Hi All,
When I shift from Neutral into 1st gear, usually at a stop light, I hear and feel a thud. It's not that loud and only the driver would notice it if really paying attention. It doesn't happen all the time. Does anyone know what this could be?
Nothing to worry about.
Normal operation as the box engages. It will be more pronounced if the air con is on because the EMU raises idle by about 200rpm to compensate.
BTW it is not normally necessary to shift to neutral for stop lights etc., although I used to do it.
It is good practice to put the car into N for the duration of a traffic light -- it takes stress off of the throw out bearing. You are right, it is not necessary, but it is a good thing to do.
messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com...
How long should I expect my clutch to last. I have about 110k miles on the car and I used to drive it really hard.
It is impossible to say. I have no trouble getting 200k from a clutch, but I don't slip the clutch when I start, I always match the speed of the motor and the transmission when downshifting, etc.
Setting the transmission to N saves the throw out bearing, not the clutch.
We may be talking at cross purposes here - I was talking about an auto, and Jeff was talking about a manual. Which have you got?
PS I never needed a clutch on any of the manuals I had.
I am using a MANUAL transition. The thud is faint and I hear/feel it when I press the clutch down...
You are just releasing the back lash in the drive train.
What model and year? Is it coming from the front or the back? All kinds of things can cause this sort of thing, including the bushings on the shock towers and the goofy rubber mounting thing on top of the differential. It can help to put the car up on a rack and get a prybar and start shaking things around to see what is shifting when you accelerate.
--scott
If you press the pedal several times, do you hear/feel the thud each time?
You said earlier that it happens when you select 1st gear, this is a different symptom than when pressing the pedal.
I should have been a bit more specific in my original post.
Here is what happens. I press the clutch to the floor. As I am shifting from N to 1st I hear and feel a thud coming from the center, underneath the car. So the sound comes as I put the car into 1st gear. Pressing down the clutch alone doeant cause it to happen. Its faint, not terribly noticeable. The car is a 1995 325is with 110k miles.
When you press the clutch in neutral, the gearbox first motion shaft should stop turning. So engaging a gear should produce no noise at all - other than the movement of the linkage, etc. What I think is happening is the clutch is dragging slightly, ie not disengaging fully. One way to prove it would be to do the same with the engine stopped. If you don't get the thud you have the answer - the synchromesh is having to work hard to engage the gear.
I should have been a bit more specific in my original post.
Here is what happens. I press the clutch to the floor. As I am shifting from N to 1st I hear and feel a thud coming from the center, underneath the car. So the sound comes as I put the car into 1st gear. Pressing down the clutch alone doeant cause it to happen. Its faint, not terribly noticeable. The car is a 1995 325is with 110k miles.
Does the first gear engage smoothly or do you have painful shifting needing to shift the second before the first ? When you shift from 4th to 5th at 100 / 130 km/h do you feel the same thud ? For years, I've been experiencing something similar as you did with my gear box, with the additional symtoms above. Now the car has 115 000 km on it. No progress except that the gears are more difficult to engage, especially since the dealer changed the oil.
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