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Transmission Noise 05 SRT-4

28K views 35 replies 14 participants last post by  civic50449 
#1 ·
I have been trying to find related posts to this, but the details all seem to be off from the issue that I am about to describe:

I have a 2005 Dodge SRT-4 with a replacement SACHS (stock) clutch.
The car began making a sound that I can best describe as a constant clicking / rattling sound (sounds slightly like slowly shaking a rattle can). The sound occurs as follows:

Clutch pushed in at no movement - No sound
Clutch pushed in while rolling - Sound
Clutch release in Neutral - Sound
Clutch released while driving in any gear - Sound

Now we pulled the transmission out of the car and opened the case only to find a few shavings from 1 gear (normal wear) gathered in a pocket in the case and a tooth from a gear that was embedded in the case and did not come from any of the gears as we checked them all and there were none missing, so I am led to believe that the case has been opened for repair before and they missed the tooth laying in there. Regardless, no other visible damage has been done inside the transmission.

Everything visually appears to be fine inside the transmission and we put it back into place to check it and the sound is still there.

On a side note, we did recently put regular automatic transmission fluid (as we all know that our cars call for ATF) in it and this sound occurred since then. We researched and found that the car actually 'requires' Mopar ATF+4 and we have since then put the Mopar +4 fluid in its place.

With all the signs that are showing, we assume that it is a bearing inside the transmission, as the transmission gears will be moving at all times, unless you are not moving and have the clutch disengaged.

Does anyone have any ideas that could help promote my diagnostic or points to a more probably solution?
 
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#5 ·
The flywheel bolts were tightened and the threads were painted to lock them in place. We are re-using the bolts, but the flywheel isnt moving when the clutch is disengaged right? So the sound symptoms would be different?

No, we didnt replace the clutch release fork, but I did pull it out, re-grease the ball joint and put it back in with no change.

We didnt bleed the clutch system, due to not breaking into the system to require it to be bled, same with the clutch pedal.

This sound occurred after driving for about 3 months with nothing being changed other than the transmission fluid.
 
#6 ·
The flywheel bolts were tightened and the threads were painted to lock them in place. We are re-using the bolts, but the flywheel isnt moving when the clutch is disengaged right? So the sound symptoms would be different?

No, we didnt replace the clutch release fork, but I did pull it out, re-grease the ball joint and put it back in with no change.

We didnt bleed the clutch system, due to not breaking into the system to require it to be bled, same with the clutch pedal.

This sound occurred after driving for about 3 months with nothing being changed other than the transmission fluid.
I think you meant to say engaged (pedal pressed)? The flywheel spins with the engine, so is constantly moving while the car is running. The clutch disk and input shaft are what stops spinning when you engage the clutch.
 
#4 ·
Ive had the car for 2 years and replaced 3 clutches (found out why they kept going bad on us lol)

We hadnt done any clutch work for a while when this started.

If it were the clutch, would the sound still be there when we pushed the clutch in while rolling?
 
#10 ·
how confident would you be with this analysis?
Ive heard they can be problematic, what causes them to go out?
 
#14 ·
Haha, thank God, I thought I was sounding like an idiot when I said it right the first time! :jester:
 
#13 ·
Its def the clutch...i had this same noise for a very long time and always thought it was normal because i changed the clutch to a shit DCR powershift. That noise one day disappeared. A day later I did a quick WOT 3rd gear pull as im coming towards my house, BOOM power gone, rolled home the rest of the way and heard nasty grinding sounds at idle. Towed it to a local tranny shop and got it open and found the splines in the input shaft were very worn in the area where the disc sits and the clutch disc completely stripped. So the problem the whole time was the clutch disc rattling on the input shaft and the splines got worn out enough that it got wedged in the teeth of the splines so the next day it gave out.....the noise i heard for almost 3 years is not normal. The noise i hear now with a pwerks input shaft and ACT clutch 6 puck is normal very quiet consistant chatter. I even kept the old shaft and disc to show people cause ive never seen it before.
 
