Alright so i bought a 2002 WRX this weekend, so i have only had for two days and there is something going on with the transmission i believe. when the car is in gear, and i am on the gas, there is no noise, when i let off the gas there is this mild to loud chatter, it sounds as if it is coming from the transmission, but when i push in the clutch the noise immediately stops, the noise does not happen when out of gear, or if the car is stopped. only when in gear and deccelerating. it also does it at any speed, from 5 mph to 80mph ive had my uncle look at it, who is a mechanic at a chevy dealer and he thought it was somthin in the tranny but said to take it to the subie dealer. im just lookin to see if anyone has an idea on what the problem is or if they had experienced this before.

Check the transmission oil dipstick for signs of debris or metal shavings.

A friend of mine just had a very similar problem when his flywheel bolts were loose.

Get some attention to the clutch/flywheel assembly ASAP.

Was the car modified and returned to stock before you bought it?

no the car has a short throw shifter, and im not sure if there was ne thing else done to the tranny, gears, or clutch as far as aftermarket products, i checked the dipstick today and everything looked normal, but it definitely sounds like there is something shaking and or rattling, but it only does it when nothing is engaged, and in gear on the decel so thanks for the tip

Sure it's not the wastegate?

No slippage on the clutch or when in gear?

Does the shifter 'jump' a bit forward when your in gear and let off the gas? Something in my transmission has gotten bent (dont know exactly what yet), anyhow, when I let off the gas in 3-4-5 the shifter jumps forward a couple inches and I get a noise comparable to what you've described.

My reasoning is that the 'collar' that the shift fork moves into place when you select a gear is hitting the synchros on decel b/c of the movement of the engine/tranny and a bent something or other. This happened after I put in STi tranny/engine mounts, possibly exacerbating a situation I didn't notice b/c of wobbly mounts, or maybe I was too rough moving things around. Either case I'm not really looking forward to the day when a synchro comes apart int he tranny, but I got a spare on standby just in case.

Maybe this will help shed some light on your problem. Hopefully it's not as bad though. Good luck.

okay well i figured out the problem, i went to the Subie dealer and talked to the service manager and he had a mech do a t. drive at first he thought it was the something in the tranny also but then we got out and he looked under the hood, the heat shield by the turbo had been replaced, there are different flanges on the end of it and that is what rattles. and the it only does it when deccelerating because of engine movement, so any way thanks for all of the tips and help:loser:

Stupid heat shields. :rolleyes:

Glad it was something simple.

yeah that news made my day. any way thanks again

That's a good day; you go to the mechanic expecting to shell out the dough and the mechanic says, "Looks like this bolt here was loose. I tightened it fer ya."

Take the car for a test drive next time before you buy, wil ya? :wink: