I just had a new clutch put in and it works fine, put when the car is idling at a stop, there is a rattling noise. If I push in the clutch, the noise goes away. What could be the problem I am hearing?

It's not the throwout bearing. The throwout bearing isn't doing anything at all when you have your foot off the clutch. It's transmission bearings. Input and countershaft are the most likely if I recall. FWIW, I have a friend who had that noise, rebuilt the trans, noise came back about 2 weeks later, she had it rebuilt again, noise came back again. This time she said "F it" and she's been driving on that transmission for probably 10 years.

I've yet to year a car or motorcycle that doesn't make at least some main bearing noise in neutral.

Interesting replies, thank you. It almost sounds like I shouldn't really worry about it. It's just embarrassing sitting at a lite and having it rattling.

One guy thought it might be a return spring. Does that sound like it could have something to do with it?

After mid 71 the Z didn't have a return spring on the slave. Earlier models did. My earlier Z and my friends both make this noise. They all have a return spring on the pedal. So basically, no, it's not a return spring thing.

I've driven three different cars in my short lifetime that were manual. My dad's 1987 BMW has that exact same noise when in neutral. Car and transmission have nearly 400k on it and they both work fine. My friends 98 Jeep Wrangler also had that rattle when the car was in neutral. My 76' 280 has the same noise. I personally really wouldn't worry about it. It seems that all manual cars have some kind of "rattle" when your in neutral.

Hope that helps

Jan

if it's really that noisy, maybe you've gone outside the manufacturer's specifications for gear oil.

bearing in the transmission - transmission stops moving, noise goes away. Had this happen two times on 2 different Z's, but it never came back after full rebuilds/new bearings..

lbpdz thats not what i wanted to hear today after listening to the rattling / rasping originally described my car had enough and something broke , i'm guessing its the bearings in the tranny now . it now makes pops and a lil jolts and loud raps when trying to make the car roll in any gear , pretty much dead where she sits, anyone have any helpful ideas or thoughts on a different problem , but after this id definitely say fix the rapping idling thing