When I start up the car after not driving it for a while, or in the morning when it's cold, i'll start to hear this nasty grinding/crunching type of sound after a few seconds to a minute of the car idleing in neutral. It's coming from the clutch/tranny area, and whats even weirder is that the noise stop's when i press in the clutch!? At first i thought maybe it would be a bad throw out bearing, but wouldn't that have the opposite effect? Sounding nasty when pressing the clutch. Oh, and this sound that i'm experiencing will go away after a couple mins of driving or i guess until the car is warmed up? I don't notice any difference in the feel of the clutch, no grinding of gears, etc. Everything "feels" ok, but it sounds horrible for a few minutes. Any ideas?

I've noticed the same thing lately with mine, but a cold morning here in Phoneix is like 50 degrees! Mine's been sort of slipping intermitently lately though. It feels fine and I'm not worried about it, but sometimes, when I'm in 3rd and I put the clutch in to slow down and then release it without changing gears, as I give it gas I get a delayed "hook-up" as I call it. Definitely not right, but I have no fear. Good luck and BUMP!

Its your throw out bearing going bad




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you have crankwalk!!!!!!!!! j/k :/

Probably your throw out bearing... I got the same problem now especially during the winter. About to get a clutch but I cant decide between staying modular or going non modular.
-Dave

Yeah, i was thinking it was probably the throw out bearing too. Also, a couple of people that I have talked to thought that's probably what it was, but then i started thinking (which is bad :P) wouldn't it be making noise when pressing the clutch, rather than making the noise go away when pressing the clutch? Oh well, just thought i'd get a couple more opinions or see if anyone thought it may be something else...

Guess i'll just live with it until I need a new clutch. Everything is still working properly, and i really don't want to do all that work just to replace or grease a cheap bearing. I don't know if my clutch is ever gonna go. lol. I'm almost at 100k miles on the stock clutch, longest any clutch in a car has ever lasted me and it still seems to be going strong. It just sounds like butt. x(

Anyone think there would be a problem if I just ignored this until I needed to replace the clutch? A few people have already told me that it shouldn't hurt anything, and if i don't mind looking like a fool when it starts sounding like ass, then just live with it. heh

I've had that problem too for a while now. Sounds like you're slowly scraping snow or something. It's been doing it for at least 20,000 miles and 7-8 months and I've ignored it so far. I'm simply waiting for the clutch to finally go and one of the other cars to get out of the garage so the NT can go in :)
Considering how long I've lived with it, I'd say you should be able to get away with ignoring it for quite some time.


Jen
95 Eagle Talon ESi
97 Mitsubishi Spyder GS-T
90 Eagle Talon TSi AWD
91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX

I've had the identical problem for a year now....and it's driving me out of my fucking mind!!!!
Only problem I have with it is the fact that I still have a warranty(carmax maxcare).....but it looks like the throw out bearing is about the only part on my car that this f*cking warranty doesn't cover.
I'm an idoit when it comes to how to get anything that I happen to think is wrong fixed through them anyways.....and I'm not sure if they'd have a problem with the minor mods that I have. I could put the stock airbox back on, but it's full of holes.

Man. A whole year! I don't think i could deal with hearing that awful noise for year. If my clutch doesn't go anytime in the not too distant future, I might just break down and get a new clutch just so i have an excuse to go in there and replace the damn bearing.
:P

i just completed a tranny swap at to mt and have that same crunching sound, like gears are mashing together! I dont think its the throw out cause i just put a brand new one in with the swap!? The noise also goes away when i push in the clutch, thought my tranny was fricken broke, its a relief to hear others are having the same problem...


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Mine does the same thing w/ a brand new (Clutch Masters) throw out bearing.

Mine has been doing it for abotu 6 months and still shifts fine. I have no clue what it is. I think I may just get a used tranny soon to get rid of it.

Yea my car has the exact same problem, it does it when it is cold in netural and in first gear. It isn't the throw-out bearing. That's what my dad thought it was, so we replaced it and it didn't do any good. So you can save your money, but if you ever figure it out please let us all know... Shawn

Mine's only doing it in neutral with the clutch out. When you push the clutch in it stops. Also, it's only doing it when it's cold out right after start up. Once I drive for a mile or so and press the clutch in, it doesn't do it anymore. Since the weather has warmed up I haven't been hearing it anymore either. Weird... :wary

I've been hearing some other strange noises too. Like a squeeking noise when pressing and releasing the clutch. Kinda sounds like a broken spray pump? Hard to explain. I guess I'll see what the problem is once something breaks... :)


Jen
95 Eagle Talon ESi
97 Mitsubishi Spyder GS-T
90 Eagle Talon TSi AWD
91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX

Hey Jen, same exact problem here. Only when clutch is out, in neutral, and usually right when I start up. I'm 90% sure it's just the throwout bearing, and it's purely an annoyance, not something to worry about. What ticked me off is that I just got a new engine put in, and that's when it started...it never did it before. Then again, I wouldn't have been able to hear it over my lifters anyway :P

Not worth fixing unless you're changing your clutch IMO. Though it sure is annoying, and how embarrassing is it having your car idle like that?

I think that what a lot of you guys (and gals ;)) are hearing is a bad input shaft bearing in the tranny. I also have the same problem, and by using a stethescope, i figured out that the noise is definately coming from the tranny and not the bellhousing which eliminates the possibility of a bad throwout bearing.

Sounds like little rocks being tossed in the tranny. My car started doing this about a year ago, I took it to a tranny shop but since my car wasn't making the sound when I got there, the shop guy wanted me to leave it overnight for them to witness the strange sound for themselves, but I never got to leaving the car. By just explaining to them what it sounded like they said that it might be the main shaft or throw out bearing.

"main shaft or throwout bearing"

...that's a pretty big "or," in't it? :wary

so what does one check for when they're doing their clutch, to determine if it's a $5 bearing or a $500 shaft? TIA.:P

>so what does one check for when they're doing their clutch, to determine if it's a $5 bearing or a $500 shaft? TIA.

Nothing. When doing the clutch, just do the clutch. You'll know if it's a $5 bearing or $500 shaft once either of them break. Till then... you know... it's simply just a DSM with all it's noises :rolleyes


Jen
95 Eagle Talon ESi
97 Mitsubishi Spyder GS-T
90 Eagle Talon TSi AWD
91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX

Well, you wouldnt need an entire new input shaft... just a new input shaft bearing, and access to a press. You could fix it yourself for about 40 bucks I would imagine.

I love my DSM!
I've had this noise for at least a year now and to me, it's just character, but I was curious if I could do anything about while I conveniently enough will have it apart. Thanks tho. I will check into it...

>I love my DSM!

I was just being sarcastic. I love DSMs too, otherwise I wouldn't be stuck with 5 of 'em now :)

Jen
95 Eagle Talon ESi
97 Mitsubishi Spyder GS-T
90 Eagle Talon TSi AWD
91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
91 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX