mikexj1020

So I finally got new tires installed and was able to really take my Rx7 for a decent drive. I drove my sister to a car dealer ship about 10 miles away and when I arrived there my Engine starting making this ticking noise as you can hear in the video. Sounds like a lifter tap in piston engine. I just removed the OMP about 30 miles and ago and put 1 oz per gallon of TCW3 2 stroke oil. Idk if its seal chatter and needs more oil or what. Please let me know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU73k...ature=youtu.be

As for the Manual transmission, on my way back home it became kind of hard to shift. Almost as if the clutch was still engaged. The line is not leaking and I put a new master, and slave and bled it all out about 6 months ago. (I only have put about 150 miles on the car since June of 2011, its been a slow resto) I also have not even checked the tranny fluid <-- I know stupid, I couldnt get the fill plug off the other day. It doesnt wine or grind gears. Its not wet on the tranny. I know its not a smooth move to drive the car. (will be checking tomorrow) But would that cause a hard **** when Tranmission is warm. When the tranny is cold it shifts perfectly fine. the first time that it happened was today.

The front brakes are brand new. New wheel bearings, rotors, pads and calipers. The brake squeel really bad when initially stopping and coming to a full stop. Im thinking one of the brake pad clips are hitting the rotor but not sure.

Thanks for any input guys, much appreciated!!!

mikexj1020

Now that the car has completely cooled down. The temperature is 40 degrees outside right now. The engine noise is not there on a cold startup, I just ran it for a minute between 1000-2000 rpm and no knock/ticking noise.

The tranmission shifts like butter right now that its cold. No difference with the clutch engaged or disengaged when off. And when running with clutch disengaged the tranny shifts like it should.

Just some added info, really weird things though

Rx Seven

iTrader: (12)

Did the car make that same noise if your foot was pressed down fully on the clutch. I think your throw out bearing could be going out but I'm not sure. It would normally make a more whirring sound if bad/going out but maybe yours in an extreme case.

You could check when/if the noise returned letting the car run while in neutral then fully press in the clutch, now if the sound goes away once you fully press it in I believe it is your throw out bearing.

This may not be right but its easy to check if the sound returns.

mikexj1020

Yes! When I put the car in Nuetral with the clutch disengaged it makes a whirring sound like shhhhhhhh. Press the clutch down and it goes away. A buddy of mine mentioned one of clutch bearings(pilot or throwout w.e) in my car could be going bad. This is my First stick shift car so this is new to me.

So would this cause the hard shifting problem? Any idea about the engine noise?

Now if I pull the tranny down I mine as well change out the clutch, would it be recommend to change the fly wheel also?

Thanks!

cfamilyfix

iTrader: (15)

A resurfacing is all that may be needed. Just make sure if it is your pilot bearing that failed, that your input shaft or eccentric shaft did not suffer any damage. That new bearing needs some heavy grease when going back together.

carbwiz

iTrader: (1)

if it goes away then you press the clutch pedal down its usually a bad throw out bearing! $16-25 dollars

Rotor_Venom08

iTrader: (3)

that is incorrect my good sir. lol

although it could be more than one worn out bearing, my bet would be either
A; not enough fluid in the tranny. or B: the wrong weight of fluid in the tranny and once its heating up its to "thin" and wont shift properly

i know plenty of guys who put half gear oil and half tranny fluid in there cars and says its like magic.

as far as the bearing my car makes the exact same noise and i actually have a video of it on youtube and dont be fooled. its probably more than one bearing, but based on that symptom alone its the input shaft bearing or Main bearing. not the thorow-out.

you can find kits to replace all of them on ebay or other places. and be safer than sorry but spend about 80 bucks. "not really that bad"... or spend about 25-40 on just the one and take the tranny all the way out only to put it back in and still makes the same noise... it doesnt effect shifting however so i haven't gotten around to doing it yet but... i have the bearing kit just in case lolll.

Heres that link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buq13...layer_embedded

good luck.. the headaches have only just begun

Rotor_Venom08

iTrader: (3)

as far as the engine oil i would suggest the same as the tranny, either not enough, or not the correct "weight". hopefully its jsut that simple. what oil is in both by the way? weight and brand.

mikexj1020

I have 10_30W Pennzoil in my engine right now and no clue whats in the tranny. Does the engine noise seem like it could be a bearing or something related? I drove the car again last night about 12 miles total. The tranny shifted fine the whole time, i think that being in the traffic earlier in the day really heated up the tranny. The engine didn't make noise on initial start up but when I got home it was making the knocking noise. I couldn't tell if it made the noise with or without the clutch being engaged, it was raining out. It was definitely knocking though.

I do have the bearing noise whining noise when in neutral and clutch engaged (just like the video), when I press down on the clutch the noise is gone. <--Will this cause hard shifting when warm, I did some more research and did read that hard shifting can also be caused by be old tranny fluid. Not necessarily the only reason but I do know I have 12_ year_old+ tranny fluid in there.

When the transmission was warm and being difficult to shift, the shifter itself was really stiff, not only to go into gear but also just to move the stick around.
You know the stick is in neutral and you move it left to right to make sure its in neutral. You know how if you push it to the right (when in neutral) it goes back to center and if you push left it goes back to center. Well when the tranny was warm, if you push the stick over to one of sides when it neutral it wouldn't spring back. It felt like the stick needed greasing or something, or maybe the oil it inside the box became all thinned out.

Another thing, if the tranny ends up having bad fluid as the cause and new fluid fixes my issue, would the throwout bearing that's causing the noise still need to be fixed right away. Can it hold off, I don't want it to blow up on me but if i can buy some time that would be great.

Thanks for the input Guys!

Rotor_Venom08

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the input Guys![/QUOTE]


change the fluid in the tranny and make sure to put some in the shifter after you fill up the case and take it for a drive.

well what i have is a bad input shaft bearing. and no its doesnt effect shifting. so it wasnt an immediate fix. hell that video was almost a year ago and i still havent done it. its just annoying... but i would try the fluid first and go from there. the fact that it shifts hard when it works fine when its cold, but when its hot its stiff, makes me think the fluid. as far as the oil goes check out this chart your weight is based on temperature.



but that sounds okay ive never used that oil or am very familiar with up north weather... so im not help there.

mikexj1020

Okay so im gonna do the tranny fluid today. I have 80-90 weight that I am going to put in the tranny. As for the engine we use 10-30 in all of our vehicles here on Long Island.

The engine noise though. Does that sound like something internal is bad? What would cause that knocking. Again just started yesterday and only happens when warm. It has pretty new oil in it although it is dirty. I have new engine oil, filter and gear oil for tranny in my garage rdy to go in.

The engine I am still confused on it though, any thoughts?

Thanks!

mikexj1020

So new transmission and new engine oil and not much of a difference. I drove a good while to get it warmed up. The tranny started being stiff again and the engine knocking noise was there. Also if I am in Neutral and the clutch is engaged, if I Rev up the engine and once the RPMs come back down when i put it in reverse It Clunks.

Here are some videos of whats going on.

Reverse Gear Clunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC5ty...ature=youtu.be

Throw out bearing whine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvJ9v...ature=youtu.be

A Better Video of Engine Knock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=367RZ...ature=youtu.be

Thanks again!

Speeder165

iTrader: (7)

I had a pilot bearing go bad once. I mean it went REALLY bad. A few times I heard a tick...ting, ting.....noise. The more I drove the car over time, the worse shifting became. After awhile, I got sick of what was going on and pulled the tranny out. I found remnants of pilot needle bearings inside of the transmission case. Upon closer inspection of the pilot bearing, most of the needle bearings in it were thrown out to land in the tranny casing. Well, now I know why I had hard shift issues!

It also killed the input bearings on the mainshaft going into the transmission. The input shaft rocked up and down when grabbed by hand.

I have had the whirring noise issue on more than one tranny as you describe. It was the throwout bearing which was causing this. Once replaced, the noise was gone.

mikexj1020

Wow! so it could be a possibility both the pilot and throw out bearings are bad in my car. I wonder if thats causing the knock. Did you have to take apart your transmission for the input bearing that was destroyed.
...One way or another the tranny needs to come down on my car.

Speeder165

iTrader: (7)

The only way you are going to be certain as to what is going on with the tranny issue is to pull the thing out. Yuck, I know. The throwout bearing noise I could live with but the shift issues would drive me nuts. You have something going on that is in need of serious repair. Not something just changing fluids will fix. When my pilot bearing went bad in my `83, I also remember over time as the input shaft bearing began to loosen up, I started getting vibrations in the drivetrain. It was like when the U-joints in the driveshaft start going bad and your car will vibrate at certain speeds as you are going down the road.

I have a buddy here in town who knows someone in the transmission rebuilding business. I took the tranny to him and a little over$200 later, was back on the road.

