Drivetrain rattle noise when slowly accelerating
 

When i'm cruising in 6th gear in the city, I notice a slight rattle noise just after I tap on the throttle. I get the same noise again after I let off the throttle. It's so slight that I can only hear it when music is off cruising in the city when I'm not drowned in the tire noise. I noticed the noise ever since I drove it off the lot, right now I have 2000 miles on the odo. Anyone notice the same thing? Is this normal?

I have a 2010 6MT

This drivetrain makes a lot of funky noises. You can take it to the dealer under warranty just to let them have a look but most likely nothing is wrong.

same here, i'm pretty sure this is just how the car is. Like CBRich said just run to the dealer one day just so they know about it and who knows, maybe they can explain it...

what speed are you traveling at in 6th in the city?

:ugh: Sixth gear in the city? I wonder whether the noise is coming from lugging this pup? And that ain't good.

the clutch in the 370 (and 350 and my truck) makes a lot of noise honestly, i bet that's what you are hearing.

if you pop off the shifter cover, pull the rubber boot up as far as it will go, even over the inside of the leather boot, and zip tie it. this will likely get rid of 99% of the noises, did for me at least, even the dreaded over 5k rpm death rattle.

about 45mph .. i think around 1500 RPM..

would I be lugging the engine if i'm just cruising and not trying to accelerate?

if you pull back on the shifter a bit while in 6th, does it stop? if so, just try what i said and you should be fine.

i drive like you do, 6th gear at about 45 mph but my car doesn't make any noise.

well. the noise is not consistently there. it only shows up for like a second right after i tap on the throttle then goes away... and shows up again for a second after i let off the throttle.. then goes away..

but i'm gonna try tapping the throttle while pulling back on the shifter and see if that eliminates it..

wow, thats the problem. My car does the same thing, its because you in too long of a gear and at a VERY low RPM. Try using 4th at 45mph, if you dont like that the you can use 5th but i recomend 4th.

check the owner's manual page 5-19.

Nissan says you should change to 6th gear at 33 mph (53 kmh) (for normal acceleration in low altitude areas -- less than 4,000 ft)

45 mph that's already 12 mph above nissan's recommendation.

:shakes head: Low altitude areas. dont do 45 in 4th i was wrong...5th gear is good you'll be sitting at 2,000

just try my solution, i had exactly the same noise and its 99% gone now.

leaving it in 5th seems to solve the problem.. but anyone knows the reason why? i wasn't lugging the engine at all in 6th.. it's quite strange that it would whine like that .. the sound seems to be coming from rear of the car, which is even more puzzling :confused:

don't know but your 370z should run fine at 45 mph in 6th gear.
my 2.5 liter beetle is a lot weaker and even it runs fine at 40 mph in 5th gear.

i think the recommendation of driving in 5th gear at 45 mph is for 4-cylinder cars with 1.5 liter engine, not for 6-cylinder cars with 3.7 liter or larger engine.

lol i think my 2 liter s2000 did fine in 6th going 45mph too.. w/o any weird noise.. i guess the z just has one noisy tranny..

Too long of a gear ratio with not enough power...All cars are different, especially when they are different makes and models. Gear ratio, weight, differential, low end, high end, tuning, clutch, TIRES...everything makes all those cars run differently. s2k for example is VERY light making very good power vs wieght making them a good adversary on the track, I just don't like convertables...sorry.

As for the noise, thats just how this transmission/drivetrian is. If you let it idle you can here chatter coming from the tranny. you could try using readline tranny fluid and that should help it run quieter:

Redline MT-90 1 qt (manual transmission fluid)

you can also try to change out the diff fluid also.

You're just driving the car inappropriately. There is no benefit to driving in 6th gear at 45mph. You'll actually get worse gas mileage if you even slightly accelerate in that scenario. Much better to just be in 4th or 5th without the engine laboring. The Z is happiest from 2500rpm on up, and I aim to be at least over 2k rpm when driving around.

:iagree:

i would agree if the 370z with AT would drive at 2500 rpm when cruising around town but I don't think so. All the AT cars I have ever driven all drive at around 1,500 rpm when cruising around town. Like i said, page 5-19 of the 370z owner's manual said for normal acceleration, change to 6th gear at 33 mph. For quick acceleration, change to 6th gear at 50 mph.

imo, driving at 2,500 rpm or driving at 1,500 rpm are both OK. It depends on which rpm the driver wants the engine to operate at and that's why we bought a manual transmission so we can make that decision instead of the computer making that decision for us.

In the 370Z you'll actually wanna use red line mt 85