pressure plate clanking, should i be concerned?
 

Is this a part that I should be concerned about or should I just live with it for another year? When the car is on and I depress the clutch down, it will clank subtely, not loud but it's there. car drives normally otherwise.

I've brought my car in for clutch related issues three times:

Sept 2015 (dealership A) - crunchy throwout bearing replaced. no more crunchiness

Feb 2015 (dealership B) - creaky clutch fork showed up just as weather got snappy cold, pressure plate clanking, dealer surprised me and replaced TOB again although I had no issues with the crunchiness. car shifts noticeably smoother and clutch engagement is improved. I did not feel this same way after the first TOB replacement. i did not mention the pressure plate clanking to the dealer

Mar 2015 - (dealership A again) - brought the car back to dealership A to address an oil leak (seepage) and mentioned the clutch fork squeaking. They said they want to open up the transmission and look around it. I did not want them to as I enjoy the engagement and shifting as it stands now. That and I'm sure Subaru of America would question why I need so many throwout bearing replacements lol. Tech mentioned the pressure plate clanking as well. I told them I'll just come back in a year to follow up on the seepage.


So right now, I'm trying to time out when to install my header. My original plan was to conclude the oil seeping problem and that's been done, now I want to see if I should have them address the pressure plate now or if I can drive it a year with the header and enjoy the extra torque before bringing it back in with the stock header installed.

Well, hello @tracerit , I see you're back again ...... ;)

So, have you just learned to live with your barely seeping cam/timing chain cover .. ??

Ahhhhh yes, but you have another fret ...... :sigh:

So, you hear a "clanking" when you depress the clutch pedal.

Now, since they have replaced the throw out bearing a couple of times, it's probably not that. If the release fork has been lubed, when they replaced the bearing, it's probably not that.

That leaves the clutch and pressure plate. Let's assume (I hate that word) the pressure plate is securely bolted to the flywheel and the flywheel isn't warped or otherwise damaged.

The clutch could have a broken spring or the disk could have been damaged .... that may cause a clank.

The pressure plate's fingers might have been damaged by a wrecked up or frozen throw out bearing………that might cause a clank sound when the clutch is engaged.

Let's make another assumption (yep that's two today) that the "clanking" is not in your head ..... :eyebulge:

Now you want to put on an aftermarket header, so your engine can make more power, thus putting further stress on a possibly weakened clutch system......??

Ya know, if I were you, I'd get the clutch/pressure plate situation fixed before you start in with messing with the exhaust.

Why, because you can only go crying to the dealer just so often before they will start looking for a reason to deny you warranty coverage.

A header and a tune and a blown clutch just may push them over the edge.



Your call.


humfrz

Lol @humfrz yup it's me again with yet another problem :P

Happiness with my car has been short these last few months. I'm just pushing for some mods to liven things up, but after your reply I think I should slow it down a bit. Having a header on there will definitely make things worse with the dealers. One of the reasons why I wanted to hold off on the clutch clanking for a year is because I want to avoid what you mentioned, being too cozy with so much warranty work done they'll start questioning my use of the vehicle. And all I'm doing is just driving to work on the highway with it lol. I actually told my dad about what I'm going through with the car and I'm close to just staying put with how things are and wait another year and see what comes of thr m235i lci. I love this car but it's given me more issues than the three bmws I've had before it.

Anyways I'll continue with my appointment at dealership B this Thursday for what was supposed to be a followup to thr creaking clutch fork (which I fixed by just lubing it) and mention the clanking.

May end up selling thr ace header and just drive it stock.

Thanks and I appreciate the input, always good to have someone think objectively haha.

Mine makes a faint "clank" too. Always has, just assumed it was normal. Seems to drive fine so I'm not worried about it

Have you ruled out the clutch pedal return spring as the source of the clunk? Just pointing something else to check.

I agree on holding up any drivetrain mods until this is resolved.

Yup it's faint and noticeable when I'm stopped. Doesn't happen all the time but most. I can't hear it when I'm driving otherwise.

It's definitely coming from the engine bay area and not inside. It's not something I can reproduce however, I'll have to start making notes of when it happens.

Dealership originally said the clanking was normal and all cars have it to some degree, some louder than others. Since I have no driveability issues I accepted it and was about to leave when the service advisor suggested to the tech to test another BRZ on the lot. It did not make that same noise so now I have an appointment for them to open up and check the clutch assembly for the third time lol.

Since they're going in there, are there any parts that I should replace just to get it out of the way? I'm only at 30k miles. Possibility the pressure plate maybe replaced under warranty. The clutch disk should have a lot more life to go as I don't ride it or launch the car. Maybe request them to resurface the flywheel?

Again, I have no driveability issues other than hearing that clunk while at a stop and depressing and releasing the clutch pedal quickly. So trying not to waste money now but willing to spend some now to avoid paying more later since the clutch will be open.

Recent update, the pressure plate was replaced but it immediately clanked still on the lot after I picked it up. They had the master tech look at the car on my next visit and was just told that it's normal. I don't hear it unless i'm engaging the clutch quickly at idle, which isn't a normal thing to do, so I'm not too concerned at this point. Just glad I'm getting my car back to drive :)

Keep in mind this car has a very low sound deadening profile, anything from the engine bay to down the tranny can be more audible than any other car, an example of this would be the tires road noise the car makes at highway speeds but that's the price you pay for having a very lightweight car

This is the noise I'm referring to: [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlSytD3yDYQ"]Clutch clunk - YouTube[/ame]

The car is loud enough like you mentioned during driving that I can't hear it. I'll be installing some sound deadening in the future but i don't expect it to do anything about this noise.

That is totally normal and what you are hearing is usually normal gear lash (tolerances). Nothing to worry about unless it was a loud bang followed by severe vibrations. My previous car has a similar Aisin transmission like the ones we have and did the same thing, every tranny in built differently some do it some don't.

It sounds a bit louder than what it's supposed to but it could be from the mic because it was noisy all over.

Hi,

I have the same clunk when I release the clutch!
Have people had any consequences with this noise?

Thanks

No

Have you had this noise for a long time?