Hello everyone,
in the morning when i start up my car to warm up before I leave, I can hear sort of a rattle in the engine. This is only in cold weather. I brought over my mechanic friend and showed him. He's like, "oh thats because you're clutch isnt engaged--watch." and he got in and pushed the clutch in and it went away.

Is this normal? is something loose? just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this.


also, when i look underneath my car, right at the front of the CAT (where it bolts to the pipe comming off the header), there's a small drip of water now and then... is that normal and what is it from?

lots of people have this, especially those who have upgraded from their stock clutch.

i too hear this rattle, but only when the car is very cold and i'm not touching the clutch pedal.

it's the throw-out-bearing, it rattles around sometimes. a few possible causes could be:

1. it's old and worn out
2. when everything is very cold the clearances change
3. slightly different clearances if you have a non-stock clutch
4. broken tabs on the throw out bearing

the last one is kinda tricky. there are these 2 little plastic tabs that break off if you even breathe on them that, in theory, hold the throw out bearing to the clutch actuator fork. i remember breaking these things off accidently when i installed my clutch and i just said "well, the thing can't really move that far anyways, so the hell with them." The1Bill told me that a long time ago when he did the MTX swap he also broke the tabs off and hasn't had a single problem since.

anyways, with that, off this goes to the MTX section...

2016 WRX STi Limited (current)
2001 A4 1.8tqms (donated)
1991 GVR4 #1933 (sold)
old.dsmregistry.com/detail.php?carid=218 (dismantled)

alright, hey thanks alot. I was kinda worried after no one replied for a while, i thought perhaps something seriously was jacked up with my car, but by they way you described, it wasnt anything too serious. Thanks for the information...