New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
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New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
Hi guys, been awhile since I posted around here.
Recently bought a 2003 Ford Focus ZX5, standard (obviously). 99,000 on it, runs great.
Anyway, whenever I buy a new car I tend to be extremely paranoid towards any sorta noise that seems a bit out of place.
Here's whats up: when car is in neutral, clutch is out, every once and awhile I can hear a faint noise that sorta sounds like a Harley Davidson engine (if you can imagine that, lol), maybe like something flapping down there. It's not loud, but goes away when I put the clutch in. Now, I've read around different threads on throw-out bearings, etc. and looked up YouTube videos to compare the noise of that to what I've got, and it doesn't sound like that at all. Clutch doesn't slip, no weird noises when in gear and driving, just that weird little tick when I'm idling in neutral.
Does anyone have any ideas? It doesn't really sound like it's very serious and the car drives just fine, mechanic took a look at it before I bought it, never mentioned anything wrong with tranny or anything...
Recently bought a 2003 Ford Focus ZX5, standard (obviously). 99,000 on it, runs great.
Anyway, whenever I buy a new car I tend to be extremely paranoid towards any sorta noise that seems a bit out of place.
Here's whats up: when car is in neutral, clutch is out, every once and awhile I can hear a faint noise that sorta sounds like a Harley Davidson engine (if you can imagine that, lol), maybe like something flapping down there. It's not loud, but goes away when I put the clutch in. Now, I've read around different threads on throw-out bearings, etc. and looked up YouTube videos to compare the noise of that to what I've got, and it doesn't sound like that at all. Clutch doesn't slip, no weird noises when in gear and driving, just that weird little tick when I'm idling in neutral.
Does anyone have any ideas? It doesn't really sound like it's very serious and the car drives just fine, mechanic took a look at it before I bought it, never mentioned anything wrong with tranny or anything...
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
Can you give us a few more details? Perhaps comparing it to a Harley isn't the best description as I would tell me that your trans is very loud till you press the clutch in.
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
Is the car rolling or parked? If rolling, could be a wheel bearing.
I'd recommend searching some Focus forums; that sort of thing is likely to be commonly reported and easily diagnosed by people who discuss that model all the time.
I'd recommend searching some Focus forums; that sort of thing is likely to be commonly reported and easily diagnosed by people who discuss that model all the time.
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watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
Hmm...you say it isn't a throwout bearing...but the symptoms you are describing are exactly like a ToB. Not exactly sure now.
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
Thanks for the replies,
A bit more detail, remember when you were a kid and you put a baseball card on your bike wheel? Think of that sound but at a much shorter frequency (like you're riding your bike at a fairly slower pace) and very muffled. That's about the best I can describe it as . The car is always stopped.
I should also add that it comes and goes. For instance I may hear it at times but other times it won't be there even under the same circumstances (car stopped, in neutral, clutch out)
What I'm possibly thinking is that something in the vicinity of the tranny/clutch area might be loose (like a pipe?) that when the clutch is out for some reason it's causing it to rattle a little bit? I'm not exactly sure. I'm not an aggressive driver and don't slam through my gears.
Edit:
I checked out a Focus forum like previously suggested and I found that I'm not alone, apparently from what I've read this is due to a small gap between the pressure plate and the release bearing, and it's causing a slight rattle. For now I'm just going to monitor the sound and see what happens, in your guys opinion is having that slight gap going to cause me issues down the road or not? On the Focus forums it would seem quite a few people have that problem and seems that it's actually quite common.
A bit more detail, remember when you were a kid and you put a baseball card on your bike wheel? Think of that sound but at a much shorter frequency (like you're riding your bike at a fairly slower pace) and very muffled. That's about the best I can describe it as . The car is always stopped.
I should also add that it comes and goes. For instance I may hear it at times but other times it won't be there even under the same circumstances (car stopped, in neutral, clutch out)
What I'm possibly thinking is that something in the vicinity of the tranny/clutch area might be loose (like a pipe?) that when the clutch is out for some reason it's causing it to rattle a little bit? I'm not exactly sure. I'm not an aggressive driver and don't slam through my gears.
Edit:
I checked out a Focus forum like previously suggested and I found that I'm not alone, apparently from what I've read this is due to a small gap between the pressure plate and the release bearing, and it's causing a slight rattle. For now I'm just going to monitor the sound and see what happens, in your guys opinion is having that slight gap going to cause me issues down the road or not? On the Focus forums it would seem quite a few people have that problem and seems that it's actually quite common.
Last edited by coffeebeans on Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
kinda like the sound of a twin disk clutch when the clutch is out in neutral? perhaps (as stupid as it would be) its a twin disk
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
Well, my next guess was going to be catalytic converter heat shield rattling, but it sounds like you got it figured out.
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watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
Just for kicks I'll stick my head under there and see if anything is clearly loose or not, but yeah it would seem as though I've pinpointed the problem. Thanks for the help, guys!theholycow wrote:Well, my next guess was going to be catalytic converter heat shield rattling, but it sounds like you got it figured out.
Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
Let's not discount the possibility that there really is a Harley Davidson somewhere in your transmission
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
ROFLgizmo wrote:Let's not discount the possibility that there really is a Harley Davidson somewhere in your transmission
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
gizmo wrote:Let's not discount the possibility that there really is a Harley Davidson somewhere in your transmission
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watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
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Re: New car - Probably just paranoid. Convince me I am.
My rsx used to rattle when idling in neutral.
I believe this is caused by the pressure plate rattling around at low speeds. Sort of like a resonating frequency.
I believe this is caused by the pressure plate rattling around at low speeds. Sort of like a resonating frequency.