Help! loud dragging/grinding noise coming from bellhousing

tschoen3

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just the facts....
03 cobra bone stock unmolested just a hair over 40k on the clock.
upon starting the vehicle, cold or hot, instantly there is a grinding/ dragging noise coming from underneath vehicle. the noise goes away with increased RPM's but does not go away with clutch in or out. it sounds almost like a a heat shield on the cats but i have verified it is coming from inside of bellhousing. ive pulled the inspection cover and looked with a borescope camera and cannot find source of noise. it is very loud but there is no feed back in clutch pedal, shifter or vibration period. i have not noticed any performance issues but i don't beat on it either. i have to sell this car soon and need to fix this issue before anyone would concider buying it. any help offered is much appreciated. thanx!:??:
 

caveeagle

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Probably need more information to diagnose.

Could be:
>Throwout bearing
>Pilot bearing
>Alternator
>Belt Idler / tensioner
>Belt
 

SVT_Troy

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I saw a thread awhile back ago where a guy had a clutch spring bouncing around makin a noise. With your hard grinding noise I'm thinking a broken tob sleeve/tob bearing, but you really need to do more troubleshooting. When you say it goes away with rpm is it possible that it "goes away" because you can't hear I anymore due to engine/exhaust noise? Have you noticed any difference with how I starts? Have you done anything at all to it recently? Noticed anything else weird previously that you have over thought? Does it shift smoothly into every gear? Worst case you may have to pull he trann and check everything out along wih checking out the starter.
 

tschoen3

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I saw a thread awhile back ago where a guy had a clutch spring bouncing around makin a noise. With your hard grinding noise I'm thinking a broken tob sleeve/tob bearing, but you really need to do more troubleshooting. When you say it goes away with rpm is it possible that it "goes away" because you can't hear I anymore due to engine/exhaust noise? Have you noticed any difference with how I starts? Have you done anything at all to it recently? Noticed anything else weird previously that you have over thought? Does it shift smoothly into every gear? Worst case you may have to pull he trann and check everything out along wih checking out the starter.

more troubleshooting to come for sure. spare time seems to evade me. noise doesnt change much, its always the same frequency. its louder at low rpms which i relate to the frequency at which it vibrates. there is no time at which it does anything different except when rpm's increase and noise dissipates. same noise from start up till shutdown. the exhaust is all stock (which we all know isn't that loud) so it doesn't drown out the noise. no work at all has been done in this area. it shifts as smoothly as it always has. ill be pulling the trans shortly. probably after finals and ill know more then, a friend suggested it may be the TO bearing retainer, im thinking possibly the pilot bearing as well. either way its going to be removed and inspected thoroughly. ill try to get some audio of this noise and possibly some pics of the issue when i discover it.
 

Bdubbs

u even lift bro?
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just the facts....
03 cobra bone stock unmolested just a hair over 40k on the clock.
upon starting the vehicle, cold or hot, instantly there is a grinding/ dragging noise coming from underneath vehicle. the noise goes away with increased RPM's but does not go away with clutch in or out. it sounds almost like a a heat shield on the cats but i have verified it is coming from inside of bellhousing. ive pulled the inspection cover and looked with a borescope camera and cannot find source of noise. it is very loud but there is no feed back in clutch pedal, shifter or vibration period. i have not noticed any performance issues but i don't beat on it either. i have to sell this car soon and need to fix this issue before anyone would concider buying it. any help offered is much appreciated. thanx!:??:

I seem to have a very similar issue going on with my car as well. Mine is very noticable at a stop or while driving very slow, but can't hear it at highway speeds. Mine gets louder with the a/c on for some reason. You should check to see if yours does too. I brought it to a shop where I get my work done and they agree and also think it's the tranny, but it sounds more towards the bellhousing area. Please keep us updated as I'm waiting until spring before mines fixed.
 

tschoen3

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well i finally found out what it was. the rivets in the flywheel holding the steel starter gear to the alum. flywheel had broken and worked their way out. i ended up replacing the clutch and flywheel. kind of a bummer but oh well its fixed with stock parts.
 

Anabolic

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so. some vcobra owners complain about reoplacing clutch at 30k miles, be happy yours lasted to 40 and you have a new kit! lol..
glad you found it out
 

TRBO VNM

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Seen this many times. Usually from people who insist on resurfacing their stock flywheel instead of replacing it or the friction plate
 

Bdubbs

u even lift bro?
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Just had mine fixed this week too. Mine was the flywheel as well! Inner ring was loose rattling away and down to the rivets as well. Mine only lasted 23k miles, shop said my clutch looked very bad as well.
 
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