So basically im pissed boought this car about 3 months ago and I noticed a slight rattle. Well did some research and found out everyone said it was normal so I payed it no mind. About 2 days ago it got worse, ill explain at idle you can hear a grinding noise and at low rpms its pretty loud I can feel hard in my pedal and shifter. It seems to be louder and more consistent when my AC is on. And when I rev the engine around 1k to 2k you feel the teeth grinding hard. My clutch doesnt slip and it drives fine. But going on a trip next week and need to take care of it any advice. Should I buy clutch or fly wheel or both to be safe. Please help need to take care of this ASAP.

 

hmmmm... my guess would be either you need a new flywheel, or your harmonic balancer is messed up

 

If your clutch is not slipping and is working properly then dont replace it. Possible flywheel? But, when you are at idle and it is making that "grinding" noise are you in neutral or is it doing it in gear? Does the noise change when you engage/disengage the clutch? depending on how the car has been maintained and driven you might have bearing damage in the transmission. Next time you get in the car to go somewhere do a little test.

Start the car and leave the shifter in the Neutral gate ( not in any gear ). With you foot off the clutch pedal ( clutch engaged ), listen for the noise. Is it a low grumble/whirring sound?. If you hear anything that sounds like that then press the clutch pedal to the floor ( clutch disengaged ). Listen to see if the noise changes, more importantly, if the noise goes away or gets significantly quieter. If it does, that is your input shaft bearing ( in the transmission ). Adversely, If the noise is relatively quiet and gets louder when the clutch pedal is pushed to the floor (clutch disengaged) then the throwout bearing is likely the culprit.

Im not saying this is guaranteed to be your problem, but its just a quick, easy check you can do on your own to try and narrow it down before paying to have it diagnosed. You can also look around online and find other DIY methods for diagnosing the various bearings (input, throwout, etc).