I just bought my EVO last night, (traded in WRX), had to ***** with the Floor Manager for 4 hours to get the price down to MSRP. They wanted freakin $7k over. Idiots.. Anyway, I noticed that the EVO also has some decceleration noise to it. Its about as loud as my WRX was, but the thing that striked me as odd is:

I went out to start the car after it had been sitting for 3 hours or so, and I hear a vibration or almost grinding noise above the engine. When I push the clutch in, the vibration or grinding goes away. When I release the clutch the noise is back. Can anyone elaborate on this for me? Coming from a WRX, no sound ever went away when I push the clutch in......

BTW - the tranny feels much beefier than the WRX slop box.

 

My Evo doesn't behave like this, but read on...

My RX-7 has done something similar since day one. When idling in neutral, clutch pedal not depressed, I hear a sort of "rattling" noise coming from the transmission -- it goes away when I depress the clutch. The noise is very noticeable, but not overly loud. Best I can figure, it's caused by the layshaft rotating without any load on it -- it's probably wobbling a little bit with no gear engaged to stabilize it. And when you press in the clutch pedal, of course the layshaft is disconnected from the engine and stops spinning.

Note that my RX-7 has 9 years and 80000 miles on the original transmission and this problem has never worsened or caused any problems.

I'd definitely check with the dealer, but I just wanted to let you know that a noise which goes away when you press in the clutch doesn't necessarily mean that something is wrong.

I wouldn't recommend, as a long term "solution", depressing the clutch pedal to make the noise go away. This will cause premature wear of your throwout bearing.

 

Um, that sounds like a bad throwout bearing.. I have had this happen on a few of my RX-7s.. Also might want to check the pilot bearing in the e-shaft..



-Zach

 

how can it be bad though? I have 50 miles on the car.....
Can anyone try this out on their EVO? When its cold?

 

Yea, i might have it checked out at the dealer. Although I BELIEVE it only did this when cold. I did NOT confirm if the sound was apparent after the vehicle was warmed up!

Cant be anything wrong I hope, the car was never driven by anyone else....

 

Hmm, I'm not sure. I had the clutch replaced some 15K miles ago, and I'm almost certain they replaced the throwout bearing -- I'd have to check my bill to be sure though -- if they didn't, I'll be mighty pissed. And the noise was unaffected after receiving the new clutch. And it definitely sounds like the sound is coming more from the transmission than the engine.

But with my car, I'm not particular concerned at this point to find out what's really going on, simply because I haven't noticed any ill effects through so many years and miles. I've been pretty lucky with my RX-7 compared to most -- no problems with the engine, transmission, or turbo, and one new clutch after about 65K miles.

 

You got the clutch in your EVO replaced 15k ago? Im just hoping there is nothing wrong with the center diff and or tranny. Im taking it into the Stealership tomorrow afternoon just so they can listen to it, and at least note it for me.....

 

No, sorry about the confusion... I was speaking of my RX-7.

And in my Evo, I haven't heard anything like what you're discussing. Given my history with a noise that goes away when the clutch pedal is depressed, I would be one of the first to notice such a behavior, and it's not there on the Evo. At least not anytime so far, within the first 900 miles.

I don't think you need to worry about any of the differentials (center or otherwise). If the gear selector is in neutral, the diffs don't "know" whether the clutch pedal is in or not.

The transmission does behave differently when the clutch is depressed. If the clutch is depressed and the car is stopped, the transmission goes idle -- completely idle -- nothing moves. Now leaving the gear selector in neutral, release the clutch; the layshaft and all of the gears will spin up to speed, but the driveshaft still won't turn. It's quite conceivable that you're hearing bearing noise from the transmission with all of those gears turning. That could be nothing to worry about, or it could be something more serious.

One thing that might help at guessing where the noise is coming from (but still just guessing) -- when does the noise return as you slowly let the clutch pedal up? If the noise comes back early (while the pedal is still significantly depressed), it's probably not noise from the throwout bearing. On the other hand, if the noise comes back later (when the clutch pedal is at the top of its active range), it is much more likely to be a throwout bearing noise.

Good luck with getting this resolved.

 

So it could be a bearing in the tranny or it could be throw out bearing?

Also - do you have a good amount of decel noise, in all gears?

 

A lot of drivetrain noise in all gears.

But it's basically a whining noise at a frequency which is right in line with the engine speed... It's nothing that caused me any concern. With an AWD car with three differentials, there is bound to be a significant amount of noise generated by the drivetrain.

I've heard others talk about strange noises during decel, especially between 5K down to 3K RPM, which sound out of place -- I haven't heard anything like that myself.

 

I have a noise like that in my EVO. I know it doe sit cold, but it may do it warm also I'm not sure. I haven't noticed any ill effects but I only have 3k miles. I haven't taken it to the dealership to have them listen though because it doesn't seem to be causing any sort of problems other than the noise.

 

So Eternal, you also have the weird grinding/vibration sound that goes AWAY when you push the clutch in? I'm wondering if other EVO owners also get it, or if mine is alone with this problem

 

I can't remember what it exactly is .... But the noise is normal... Although, it must be a thing cause my GSX does it, and now the EVO.. My WRX doesn't make that noise though.. But I know what you're talking about... It's a normal clutch noise... Unless it gets really loud, I wouldn't worry about it...

 

Check your transmission oil levels first. In evos this is usually a result of a worn out clutch bearing. But as you have only 50 miles on it I am suprised if that is the case.

My car does the same but I ve figured it is the worn out clutch bearing that's causing it (I have 20K on the original bearing). I will be replacing that with my next clutch!!

 

I have a sneaking hunch that the throw-out bearing just needs to be adjusted. It has to be to tight, and hopefully will just need to be loosened up a tad.

How can this be done on the EVO? If its the case, i shouldnt even have to take it into the Stealership...