Alright, so... went to my original dealership, who brushed me off saying the car sounds fine. After that, tried another one, which was a vastly improved experience. Foreman offered to give it a listen before booking anything, brought tech out, and they both heard the rattle.
Got my car back today. Apparently they found a busted throwout bearing and warrantied that, along with labour. They also replaced the flywheel and the clutch on my request, for which I had to pay for myself.
TLDR;
- Our cars clunk right out of the factory on clutch engagement/disengagement; that's just DMF
- Rattles on idle like this (NOT the regular direct injection noises) View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w06Kj0yvoHI
- Sounds kind of like this when engaging clutch: View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DIWCQfNHLo
- Starts off subtle, then over time slowly deteriorates into a major rattle.
- It's NOT the RMM! (although one would definitely help in other ways, still feel engine moving back and forth)
Details
I took the old parts home and this is what it sounds like:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4f8ZKrvcuw
According the them, the flywheel was just worn out. At least as far as springs go, it's plausible. I do not baby the car and it did not go out in a spectacular fashion all of a sudden, the rattle started as more pronounced clunking and then got worse over time. I'm somewhat surprised that the surface is so seared, since I don't really do burnouts our hard launches. The diaphragm seems a touch oily on the inside... The techs didn't notice any leaks, so I wonder if it could be the grease from the busted throwout bearing? Unfortunately they didn't save the bearing itself so I can't really check.
New clutch feels incredibly light and I find it way tougher to sense the engagement spot. It's almost like I could ... lean on the old clutch more.
That being said,
- Rattle is gone
- Cluch chatter on starting in 1st is gone
- Excessive clunks on tip-in in 3rd, 4th, 5th gears are almost gone (but still there if you really listen)
- Engine revs up way quicker and feels more eager
- Vibrations at 3k+ RPM are gone, engine feels smooth again.
- When revving the engine out, I now actually hear the distinct DI machine gun noises like in the other cars I've been in.
There's still some clunk which now sounds more like a thump if I botch up the engagement or disengage clutch when reversing, but its way more muted and limited.
The bad news is that's just what our flywheels do. If I still have the car after this one wears out as well, I'm definitely putting in a single mass one.
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Attaching some bonus pics of the flywheel and the clutch, would love to hear if this is an example of abused clutch or not. The car is my first manual! EDIT: this is at 50k miles, mostly city