'96 Camaro 3.8L w/ 5 speed, stock base model

I've got an intermittent problem that doesn't happen every day, but happens often enough for me to worry... The car does two things:

First, I will sometimes hear a rumbling or rattling noise while I'm parked and idling in neutral. This only happens if the clutch is engaged (pedal released), and the noise goes away when I push the clutch in, then comes back when I release it again. Sometimes the noise is louder, and sometimes the noise doesn't happen at all.

Second, it will sometimes rattle/rumble when I'm shifting into or out of a gear (any gear), even though I'm pushing the clutch all the way to the floor. This doesn't happen as often, but it's often enough for me to worry. This noise usually doesn't happen when engaging/disengaging the clutch, but rather after the clutch pedal is all the way depressed and when I'm actually moving the shifter.

Any ideas what could cause these specific problems?

 

what clutch do you have ?
i had a act 6 puck sprung clutch in my last car that rattled like that .

 

Sounds like you may have a problem with the pressure plate... My buddy's Mustang did that and his pressure plate was all out of whack. But I don't know really... May just have to have it checked out.

 

I wanna say my old Mustang used to do that (some clutch noise), and it was always the throwout bearing.

 

I didn't even think about that. Good call bro.

 

sounds like the bearing to me my truck did the same thing changed the bearing all was good

 

Would that be the same as the release bearing? I think I've heard those names interchanged before, and my Haynes manual has a section about the release bearing, but nothing called a throwout bearing. Sounds like way more work than I want to do, but at least it doesn't look like anything I can't do in a sunny weekend, LOL.

 

Well, I took her to the local tranny master tech... He says it's definitely not the clutch (not even the release bearing). He says it's a bearing inside the transmission, and I agree with his diagnosis because that tranny has about 290k miles on it and has never been overhauled. My new question is: where's the best place to get a new set of bearings, seals, and synchronizers for the 5 speed? I figure there's no point ripping the tranny out just to replace the one(s) that are going bad. I'll fix it all before anything else screws up.

 

I recently fixed a rattle on my 96 3.8 after months of chasing it down. I put a dowel rod to my ear with the engine running. I could hear more noise when I put the dowel rod to the y-pipe than on the cluth housing or transmission. Try (with the engine off) to bang on the y-pipe with your hand to see if it rattles. Mine rattled all the time. Annoying goose chase for months. Finally took the y-pipe & cat off to see if anything fell out. Nothing fell out, but located my rattle. The long part (driver side) of the y-pipe is constructed of a pipe inside a pipe that had come loose. I drilled about five 1/8" holes across it and pop-rivited the two pipes together. Covered the rivets in exhaust patch putty before and after putting them in place. Doesn't rattle anymore and is about 300-400 bux less than y-pipe/cat replace. I know you said yours is transmission, but might be worth checking the y-pipe just in case.

 

Haha, I'll check, but considering there's some stiffness in shifting, and the occasional grinding... :0(