Rattle noise when engaging the clutch M6

[Russell James]

I wouldn't mess with going to a dealer, all they are going to do is joy ride your car and say - normal. Corvettes also do the exact same thing.

More noticeable if your turning a bit, and the LS diff has a little drag on it from the clutches grabbing. I have a 90 deg turn into my garage, I hear the clunk everyday when pulling into my garage on the past 10 cars I've bought. Trust me, it's normal.

[jomo45]

Mine does the same, not very noticeable until around the 1,000 mile mark, very noticeable now. My current theory is the Throwout Bearing, guy I know at the dealer also concurs. It does appear to be a "normal" part of the drveline slack issue, and nothing to worry about.

It is very annoying though.. I have learned to be a little smoother when loading/unloading the drivetrain around parking lots, ie cruise nights, etc, don't want to alarm bystanders!!!

[Skyblu]

Mine made a rattling noise after about 8000 miles in first and second at low speeds, when you depress clutch it would stop, It was not normal and got louder every week. I took to two different dealer's the first said it was normal the second said it was not. They gave me a new tranny after 4 days trying to figure what to do they said it had "numerous issues" and they weren't going to keep me waiting while they figured it out and replaced tranny-NO NOISE. My husband who is a master ASE Tech said his thoughts were it was the Input shaft bearing but they would never confirm that to be the problem but it is definately not normal.

[fearless]

I have a ls3 same thing... I think its a joke how loud of a rattle noise it makes but have been told by people on here its normal. If you take it in let us know what they say I am curious. I may take mine in as well.

[junkM6]

I have had the same issue since my 1SS M6 had 4,000 miles on it, I finally have an appointment with some engineers out of Detroit tomorrow. First off the selling dealership wanted no part of repairing it, so I went to the Cadillac (also GM) a little closer to home. They immediately wanted to figure out what was wrong, GM first wanted a complete clutch kit installed (Absolutely nothing wrong with the Clutch kit), and for the third trip to the dealership, GM wanted to put a heater hose check valve in it (a T.S.B. where some people mistake a Gurgle in the heater core for a clunking noise) Dahhhhhh.... WTF? The Lemon Law clearly gives a manufacturer 4 attempts to repair the same problem, before the manufacturer is obligated to Re-Purchase the vehicle. So tomorrow I am going to suggest just replacing the transmission rather than wasting my time adding a check valve to the heater hose…….

[ITGuy11]

I took it to the dealer last week for the rattle noise. I took the tech for a drive and he heard the sound and said that he never heard that noise before. They call me later that day and state that the noise is normal...

So I insisted on driving another SS M6 to see if it makes the noise. They gave me the keys to a brand new 2011 SS M6 with 2 miles on the clock. Guess what, it makes the exact same noise....

I can't believe that this noise is acceptable to GM. The first day I brought my car home from purchasing it my neighbor was outside when I was pulling it up the driveway. The first thing he said was "what the hell was that rattling noise". How freaking embarrassing

[Hooper]

Originally Posted by ITGuy11

I took it to the dealer last week for the rattle noise. I took the tech for a drive and he heard the sound and said that he never heard that noise before. They call me later that day and state that the noise is normal...

So I insisted on driving another SS M6 to see if it makes the noise. They gave me the keys to a brand new 2011 SS M6 with 2 miles on the clock. Guess what, it makes the exact same noise....

I can't believe that this noise is acceptable to GM. The first day I brought my car home from purchasing it my neighbor was outside when I was pulling it up the driveway. The first thing he said was "what the hell was that rattling noise". How freaking embarrassing

I started a thread about this issue too and am very frustrated. I ordered this car and waited 3 months to receive it and however happy i am to have it, I feel like I am driving a worn out Ford Fiesta when it makes that awful cheap car noise. Anyone who says this is a normal noise for manual street cars to make obviously has not heard this particular noise. Corvettes do NOT make this noise, neither did the G4 camaros or any other. It sounds like an emergency brake cable slapping up against exhaust or something every time you depress the clutch at slow speeds. This ridiculous chattering is unique to this car and is either a sign of an engineering noise flaw or a malfunctioning system. If anyone feels they have had this noise remedied please let us know the trick. Thanks...

[junkM6]

I had a very informative conversation with an engineer from the Milford testing/proving facility, who deals with problems on the manual transmissions in the camaro and the corvette. However the conversation was not a lot about the clunking driveline/transmission issues. The most of the conversation about that were different reasons why it could make that noise, but did not offer any remedy for it. I’m very curious why GM has not issued a recall or at least a TSB on the problem, so dealerships will stop saying that is normal driveline tolerances! It might be fine for us to listen to that noise, and think, “I have a 100,000/5 year warranty J”, but the reality is; I wouldn’t go out and buy a used “SS” anything making that noise! The Lemon Law in Michigan Clearly States “If a motor vehicle has any defect or condition that impairs the USE or VALUE of the new motor vehicle to the consumer” the manufacturer is obligated to repair it. So all the people that want to sit back and deal with it, instead of getting it warranty, Good Luck on selling your Camaro someday.

[67motorcat]

My 2010 and now my 2011 make a noise as well if you push the clutch in rapidly at slow speeds.

