same on my '07, thought it was "normal".Will have it checked, car has about 225 miles/3 weeks old...

[joe603]

Its from the dual-mass flywheel and the throw-out bearing...the G35 does it as well.

[007z]

I have an '07 and it is doing the same. Hmm....

[samej82]

me too...

are you saying Nissan won't fix this?

[Jin-Z]

Ummm are you sure its not the vdc system? if you read the manual it says the vdc system does make the sound you're stating whenever you've just turned the car on and are starting to pull out because it tests itself to make sure its working.

[jabber87]

just read this for the first time... had this noise for awhile, anyone been successful? i know that the clutch is a wear part... pretty sure its not covered by warranty...

[kidd350z]

Hey everyone im just checkin in to say wassup 2 everyone, im a new member and i just had say that i have noticed this same problem in my 06, at first i thoguh it was commin from the engine then i realized that it had nothin to do with the engine, but i ask myself what can we do to get nissan to check it out or even do somethin about it????????

[C-Kwik]

I try and research for new info everytime I see this topic come up. Essentially, it's not a problem...at least not one for real concern anyways. While I was one to contend it's the Dual-Mass Flywheel that was at the root of the problem, Consider that the 6MT used in the G/Z is likely designed a bit on the loose side in it's mesh to reduce friction. This means that the rotational vibrations that occur naturally in a motor are more prone to make noise from the coupling-decoupling of the gears inside the transmission. Dual-Mass flywheels are considered to be much more effective at reducing this effect than a traditional solid flywheel with sprung clutch disc hub set-up. Those that have installed lightweight flywheels in the Z's and G's have reported much higher noise levels. Moreso than I've heard about in vehicles that use traditional sprung hub set-ups which would lead me to believe that the 6MT is "looser" than a typical transmission.

That said, it's likely the hardware solution is to use a heavier dual-mass set-up, but would negatively affect performance. A lower cost, but likely less effective solution might be to use a slightly thicker gear oil in the transmission. It's annoying at worst, but doubtful there will be any long term or short term negative effects.

Just so you know, the MKIV Supras had the exact same noise...

[joe603]

yup, aftermarket clutch/flywheel combos make the car sound like rocks rolling around a tin can. The OEM dual-mass flywheel suppresses this noise to a point...but it's still there.

[nsrZ32]

yup, aftermarket clutch/flywheel combos make the car sound like rocks rolling around a tin can. The OEM dual-mass flywheel suppresses this noise to a point...but it's still there.

Its not bad stock compared to aftermarket. And it is definitely a normal sound on Z33's.

[D4n743m4n]

Clutch issues and warrenty are touchy subjects I work at a nissan dealership and we have issues with Z's and clutches all the time. Basically the clutch "IS" warrentied "BUT" it has to be a manufactureres defect not something that the owner did. To be perfectly honest if you think about it this would be the correct approach I mean if you warrentied a part and had to pay to replace it you wouldnt want to do it everytime some guy beats on his car or someone not driving a MT for long burning up the clutch. I mean seriously I can take a car out and burn up the clutch in 5 min we all know this. Its a grey area stick to your guns they might replace. Might as well get em to do the transmission too freshy fresh! My first post btw hello everyone.

[flyguy2618]

Ya i have that too with my 06 thought it was just normal.

[editguy29]

UPDATE - Dealer listened to it and said it was normal?

[TwoOhThree350z]

If your clutch goes out, just go aftermarket

[coolapple28]

Anyone's car chatter on take off or chug? I had the dealer put a new trainee and clutch in my car for free due to noises of ball bearings rolling around. They also put a new flywheel in b/c mine was warped. The noise returned a few weeks later and I went through Lemon Law and won. I am currently awaiting my new 2007 with "0" miles! I have no clue what the noise is, but in my case, it got worse. Best of luck to you guys. I hope my 07 doesn't do that. Oh yeah...they also told me from day 1 that the noise was normal, but the BBB and arbitrator didn't think so after test driving one with 12,000 miles that didn't do that!

[C-Kwik]

The more I look into this, the more I seem to find. This bit is more speculation on my part, but I believe the noise has to do with the angle of the cut of the gears. Almost all passenger cars use helical gears to reduce noise and vibration. Doing a quick search for photos, I noticed most seem to be cut at about 45 degrees. Performance cars tend to have shallower angles which tend to be closer to a straight cut or spur gear. The shallower angle will likely create more noise than a higher angle helical gear, but less so than a straight cut gear.

The advantage of a straight cut gear is that the torque transfer is more positive as the direction of the force is perpendicular to the gears themselves. With a helical gear, the force will be at an angle to the gear teeth. This causes a side thrust load, where some percentage of the force put on the gear will want to push the gear itself in a direction parallel to the gear's axis. To counter this, a thrust bearing must be used that can withstand the load and hold the gear in place. This means there will be some amount of unwanted friction there.

The steeper the angle is in relation to the direction of force, the more thrust load exists for the given force. A shallow angle will reduce the friction, which results in more efficient power transfer through the transmission.

Now if my speculation is correct and the 350Z and G35 transmission gears have a shallow angle helical gear cut, then the noise is likely very normal. While the noise of a straight cut gear is usually heard as a whine that increases with speed (reverse gears in a car are usually straight cut), the noise you hear during shutdown is likely a similar noise, but heard as several distinct knocks as the frequency of the whine is slowed down. But if they use enough angle, there would be no audible whine during normal operation.

Again, this is speculation on my part, and would love to at least confirm the angles used in the 350Z and G35's so I might try to expand on this further. It's possible some of my reasoning could be off as well, but the cause may still be the same.

Either way, I do believe the noise is entirely normal. Some may have more prominent noise than others, but straight or perhaps straighter cut gears will likely need a much tighter amount of manufacturing tolerance to obtain a minimal amount or no noise.

[tommykazi]

i have an 08 gt with 223 miles on it and i heard the noise and was so pissed! but after looking into it it seems absolutely normal! after all we are dealing with high performance, power usually equals noise doesnt it?