shifter rattle/buzz
 

My shifter consistently gives out a rattling/buzzing sound whenever engine rpm is faster than 5000. It is very consistent, always appears at greater than 5000 rpm, and disappears as engine slows to less than 5000, regardless of speed or gear selected. The sound is somewhat like plastic tapping on metal at high frequency. The sound is not very loud, but it can clearly be heard if the windows are up and the radio off. Is this normal for the shifter or is there something loose?

i had the same problem and i went to get another rattle in the rear fixed and i didnt even mention the shifter rattle and the guys at the dealership heard it and fixed it for me but i never asked what it was but its completely gone now

mine does it too... started a thread on it exactly like this...

havent had it fixed yet

Mine gets fixed when i hold it in gear a little further. It seems to rattle in the gates. Probably has to do with the bushings. Just my speculation. Doesnt bother me too much.

i noticed mine at 6k rpms for the first time at 5,000 miles

Exactly how long are you guys holding at 5 to 6000 rpm's to hear this buzz?I've driven my car hard now and then and never heard any kind of buzz.

not very long exactly. I let it creep into 6k rpms for less than 2 seconds maybe before i shifted.

Its the first time i ever noticed it also. ill say it again i am at 5,000 miles.

I have not repeated it so no idea if its even repeatable.

It's annoying and sounds like utter **** IMO.

It occurs as soon as engine hits 4500 rpm, but is faint. It becomes much more noticeable as soon as engine revs to 5000 rpm, and it happens in any gear, and regardless of whether the clutch is pushed in or not.

So is the consensus here that it is a normal thing? Or is there something loose in my shifter?

I guess mine is different. It happens to me only when I am in 6th and letting the car coast and decelerate around 60-70mph

mine only happens in 3rd and 4th

I have the shifter rattle aswell above 5000rpm. It even does it when its in neutral

Mine did that too. Actually it's completely gone now. No idea how. I just pulled out the trim around the shifter and messed around with the position of the shifter boots moving them slightly up and down, and then lo and behold the rattle sound is gone. My guess is that one of the rubber boots was a little loose and vibrated against the metal shifter at high rpm due to engine vibration.

The three-gauge cluster in my dash also rattles like a diamondback! These cars are reliable, but they suffer from little annoyances, such as these. Nissan should address these bugs; they'd probably sell more of our beaZts if they did!

I have seen many threads on this, I believe one guy said it was a linkage in the shifter that went bad...

Car is booked in thursday to get checked out. Its a little worrying this is occuring after just 2 weeks. With how much this engine vibrates I'm hopping its not going to be a constant battle with rattles

well got car back from dealership, they didn't fix the shifter rattle. Said its most likley a characteristic of the gearbox, yeah what ever!.did the usual lubricate and inspect next service - ha

Hey Pharmacist - glad to hear you sorted it out, when you say the boots do you mean the actual leather boot or is there something else? I may give this a try

There are two boots, the outer leather one, and an inner rubber boot inside it that is pressed on the shifter lever itself. I tried sliding the inner boot a bit up against the shifter. The sound has now gone away. Most likely it was not pressed tightly against the shifter and as the engine vibrates at high rpm the rubber would tap against the metal shifter and cause the sound.

I had a clicking coming from my shifter as well...thought it might be under the rubber boot or something with the linkage. Just happened to install a new **** knob and found this little washer/bearing. Clicking's completely gone now...taking the knob off is a pain, but well worth it if you can narrow down the clicking to the shifter area.

http://i641.photobucket.com/albums/u...107_155353.jpg

I fixed this noise the other day:

Take the shifter cover off and examine the rubber boot underneath. If it is pushed down, it is likely pushing the spring mechanism (for the push down reverse) into the housing when in gear, causing the rattle/vibration at high rpms.

Unbolt the center console to access the shifter plate bolts.

Unbolt the shifter plate holding the boot down, lift it completely up, re-bolt it back down.

Lift the rubber boot up slightly over the little white zip tie you can see helping holding the leather boot on. You will have to work it a bit to get it up and over.

Once it is up in place, use a zip tie to zip tie the rubber boot in place.

Reinstall the center console and shifter cover and you're done.

My noises are gone and the leather boot looks better because since the rubber boot is up so high, it holds the leather boot up and it looks very nice.

Hope this helps you guys!

I redline it until it goes away. No more problems.

Hey Guys.

I am also having this rattle problem. I had it with the stock shifter and now with my B&M short shift too. Is the above the confirmed fix for the rattle ? :driving:

as far as i know, only i have done this... so idk.

Just got back from the dealer for this issue. They ordered the silver-painted shift bezel assembly with boots. I'll report back with results later in the week.

Lol @ shifter vibration complaints. Welcome to being a 370Z owner :roflpuke2:

:icon18: :iagree:

bbzzZzzZ

I always just thought it was due to all the power at my disposal, coming from a 170HP car before lol.

Never noise but it just vibrates, i like it

I have a white 370 does the same thing, seems to have different vibrations at different times but always on the deceleration?? maybe it's a white car thing,, I have also had the tranny replace a while back, crunching in 5th..

5250 miles. No Rattles Anywhere. :)

I put some DynaMat strips on the shifter base. It got rid of my rattle sounds in that area, although the shifter still vibrates like a pleasure bed in a raunchy hotel.

Bringing this thread back to life. 6spd's fix sounds like the most legitimate. It's not the vibrations that are an issue, it's the audible buzz/rattle that the shifter gives off. For me it's when I am at high RPM in any gear and I let the engine decelerate and between 7k and 4.5k it gives off a nasty rattle/buzz sound. Having not taken apart the shifter assembly myself yet it's hard to visualize. Can anyone share any visuals that have it pinpointed where the source of the sound may be coming from? How about visuals of the white tie that holds the rubber boot up or the reverse lock out mechanism?

Looking at this thread article I can see that maybe the sound is coming from the shift boot base, maybe the shift cup and the shift base vibrating off each other or the shift plate and shift cup?

*****************************************/ID/2809/PageID/5493/Project-Nissan-370Z--Installing-BMs-Short-Throw-Shifter.aspx

Nothing is worse than running out of quarters just when the action gets going well.

:icon18:

I made this, think I got it. I'll let you guys know if I fix it.

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5263/cy55.jpg

Mine did this too but it turned out it was the top trapezoid looking piece. I put some super glue in the cracks and it stopped. I can finally have my sanity back!

Which trapezoid piece?

Thats why automatic is 10X better shifts like butter and if you gotta move a couple people blocking the way just floor it in D. :driving:

Best way I can describe it. :icon17: Its the middle section of the top of the shifter. The piece the 123456R diagram is placed on.

Bringing this thread back to life.

Brought the 370Z over to Bruce Bennett in Wilton, CT. They know the Z platform well and the previous dealership owner raced a 350Z through SCCA or NASA. If you're somewhat local, they can help you.

The end result is the bits and pieces in the shifter assembly were a bit loose and most importantly the rubber boot piece, which you can see in the picture I posted above, slid down causing the nasty vibration/rattling at high RPM. They insulated the rubber boot, repositioned it over the spacer and zip tied it in place. I can noticeably feel the rubber boot in position and firmly in place with everything reassembled. No replacement parts were necessary and 99% of the noise is gone. The remaining noise is simply NVH from the drivetrain.