Hey guys, I have an ‘06 V8 Vantage that had a new clutch installed 5k miles ago. A few weeks ago I did all of the fluids in the car including a brake flush where I also flushed the clutch line.

When bleeding the clutch line I accidentally introduced air into the system (wife pressed the pedal before the bleeder was shut). I subsequently bled the line several times with lots of air coming out until only fluid was seen in the bleeder bottle.

Yesterday I went to take the car for a drive and I noticed a grinding/chatter sound when the car is in neutral and I hold the clutch pedal for the first inch of travel. For the rest of the pedal stroke there is no sound, only in the first inch of travel when depressing or releasing the clutch at the top of it’s travel. The best way I can describe it is a high speed grinding noise.

This is all in N and is independent from the transmission. It seems awfully coincidental since I just bled the system. I again bled the clutch line and found no air in the line. Any idea what it could be?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

I drive nothing but manual transmission vehicles: pickup truck, AM V8, and motorcycles. IME they all make some noise at some point in the clutch pedal travel when in neutral. I've always figured it was the throw-out bearing (or equivalent).... If I was concerned I'd ask a mechanic or someone whom I trusted if the noise was excessive.

I doubt whether it has anything to do with air in the line. If that was an issue the symptom would be a clutch that did not dis-engage completely or at all, I would think.

And BTW, pressing the pedal before the bleeder was shut does not introduce air in the line AFAIK. OTOH, RELEASING the pedal before the bleeder is shut will.

 

When you're in neural, the input shaft in the transmission is spinning. When you slowly press the clutch pedal, the clutch fingers are slowly releasing, which causes the clutch friction disc to grind and slip against the flywheel. This is disengaging the transmission altogether. If there is irregular grinding sound or chatter its because of wear or contamination on the clutch disc. This is mostly "normal" for classic cars where machine tolerances weren't as good as they are today. I wouldn't worry about it.