Hello All, I posted on the other F-150 site, but want to ask someone here: I recently bought a new '08 with 4.2 and manual trans. When driving at about 1700 rpm or lower, there is a rattle which comes up through the stickshift. The engine is not bogging down. It will start with gas only depressed less than an inch. I brought it in to the dealer, which said this is "normal" bearing noise. I've never heard a "normal" bearing make that much noise--mystery is driving me crazy! Thanks, Chris

 

Try taking it to a different dealer, some dealers will tell you anything to get out of warranty work.

 

some noise is normal on a brand new clutch/manual setup. the clutch face and flywheel face will conform to each other shortly. but until they do, shifting will be hard and some noise/vibration will occur. this happens because the clutch face is still rough and the flywheel face hasn't developed any friction surfaces from the clutch.

sounds like at low RPM's your clutch discs are slipping slightly on the face closest to the flywheel. try driving her a bit more and it'll probably go away


if the dealer thinks your throw-out bearing is making that noise, they need to fix it. throw-out bearing should be silent and smooth. noise from it indicated there is some slop in there...or some sort of foreign material worked it's way in there.

 

Has it been cold in your area lately?
The manual trans in my Ranger has always made a bit of racket at low rpm when it's cold out. Once the fluid warms up, the noise goes away.

 

Thanks for the responses. Tylus, What you said makes sense--I can only hope that's the case. I've never personally experienced that with a new vehicle or replaced clutch. VFR Man, It's not been cold in my area (Texas). A bit of additional information--the truck now has 500 miles on it. Listening carefully, it does seem that the vibration noise happens at all rpm--not just low--it's just easier to hear without engine and road noise.