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grinding and clunking noise

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anthonypk

Probationary Member
21
1
Feb 3, 2014
stamford, Connecticut
Hello guys, I just purchased a 1999 eclipse GSX :D! This is my childhood dream car so it was a very sentimental purchase for me. So anyways, I bought the car for $3,500 knowing it needed work. Main problem with the car is somewhere in the drivetrain. My budget for fixing up the car is $3,000 (hoping to get nowhere near that too quickly though!)

The first problem which was there when I bought the car is a clunking sound coming from what sounds like the front passenger side area. The clunking sound is repetitive almost as if something in a rotational system is continually hitting something. Specifically the sound happens only if the car is in gear (rolling in neutral makes no clunk). When the car is in gear (every gear does this) the car only makes the sound when throttle is applied; let off the throttle and coast in gear stops the sound.

The cars shifting was really hard and felt lie it needed to be forced or jiggled. The clutch felt very stiff and got progressively stiffer the more in you pushed. It has a stage 2 clutch. We bled the clutch and followed the jackstransmissions video on how to set the pedal adjustment. After that the clutch felt a lot easier to push in and had a consistent feel. Shifting into gear also seemed to be a lot easier and did not feel forced.

Later, we fixed the power steering and decided to take the car for a drive around the block to really figure out the clunking sound. before the drive we did wiggle the tire to make sure its not the tie rod ends or ball joint. Wiggling up and down confirms the ball joint is ok, but there was a bit of movement side to side so I suspect I may need a new tie rod end. So back to the test drive, the car starts good with no weird engine noises. car went into gear decently smooth (it has a shitty unknown short shifter which is being replaced by an OEM unit I snagged for 20 bucks). the clutch engagement felt better but still kind of on the low side no more than an inch off the floor. As expected the car goes "clunk clunk clunk clunk as you have the accelerator pressed. This clunk can be heard but is not felt through any of the pedals or steering wheel. The ride is smooth, just loud. After 2 small laps around the block, the problem suddenly sounded worse. Basically it became louder and was somewhat felt in the car. we pulled the car over and came to a complete stop. It was downhill fast from there :cry: . At this point the car did not want to go into any gear. in every gear moving the stick will cause a loud sharp grinding noise. the car eventually went into first gear but when trying to come off the clutch in gear it starts grinding again and it did not drive at all, just stayed in place making a grinding noise. We tried to push the car and it felt like it was in gear. It would hunch forward and roll right back (this was about a half foot of movement). We finally got the car to start rolling and then every 10 feet their was a thump sound and resistance. At one point the thump and resistance felt like someone slammed on the brakes and completely stopped us from pushing the car. We finally got the car to the house and tried to put it in gear. once again every gear grinds, and on top of that now just putting in the clutch pedal creates the same grinding sound. :idontknow: .
At this point we simply called it a day. Cant work on the car right now becaue of the snow storm that just passed but I'm doing as much research as possible. I really want all of your opinions so that I can make sure I do this right and sove the issue at hand without temporary bandaids. I did use the search function and got a lot of information, but none of the threads I found felt specific enough to my situation for me to feel comfortable choosing which of the many fixes to do. Not sure if its the tranny, the transfer case or a bad clutch job/throwout bearing.
Thanks guys, hope to hear from you guys soon! :pray:
 
This might be one thing to look at since it's relatively free to do, minus buying a 36mm socket: Shifter wiggle/movement while in gear?

Here's a link for the VFAQ site where you can fond other things to do as well: Visual Frequently Answered Questions - Home Page

side to side movement could also indicate a bad wheel bearing. These can be a little troubling to find if they're bad if they only become audible at a random speed. Through my experiences, they start to moan and vibrate above 65mph. Are you getting vibrations in the steering wheel at all. Also if you do have a bad wheel bearing, say on the passenger front, if you take a right turn, the noise will go away since weight is shifting away from that corner. Likewise, if you take a left turn, the noise will intensify since you're increasing weight on the bearing through body roll.
 
Checked out both links. I don't get shifter play while driving local or highway. the VFAQ site had really good stuff but none seemed to match my problem =[. Thanks for the info and help though! I do not think it is the wheel bearing because it makes the sound at any speed and does not change upon turning. I will try to check it out though just incase. Car cant drive right now so I can't test it.
 
Ok guys, was under the car yesterday and the transfer case is leaking so I am going to contact jackstransmissions.com about getting a rebuilt T-case sent. Also the car can go into every gear while off and feels fine so I a ruling out the transmission being in need of service. The gears grab strong, but not notchy. The grinding sound is coming from the bell housing not the transmission and no longer sounds as much like a gear grind. The throw out bearing is toast. I'm ordering an Exedy stage 1 organic clutch kit + flywheel , shift fork and pivot ball. I will update this thread on how everything turns out.
 
Shifting while the car is off is in no way an indicator that the transmission is ok. The fact that it makes noise in gear but not in neutral points directly to transmission to me. Also it quits noise at decel. Wanna guess why? Potentially a gear stack will move because you are now applying force in a different direction. Gears are involute so there is some thrust. Change direction of thrust and the noise stops because whatver the gear was grinding on has been moved. I would drain the tranny fluid and have a look. My opinion is you have a bad bearing in the transmission. If a new transfer caae doesn't remove the grind noise there aren't many other possibilities
 
it makes the grind sound while in neutral by simply moving the clutch either in or out. Basically ill press in the clutch, start car, their is no noise, as soon as I let off the clutch the noise comes and it is their regardless of the clutch going in or out, just changing to different pitches. I Just ordered some redline mt-90 so I can drain the tranny and check for metal in the fluid. I think the noise sounded a lot worse because I was panicked, but checking on the car again the grind doesn't sound like its gears that are grinding. sounds like a bearing. if you go under the car the sound is coming from the clutch area . if you sit right between tranny and clutch you hear it clearly coming from the direction of the throw out bearing which is what really also made me feel the tranny may be ok. I can be very wrong though :( . I hope for the best! I really will hate to go into the tranny =[. As for the transfer case, how easy do you think it is to rebuild it on my own? is their any particular place that sells the entire rebuild kit for a good price?
 