#15 ·
The clutch in the car is fairly new and there was no damage to it when we saw it.

The clutch is dis-engaged when your rolling and you have the pedal pushed in, so the sound would normally go away wouldnt it? However the sound is still there if I am rolling which makes me think that it isnt the clutch making the sound.
 
#19 ·
Paint causes the threads to lock in place similar to loctite. But to verify that the bolts werent loose, we pulled the drop panel to the flywheel and locked the tranny with a screwdriver so it couldnt turn, then tried to tighten the bolts and they could not get any tighter, however the noise had no change.
 
#17 ·
Its normal my tranny does the same thing as well as a couple other srt4 friends of mine......if you push the pedal down and release it as slow as you can you will bearly hear it......i had my tranny built three times and still same noise....you can put thicker oil in it and it will quite down a little but mostly likely your not going to get rid of the chatter...
 
#18 ·
The car didnt do this until recently and it definitely doesnt sound normal. Its pretty loud and no car would make this sound normally. (noone would buy it with a transmission noise like this) I may be trying thicker oil though, right now I only have the Mopar ATF+4 in it.
 
#21 ·
Yes, the clutch kit always comes with the TOB. Also, the sound starts immediately after releasing any clutch pressure, thus there is still pressure on the TOB, however the pressure plate drops pressure and the transmission starts to turn.
 
#22 ·
Did you compare the tabs on the fork to a new one when you had it out? The fork is supposed to be replaced with the clutch, as the tabs wear down much faster than most clutches. Many people re-use the fork thinking it's fine only to have strange engagement problems and noises down the road.
 
#23 ·
Hmm, Ive never replaced the fork, though it didnt appear to be worn. Where do they wear? I didnt see any wear marks on it. Is it possible for the fork to somehow make this sound start in my car?
 
#24 ·
This page from Modern shows a new/used fork side by side for comparison at the bottom of the page. It's not going to have wear marks on it or any scarring, it's just going to be missing material where the raised tabs are supposed to be.

Mopar Clutch Pivot Fork 03-05 SRT4 - Maintenance Items
 
#25 ·
Im sure my fork is worn some, but im not having any issue engaging into any gear and the clutch hasnt needed any adjustment, so I dont see that presenting a problem.

Also, looking at the symptoms of when it occurs, the sound is completely gone when at idle at a stop and the clutch is disengaged. Yet if I am rolling and I have it at idle rpm and I have the clutch disengaged, the sound it still coming from the transmission.

So that means the sound is being made when I have the gears spinning right? Because the gears move with the axles when you are rolling, and when you are at an idle with the clutch pushed in, everything in the transmission stops moving.

Im almost positive its not caused by something outside of the transmission.

What would be the signs of a bad input shaft? (I havent seen anything about the input shaft causing this)

Couldnt it be a bearing? If so, which bearing could it be, or would I need to replace every bearing?

Would it be better to just buy another used transmission with a warranty?
 
#26 ·
Mines doing the same thing when clutch is released. Just started about 3 days ago after a 120 mile drive. And a few hard pulls in 2nd and 3rd. I think it's the flexplate bolts wiggling loose. Going to remove my cover underneath and inspect in a few days. My clutch only has 1500 miles on it. I just changed everything so I'll see.

Did you ever find the problem with yours?
 
#27 ·
no, I just put it back in and im still driving on it. Just harder now trying to break whatever is 'breaking' so I can fix it at this point.
 
#30 ·
Well I got it fix and it was a few things:

1. I was missing some dile pins that secured the transmission to the engine. Had to go to a junk yard to find them.

2. The spacer in between the the clutch and engine was torn to streads which explains the rattling of kicking cans when my car was idle.
 
#32 ·
@ultimacloud... Ever find out what it was??! Im having same exact problem right now installed new act clutch at start up heard that knock noise still. Clutch engaged noise stops, then at idle its back.
 
#33 ·
I advise to schedule a day to take the clutch out and inspect because it can be anything. You are going to have to do it anyway. See what's broken or een missing.
 
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