Hey everyone, I've tried searching and can't find a thread that seems to cover this exact problem. I have an 07 6MT coupe with about 70,000km on it (about 45k miles). Recently I've noticed that when I put the car into 1st and hit the gas (normal acceleration, nothing crazy), I hear a moderately loud clunk come from what sounds like directly underneath the car. If I'm in rush hour traffic and don't shift out of 1st and just let up on the gas, the clunk happens again as the car is revving down closer to idle.

The clunk doesn't always happen; it only happens when the clutch is engaged and I'm actually driving (which makes it harder to diagnose). Sometimes it has happened in 2nd gear, but I haven't noticed it in the higher gears.

Any ideas? Has something come loose, maybe, and needs to be tightened/fixed? Or does it sound like the clutch needs to be replaced?

I'm reluctant to take it to the dealer without doing some research and getting some thoughts first, because they've already told me twice that I need my clutch replaced, even though it's not slipping at all. (The first time was because of the clutch pedal sticking issue, which I was able to fix by swapping out the transmission fluid with the DOT 4, as suggested elsewhere on here.)

 

There are a lot of places in the drive train that could be causing the clunking, my first guesses would be Diff Bushings, tranny mounts or motor mounts, there is a lot of torque in first gear to get things flopping around. Next I'd look at the clutch and tranny. All pretty much in that order. Could look at the U joints too but that is more of a clink than a clunk.

 

It might be more of a clink than a clunk. Somewhere in between.

 

Well bushings I would consider clunks, the rest are in the clink range.

 

Kind of a newbie when it comes to actually working on a car, but I wouldn't mind giving it a shot to at least diagnose the problem if I can. Fairly mechanically inclined and handy in general. Is there somewhere you can point me to get a sense of what I'm looking for?

 

Not really an exact science, heh. Need to put it up on a stand and look around. Have some hold one of the rear tires and turn the other wheel back and forth to see if there is any slop in the drive shaft/diff/axles etc. Look at the diff bushings, I know some people that see a lot of snow and salt have problems with the spacers rusting out, see if the bushings are broken. If it's clutch or tranny, not much to check from the outside.

 

Thanks, HwyDrftr, I'll check it out.