Guess where the intermediate bearing and input bearings are....yup right behind the clutch. If you drop the tranny and the input shaft has visible play you have issues.
 
The guy I bought it from admitted to the car having been given a shady clutch job that afterwards started making the car act weird. the clutch job was for sure funky and way out of adjustment. In your opinion, do you think it is a higher chance that it is the intermediate bearing that a fouled throw out bearing? IF I turn on the car with the clutch in, the sound will absolutely not come until I release the clutch, then after that putting it in our out does not take away the noise, just changes its pitch and rhythm. Again this is all in neutral. So far what I'm gathering is if the noise goes away when you press down its the pilot bearing, if the pedal is press and their is noise its the throw out bearing. The noise does change when I press the clutch in, but it does not go away. Sometime it is louder, sometimes deeper. neither up or down sounds "better" just different. What do you say? is their a way to tell with a simple test or will I have no way of knowing at all until I drop the transmission??? I got a clutch kit coming in as we speak. If it is the input/intermediate bearing, is this easy to fix once the transmission is down?
 
There is no pilot bearing. In neutal input shaft spins, intermefiate doesnt. No, neither is easy. Requires complete tranny teardown. You can rule out throwout when you change clutch. If it doesnt fix it drop tranny again. Sound like too much work? Talk to me after you do eight drops in two days.
 
Its not that it is too much work, and I am lazy. Just hoping to get the car out of my friends driveway sooner than later if it was possible. I will update.
 
Does it soud like this? (please ignore the super dirty engine and oil leak haha i already fixed that :) )
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_kHhTrERQQ&feature=c4-overview&list=UU73FNzw_LBvrL9mN2tuN9pg]WTF gsx - YouTube[/ame]

It turned out to be the trow out bearing,
The inputshaft bearing sounds similar but it was not my case ;)

Edit: I forgot to mention , the tob that failed was an exedy one with less than 500 miles
 
I was not implying anything. Merely stating youre in for some work. Tob msy be the problem. Likely you wont know until you go look.
 
Your going to have to get down and dirty. Pull the trans out and check the shaft for play. Pray there is no play :pray: because if there is its easier to swap the trans then to swap trans parts. If its all good :thumb: then clean everything thoroughly, replace the flywheel and the flywheel bolts, clutch disc, pressure plate, throw out bearing, jesus clip, fork and ball. Use Loctite and torque everything to the proper spec. Swap the clutch slave while your at it. fill with trans fluid, bleed the clutch and adjust it if needed. Go for a spin. If you still have that same noise from the trans, then it might be worn out internals. Swap it with a rebuilt one.
 
It sounds like your clutch fork is scrapping the pressure plate. Look at the clutch fork while your car makes the nasty sound You will probably see it move.
 
Thanks all of you! right now I have an exedy clutch kit, billet clutch fork, competition clutch flywheel, and redline trans fluid on the way. I am going to get shock proof for the transfer case and rear diff but first I want to ask, is it recommended to get the t-case rebuilt by someone like jacks transmissions or is it easy to rebuild myself? I will be working on the car either Monday or Tuesday. I will post my results. as for the video posted, the sound is like that but louder.
 
I was a master tech for Infiniti for 7 years. I did one and would never do it again. I would let someone else do it imo especially if you haven't done it before.
 
Update guys! So it turns out it was in fact the transmission. It was not the intermediate shaft though. The entire gear set was blown and the clutch was cracked and burnt! :( so Now I got an exeddy stage 1 in there; installed in a driveway and I put up another transmission. everything works now! the tranny was near impossible to find though :(. I am holding onto my old transmission as I spoke to Jon at TRE and since my 5th and reverse were saved along with my final drive, it is re-buildable if I do an evo 3 gear set from 1-4. As of right now the car runs. Just doing maintenance. these previous owners really didn't bother putting shiz back together correctly and what not. car is coming along well =]. I do have photos I took after opening the transmission if anyone cares to see the damage.
 
Would love to see the damage, Had this happen to me with my 1st gsx a while back replaced the trans with a matching tcase and never got a chance to tare my old one apart.
 
So I'm new to posting things on forums and what not so forgive me. I just purchased my first 1995 gsx on 2/27/16. I drove about 30 miles from where i got it and came to a light. Started going, got into second gear and boom something broke and loud clunking and banging came from under the front passenger side. I then pull over and there is fluid coming from my tranny. No matter what gear i put it in, as soon as I let the clutch out and begin to go, the clunking begins. I noticed that it seems to happen after a full rotation of the wheels. NOTE: before this incident occurred, when accelerating in 2nd or 3rd gear around 2k-3500k the car would vibrate quite a bit. Any help would be appreciated greatly. I was told it was the transfer case.
 
Brandon, check your front passenger axle. The cv joint may have broken, and fluid may be coming out of the trans where the axle inserts. Start with that. If it isn't that, it's probably going to be time to drop the tranny and see what you find.
 
Yeah man, I agree with WisconsinMonSTAR.
CV axle will slowly go out, you will feel
Slight vibrations and higher a speeds at first and eventually, you'll be going 30 mph and you feel it clunking beneath your feet.
I'm replacing my CV shaft right now actually.
The Cv Axle connects to your tranny. A CV axle that's going bad and doesn't get attention can and will in the long run ruin your drivetrain.
 
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