Clunking in my engine, what is it? need help.

[Technical_Automan]

Just as I was about to take off my transmission thinking that my flywheel was loose, I decided to take a stethascope to it. There's a really loud clunking noise that stays with engine RPM's, and I narrowed it down to the oil pan (crankcase), close to the transmission. Here's the catch though, the noise stops completely when I push the clutch in all the way. I took off the dust cover on the transmission and watched the flywheel spinning and it's not wobbling or anything. It has been getting worse and worse since last night, so i'm not driving the car until I fix it.

A couple questions:

- Is there a pilot bearing on the 3S? if so, I didn't get it in the clutch kit and there's nothing in there right now. If not, good.

- I wasn't doing any kind of hard driving or racing when this started, so what could it be? Worst case scenario, my crankshaft is broken, but I don't see how that could've happened and there's no change in anything performance wise. No shifting problems, shaking, no loss of power or anything, just really loud clunking getting worse.

Anyone know what's going on here? Thanks in advance.

[jdridah]

hmmm which area of the engine is it coming from agian? does it sound like metal hitting metal?

[Technical_Automan]

It's making like a knocking sound, and since there's no plastic inside the engine, I would have to assume metal on metal...it's loudest on the bottom of the engine right at the oil pan...I can't really tell if its coming from inside the transmission bellhousing or from inside the oil pan (@ the crankshaft)...I don't know if sound is playing a trick on me, and I wouldn't want to take out the transmission for no reason, that would be a huge waste of my time.

[Stealthee]

Throw out bearing. Havent had issues with mine but when my brothers went bad on his Neon it sounded horrible, almost like the motor was gonna blow up. We replaced it when ironically the engine did seize and it hasnt made a noise since. Its not necessarily harmful, just a nuisance.

[Technical_Automan]

Idk about that...it's brand new, i've driven 1000 miles on it...do they really get that loud? it does sound like the engine is gonna blow up. I'm just gonna take the transmission off and see wtf is going on in there, or if it's even in there. I figure if it's not in the transmission then it's in the engine, and if I have to teardown the engine i'll need the transmission off anyway.

[Stealthee]

Its possible you got a bad one. Either that or the shift fork could be caught up. Whatever it is I jope its not the motor, that would suck.

[Technical_Automan]

yeah that would suck, paying $500+ a month for something I can't use. I hope it's the throw-out bearing cuz it's warrantied still...but the thing is it seems like whatever it is would effect the driving somehow, but it's just makin loud noise. Oh well its 10 PM and i'm gonna go start taking the tranny off in my garage.

[Technical_Automan]

Well I took the tranny out and found the problem. 7 out of the 8 bolts that hold on the flywheel were completely loose. I'm soooo glad I didn't keep driving it. They are the wrong bolts, which was my first guess, i'll have to go to a dealer tomarrow and get the right ones (or at least the right size and strength).

[Igovert500]

Glad you figured it out...so was there any serious damage?

[Technical_Automan]

nope no damage at all, caught it before it got too bad. It's good in a way that this happened because I can now check and see how my new transmission is doing.

[Migra]

Nice find dude, now you can be an expert if anyone else has that problem! :P