New here.
 

My names Byron. Just purchased a used 2013 FRS 6MT. Whiteout.

Had a question. Never owned a RWD car before so I need to know if this is normal. When I'm at a dead stop and shift into first gear, I hear a "thunk" at the rear of the car. I'm assuming it's the diff catching. Was wondering if it's normal. Thank you.

I don't think that is normal !

Calling dibs on stock exhaust. Everyone wants it.

When's the part out?? :D

In all seriousness you're fine, just being a little overly cautious of all the little noises this car makes.

Yes, its normal! And its probably the U joints, not the differential.

Make sure you're pressing fully down on the clutch pedal before going into first.

It happens in mine too. Pretty sure its the driveshaft being connected. Not 100% sure, if someone could chime in and correct me thatd be great. To not get the noise, press the clutch in, wait a second or two, then shift into first. You shouldnt get the noise then.

It's 100% normal.

When you're sitting there with car in neutral and your foot off the clutch, the clutch is engaged with the flywheel, and the input shaft of the transmission is spinning. Power doesn't go all the way through, obviously, because the transmission is not in gear.

When you push in the clutch, you disengage the clutch from the flywheel, so power is no longer being applied to the transmission input shaft. If you hold the clutch there for a few moments without doing anything else, the input shaft will slow down and stop.

However, if you immediately put the car in first gear right after pushing the clutch, before the input shaft stops spinning, the momentum of the spinning shaft will try to spin the rest of the drive train. You get a little bump all the way back to the differential as the gear in the transmission stops the input shaft's momentum. That's the clunk you're hearing.

It's normal. It doesn't hurt anything. If it bothers you, just leave your foot on the clutch for a moment before putting it in gear, and you won't hear it.

This is probably not the weirdest thing about this car. You will also find other things that may alarm you but are perfectly normal.

Sort of but the drive shaft is always "connected" to the tranny. There are a whole bunch of things between the engine and the wheels in a RWD. When you go in gear they all have to sort of realign. That is what you hear. Not sure how waiting a second makes any difference though since there is no pressure on all those bits until you let out the clutch (see edit). You will hear all sorts of weird noises in these cars since there is only paper thin soundproofing.


Edit: Ya Extra nailed it. I was presuming that you were already stationary for a bit when you were letting the clutch out so the shaft had already stopped.

My favorite quote on the board regarding this:

I LOL'd.

Send clear audio clip so we can properly access the situation.

Welcome, Bahyruhn and congratulations on your purchase ...... :clap:

Yep, lots of things tighten up when you apply torque through the powertrain.

I wouldn't worry about a mild clunk unless it gets louder.


humfrz

The key to getting rid of wierd noises you don't underatand is catless headers and a really nice exhaist:burnrubber:

lol. but like others said its pretty normal