My first stick shift. Should it be making this noise?

Food?

I've only had it a week, and before my dad brought it down here (I go to school 5 hours from my hometown), he had taken it to a Volkswagen dealer to get everything checked out. They gave it a green light, saying it was in excellent mechanical condition. Upon driving it, I proceeded to stall it countless times, and last Sunday I popped it out of reverse (I was apparently going too fast, and up a hill. I'm not used to these things).

Since then, I've noticed a rattling noise when in reverse. It sounds (sorry for the reference) like distant gunfire in Halo 3, and it increases speed as the revs go higher. My friend drove it the other day and said her older Volkswagen makes the same noise. Still, I don't like it. It's possible the noise was there before and I just didn't notice it.

Also, I stalled it again tonight, and I noticed that it was seeming to have trouble getting into first. Pulling out of a light it never seemed to really engage into 1st. It was moving, but it wasn't accelerating like normal. Shifting into 2nd went as normal and the acceleration was normal. It's pouring outside, but I don't see how that would affect shifting.

Any ideas?

flatlinegraphics

what year/model/etc?

depending on the year, there may be any number of things that are rattling. sorry, i love my vw (all of them. currently a 05 gti), but they do develop... personality.. over the years.

also, go over to vwvortex for real answers.

Food?

Right, sorry.

It's a 1998 Volkswagen Cabrio (basically a convertible Golf III for MORE INFORMATION)

Gafoto

So is the noise only in reverse or in all gears?

It may just be a vibration of something in the car, I know I have something in my dash and around my rear speakers that rattles annoyingly sometimes.

If your clutch is dying, any issue you might have should increase in severity the higher the gear you're in.

Food?

Gafoto wrote: »

So is the noise only in reverse or in all gears?

It may just be a vibration of something in the car, I know I have something in my dash and around my rear speakers that rattles annoyingly sometimes.

If your clutch is dying, any issue you might have should increase in severity the higher the gear you're in.

The noise is only in reverse. I'm almost positive it isn't a vibration as I can hear it coming from under the hood, plus I can hear it echoing off other cars in the parking lot.

It actually feels like the higher gear I'm in, the better it shifts. It only messed up in first that one time tonight, although the whole car seemed like it was driving different all night.

CrumbBum

A couple of reasons could cause you to have issues with getting into first gear. One, and this happens a lot with reverse, is the gears "line up" for lack of a better explanation so you have trouble even really forcing it into gear. The solution is to just let your foot all the way off the clutch, push it back in, and you should be good to go. I generally sit around in neutral at traffic likes with just the break pushed in, so I don't think I've run into this with regards to first gear in a long time. The other would be that you are simply going too fast to down shift, but from a complete stop that obviously isn't an issue. The truth is you're going to stall with some regularity until the whole starting thing is like second nature, and as long as you aren't shifting w/o pushing in the clutch regularly you should be fine. You may also want to consider wearing sandals while driving if you aren't already, they can really help in feeling the clutch. As far as your reverse noise, I'm hesitant to say anything because I think it's probably nothing, but there is no harm in having the shop take a look if you are really concerned.

Tiemler

Reverse always seems noisy. To me, it's usually reminiscent of a radio-controlled car.

Fats

Reverse uses spur (straight-cut) gears instead of helical gears, and spur gears are noisy. Unless it's popping out of reverse, I don't think there's a problem.

TrippyDK

Yeah, in my stick shift 07 mustang, reverse sounds almost like the beginning of one of those air horns starting up, which is pretty normal. But yeah, when i first learned stick shift, getting it into reverse was a bitch for some reason.

mastman

TrippyDK wrote: »

getting it into reverse was a bitch for some reason.

so you don't accidentally go into reverse when you're going above 20 mph forward and make your transmission explode out of your car

amateurhour

My 280ZX had the same problem, it was like a knocking sound in reverse and 1st gear, both of which provide the most torque. My problem was that the transmission mount had become loose in a couple of places and when the torque builds it causes the tranny and driveshaft to knock up against bare metal (slightly). It's not something to Worry about, but it needs to be fixed or it can break loose completely, then you're screwed. Mounts are really cheap though.

Hope that helps.

Food?

I called my dad last night to see what he thought. He, like most of you guys as well as my roommates, said that if reverse is still working fine, then I shouldn't worry about it. He brought up a good point about the 1st gear shifting problem, saying that I might have gone right into 3rd on accident, hence getting little acceleration from a stop. I don't think that's unlikely at all, since I remember it taking a little longer to get the clutch out.

However, if the noise gets worse I'll take it to the Volkswagen dealer/mechanic down the road.

Zeon

TrippyDK wrote: »

Yeah, in my stick shift 07 mustang, reverse sounds almost like the beginning of one of those air horns starting up, which is pretty normal. But yeah, when i first learned stick shift, getting it into reverse was a bitch for some reason.

If it was an old car, reverse probably didnt have any synchros. Dont know about domestics, but most old imports have a "First then reverse" rule, which means you shift to first to start the synchros spinning, and then into reverse to get a smooth engage. In my CRX, i can not shift into reverse without putting the car into first gear beforehand, unless i really jam the gearshift and want to hear some horrible grinding.