Hi everyone, This is my first post on this site . I know the issue has been beaten to death, and I've just about exhausted the search tool without finding a definitive answer. I just bought a used 03 v35 . The car has about 50k kms on it and everything is great except for the Transmission.
I first noticed the problem when going through a drive through and feathering the clutch in 1st gear. It sounded like there was a rotating steel can with nails bouncing around where the transmission was supposed to be. I tried giving it more revs and the grinding/rattling noise just got louder. The same thing also happens in reverse and in 2nd gear at low rpms.
After searching through threads here and on 6mt.com, There were mixed conclusions. Some have said it is normal, and some have said it was the clutch, Flywheel, Throw out bearing and every combination of the three. I figured if i'd post with my unique symptoms it would generate a more accurate answer.
I took the car back to the Dealership and they said they would "look at it" Well, after 5 days The dealer called today saying the problem was fixed. I Went to pick up the car and low and behold..the chatter and shudder are still extremely there. I blew up at the dealer, they had my car for 5 days and did nothing. I asked what exactly they'd been doing with it. He told me he ran a complete diagnostic, and he checked the whole tranny. When I asked if the tranny was even removed, to check the clutch, flywheel and bearings he said " why would I do that?". He even tried to cover up the noise by revving the engine hard at every take off from a stop, then criticized me for slipping the clutch out of turns.. I couldn't believe he would even try that..
Was I wrong to expect that the tranny would be taken off the car to do a full diagnostic? He told me the chatter was due to a "heavy duty clutch and dual mass flywheel". I wasn't buying the fact that the car had the stock flywheel and was still making this much noise at low rpms. He took me to the performance shop that did the trans. check and the owner pretty much told me the same thing, the only thing they did was put my car on the dyno and max it out to check for slippage, which apparently it didn't.
He also completely ruled paying for a new clutch, flywheel or trans because he thinks there's absolutely nothing wrong with the car. Sucks to spend 23k on a car only to have it sound like cement mixer ever time it takes off from a stop.
I don't know what to do, even their mechanic who I first took it to said the car should not be acting like that at all. The manager and salesman both refuse to do anything, regardless of the 1 year warranty that they included in the sale price. I don't know if this violates forum rules, but the dealership is Edward Lee's in Homebush, N.S.W.
What should I do?
Thanks in advance guys, I apologize for the long read. Any help would be priceless to me at this point.
-Luke