That knocking noise is unusual. The only time I ever had a noise like that was when I didn`t get the distributor cap back on right and the spinner inside the cap came in contact with it. Was all the time though. Not just intermittently. I fixed the problem within a few minutes of hearing it after the 2 parts were changed during a tune-up.

mikexj1020

The knocking noise is unusual and the only mod I have done to the engine prior to the knock was remove the OMP and run 100:1 Premix. There are no other mods done to the engine besides that.

The tranny doesnt vibrate and I took it for another trip with my brother inlaw about 20 miles. The last 5 miles it the stick started to become stiff but no where near as bad as the first time. I think the tranny is okay but Im gonna yank it down soon and put a new pilot bearing, throw out and mine as well put a new clutch in there. Autozone sells everything for $130, should be pretty decent.

As the engine noise, I am concerned. Could this be a bad inner bearing inside the engine. The noise only happens when the engine is warm and at idle. It doesn't run any different its just an intermittent knock that is pretty consistent. Sometimes when I am trying to listen to it the knock I will rev the engine up and then the knock will go away for a while. About 20 seconds later or a quick drive up the street will make the noise come back. And again I cannot hear the noise with the engine revved up.
Err what could it be?!?! I am gonna remove all the belts and see if that helps.

Speeder165

iTrader: (7)

The tranny won`t start vibrating right away if your pilot bearing is gone. At least in the case as to what happened to mine. With no bearing or functioning bearing to stabilize the trans input shaft, the only other support the shaft has is the input main shaft bearing to the trans itself. It will wear. Once it does, more dollars will need to be spent to fix the tranny itself. If it was me, I wouldn`t drive the vehicle anymore than I had to. If you have another ride to drive around, I would use it until you can fix the problem.

I have a sneaking feeling that either your pilot bearing is about seized up or is gone completely. I have been wrong before. I just do know that what happened to mine caused alot of the symptoms that you have described. The stuck stickshift problem has me wondering also if something else inside the tranny isn`t amiss. When metal is cold, it usually shrinks in size. When it is hot, it will expand in size. May be why your problem doesn`t really show up untill the car is warm. Still, I would take a REAL hard look at your pilot bearing.

BTW, you mentioned a clunking sound when your car is put into reverse.....if I have a little too many RPMs ( as in higher idle than I like or is normal ) mine will do that too.

mikexj1020

Okay good info thanks. This may give you a better idea of the condition of the bearing but the car has been sitting for 12 years. Since I got in June, I have put about a total of 100-200 miles on the vehicle itself from fixing it up and test driving it. However, I do not know the condition of the bearings prior to when it was parked. It was my g/f uncles car, Original Owner, and he doesnt know how to turn a wrench. All of his work was done professionally and the reason why he parked was because his nut job wife didnt want him to have the car with a baby on the way.

So, I am thinking that 12 years of sitting could have dried out the bearing and from me driving it is just ******* it up. Either way, Im not gonna drive the car anymore until the tranny comes down. Hoping I am getting this new full time job and I am a full time student right now so time is scarce. I will be ordering the parts soon.

As for the engine I am stumped. I have read that it could be pinging which is really bad for a rotary. Idk, I have tried to research for it these past few days and it doesnt seem like its too comon.

Speeder165

iTrader: (7)

I am glad that you will not be driving the car. I wouldn`t if it was me until I could at least dig further into the car to find out what is going on.

Sitting for 12 years....whew! Long time to sit without being ran. I am glad it is running though.

Have you taken a paper towel tube put up close to your ear to try to localize where your knocking noise may be coming from? It might help you to try this.

I may have missed it in your prior posts. Can you tell me what year car it is and how many miles are on it now? From the vids you put up, looks like an `84 or `85 from the stereo system in the dash.

mikexj1020

Im sorry its a 1985 Rx7 12a, I believe its a GS. Harbor Freight Tools just opened up around so I was gonna go buy one of those cheap stethoscopes for the knocking.
I know that 12 years is a long time but prior to parking the PO took really good care of the car mechanically and appearance wise. While it was parked he did wash and wax it from time to time. The car was under a cover as well.

Could this noise be somthing that I have read called seal chatter. Not enough oil being put down the carb can cause this. I did put 14oz. of TCW3 into 14 gallons of gas.