As said before it is driveline slack and there is just more of it on this design then say a 4th gen.

With practice it is possible to drive slow and avoid the noise.Slowly depress the clutch so the torque release-unload is gradual.I can do it smooth as silk and never a clank.

If you think about it,on the Camaro,there are a ton of load points to make "noise"

Clutch to Input shaft
Output shaft to Driveshaft with" rubber bisciuts" on both ends(to lessen the load somwhat)
Ring and Pinion
Two axle splines on each side.

The clank is one or more of these unloading and loading and "is" normal for this car.
GM engineers probably could have went further to deal with it but didn't to keep costs down.

I had a 2004 Vette M6 and it would clank sometimes as well,but not as bad due to the torque tube "tightening" everything up

As long as your Imput shaft and throwout bearing are good your Camaro is good to go.

Input shaft bearing is easy to test...Makes noise(Whirring) till you push the clutch, then goes away.Moving or not.

Throwout bearing...makes noise and gets louder as you push the clutch.

[thekid96]

I had the same clunking noise since my car was new. It was greatly exagerated when I installed solid bushings, to the point of becoming unbearable. In my case it ended up being excessive play in the ring and pinion, GM has shown to have a huge tolerance setting up the drivetrain in these cars.
Get underneath the car, grab the driveshaft and twist on it with the trans in neutral. My diff had nearly a 1/4 turn of slack in it which was creating the clunk sound from lash in the ring and pinion. I finally had Unitrax go through the diff and set it up to their specs. Clunk is long gone and my driveshaft only has about 1/16th of slack now.

[GEEo]

I also get that on mine.

But I noticed that when I step and release the clutch quick and not all the way down it has that sound. But when you push it all the way down gently it doesn't make the sound.

[junkM6]

Originally Posted by 67motorcat

My 2010 and now my 2011 make a noise as well if you push the clutch in rapidly at slow speeds.

As said before it is driveline slack and there is just more of it on this design then say a 4th gen.

With practice it is possible to drive slow and avoid the noise.Slowly depress the clutch so the torque release-unload is gradual.I can do it smooth as silk and never a clank.

If you think about it,on the Camaro,there are a ton of load points to make "noise"

Clutch to Input shaft
Output shaft to Driveshaft with" rubber bisciuts" on both ends(to lessen the load somwhat)
Ring and Pinion
Two axle splines on each side.

The clank is one or more of these unloading and loading and "is" normal for this car.
GM engineers probably could have went further to deal with it but didn't to keep costs down.

I had a 2004 Vette M6 and it would clank sometimes as well,but not as bad due to the torque tube "tightening" everything up

As long as your Imput shaft and throwout bearing are good your Camaro is good to go.

Input shaft bearing is easy to test...Makes noise(Whirring) till you push the clutch, then goes away.Moving or not.

Throwout bearing...makes noise and gets louder as you push the clutch.

I'm Not at all concerned about the camaro making noise when I drive it (a bit embarrassing), but what I am concerned about is the re-sale so when the Z28 comes out, I can get good money out of my 2010 SS. I understand there are many ways to create "Slop" but after all, if it can be fixed, Fix it........

[Hooper]

Originally Posted by 67motorcat

My 2010 and now my 2011 make a noise as well if you push the clutch in rapidly at slow speeds.

As said before it is driveline slack and there is just more of it on this design then say a 4th gen.

With practice it is possible to drive slow and avoid the noise.Slowly depress the clutch so the torque release-unload is gradual.I can do it smooth as silk and never a clank.

If you think about it,on the Camaro,there are a ton of load points to make "noise"

Clutch to Input shaft
Output shaft to Driveshaft with" rubber bisciuts" on both ends(to lessen the load somwhat)
Ring and Pinion
Two axle splines on each side.

The clank is one or more of these unloading and loading and "is" normal for this car.
GM engineers probably could have went further to deal with it but didn't to keep costs down.

I had a 2004 Vette M6 and it would clank sometimes as well,but not as bad due to the torque tube "tightening" everything up

As long as your Imput shaft and throwout bearing are good your Camaro is good to go.

Input shaft bearing is easy to test...Makes noise(Whirring) till you push the clutch, then goes away.Moving or not.

Throwout bearing...makes noise and gets louder as you push the clutch.

Appreciate the input, but I respectfully disagree and am sadly disappointed. I love the car but did not pay 35K to "practice" trying to keep it from making an embarrassing cheap noise. I am still not convinced that this issue will not affect the drivetrain at some point. Just struggling to accept that this noise is not a sign of mechanical vibrations and wear of some sort. Rattles and clunks don't happen if the machinery is tight. I only have 185 miles on it now, but when break in time is over and she's ready to slam gears this noise makes me feel like the tranny is fragile and going to shred. I owned several performance cars and just can't believe GM did not resolve this issue. I don't care what anyone says. This noise does not belong in a performance car. Hell, it doesn't belong in any car except something with 250K miles. And, it does have an affect on resale value. Some guys might not care, and to those I say enjoy your car and don;t look back. For me, I am struggling to accept it. To each their own I guess...

[ITGuy11]

Same problem in this thread: http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107348

Can we get these threads merged? I wan't as many people as possible to chime in about this problem so that I can present it to GM.