Speeder165

iTrader: (7)

I use the Pettit 4 oz. bottle of premix per tank in my `83 but my car is a 13B 4 port with aftermarket fuel injection and turbo. It certainly isn`t stock. No 13B motors were put in my car for that year. 14 oz. per tank to me seems like a lot. Now I am not saying that that amount of premix is causing your problem. Only saying that that amount seems high to me. Does it seem to smoke much?

Here is another thing you may want to try. It is a long shot. Take the belt off of the A/C compressor pulley. See what happens.


I don`t think what we are hearing is seal chatter.

From what I can see, your car looks very nice BTW.

My apologies also. You did detail in your first vid that it is an `85 we are dealing with. Got into a hurry and missed some of the more important information that you had already made clear.

So, how many miles are on your motor BTW?

Rx Seven

iTrader: (12)

Your list is exactly what I would have suggested for you to change at the same time but when your getting the pilot bearing you might want to get it from some where else, I don't think Autozone or any local auto suppliers know that our pilot bearings also require a seal so make sure you order this from somewhere else. They will just tell you that it doesn't need one.
What you want > Pilot Bearing and Seal

To remove the pilot bearing from our cars it require a different type of bearing puller, the conventional 3 or 2 jaw puller will not work with out modification and a lot cursing and a lot more time then what is really needed to get the pilot bearing out or you can see if you can borrow one from some one.
Examples:
Pilot Bearing Removal Tool
PILOT BRG REMOVER cheaper

While the trans is down there are two more seals and one gasket you can replace that will run you around $20.
Transmission Seal Kit 79-88 Non-Turbo Part Number: 12036

I'm in the process of doing this so its all pretty fresh on my mind so I hope this information helps. The engine noise you are hearing I have heard before on my car before and was worried about it as well but then when I put the motor in another car with different intake, exhaust, & transmission I no longer heard the noise. So the noise may not be directly related to the engine.

mikexj1020

Thanks yeah the PO really loved this car and took care of it. The engine has 106,xxx on it. When I was reading about Premixing (I can find the threads from this forum about it) that I should run 1 oz per gallon when premixing to be on the safe side.




Thanks for the tips! Is there any other bearing puller that I can use instead of those two, even the mazdatrix one is a hit.
Would you recommend the Autozone clutch? The car is stock and I may put a full exhauast and a nicer intake setup down the road but nothing to serious. Or should I upgrade?

I deff. will get those seals from Racing beat and from Pineapple racing that you suggested. I have never pulled a tranny before. Ive done T-case's, Ripped the differentials out of my Jeep, Setup Ring and Pinions, Re-did the entire suspension with Long arms yada yada yada.. but no trannys lol. Im sure I can figure it out but it is so tight under the car I will really have to jack the car up in the air. I have the FSM lying around somewhere Im gonna have to do a little homework and order my parts.

And Thanks for the thought on the engine noise. I need to do more investigation I am tied up with school work right now. I am hoping its nothing to serious.

Rx Seven

iTrader: (12)

Cheaper alternative
Modifying 3 Jaw Puller

I haven't used a Duralast clutch so I wouldn't have a way to comment on them but I have heard that Exedy makes good O.E. replacements. I looked on Kragen/O'Riellys web site and they do carry Exedy but I don't know the price.

As far as upgrading, its a slipper slope if your working on a budget just do what it takes to keep the car running. You should still get a lot of satisfaction from a new stock clutch vs. waiting to save money for more expensive parts. I would save your money for fixing other existing problems that I'm sure you will come across restoring your car. My reasoning for this is I have sadly gone the other route and have more new parts stock piled in my garage then I know what to do with but I'm so used to not driving the car I continue to buy parts and I haven't driven the car in years.

Its sounds like your pretty mechanically inclined so I dont think this should be anything difficult for you. If you have the FSM & and a can of PB Blaster/Liquid Wrench or some type of penetrating oil for the exhaust shield bolts you will be good. Also dont forget to drain the transmission first or will end up all over you or your floor.


OPTIONAL
I dont want to encourage you to spend more money then you want or need to at this time but these are also optional parts that you can replace while the trans is down if they are worn out. But I always feel its better to know what your options are before so you can make a decision and not wish you knew sooner.

Transmission Mount are anywhere from $30-70 depending on what you want.

Transmission Insulator Mounts these are for a 79-83 unlike the Ebay title says your car uses a different configuration for these. They insulate the transmission crossmember from the body.

Kentetsu

For the engine noise:

Pull off your distributor cap and see if the rotor has been hitting the contacts in the cap. This happens if the cap gets bumped, or improperly installed, and ends up being misaligned.



.