Rattle/scraping noise when accelerating from 1000rpm to 2000rpm

Hi, has anyone had the above issue? It’s quite a loud scraping/rattle, when accelerating in most gears (but loudest in 2nd), from 1000rpm to just over 2000rpm. It completely goes away after 2200 revs. It sounds mechanical and coming from the engine bay. It’s a V6 manual. Any ideas before I take it to the dealer?

 

[crestima]

Hi, has anyone had the above issue? It’s quite a loud scraping/rattle, when accelerating in most gears (but loudest in 2nd), from 1000rpm to just over 2000rpm. It completely goes away after 2200 revs. It sounds mechanical and coming from the engine bay. It’s a V6 manual. Any ideas before I take it to the dealer?

From part of your description, it seems to be what is characteristically a sound of the V6 when engaging 1st and 2nd gears and low rpm. Take a look at the thread "V6 Manual - are these sounds normal?" and see if you identify with the same experience of other members. Hope it helps.

 

[Orchardbike]

Thanks, will take a look!

 

[KAR120C]

That's seriously low RPM, IMO. Other than idling and the tiny time it takes to get revs up from a standstill, I personally would not lug the engine around like that. Seriously, just always keep the engine over 2 -2.5 k ESPECIALLY when accelerating and I think what you hear will go away forever.

 

[Last ICE]

Hi, has anyone had the above issue? It’s quite a loud scraping/rattle, when accelerating in most gears (but loudest in 2nd), from 1000rpm to just over 2000rpm. It completely goes away after 2200 revs. It sounds mechanical and coming from the engine bay. It’s a V6 manual. Any ideas before I take it to the dealer?

I know exactly what you’re describing, same as in the initial post in the thread Crestima references in his reply below. I’d been used to the ease and flexibility of my Miata that lets me go into a tight roundabout in 2nd at about 1500 and mash the throttle on exit with nary a protest from the tranny or motor, or even start out from a stoplight in 2nd on a slight downhill grade to skip 1st. Can’t do that with the Emira. When I called the dealer about the rattle, fearful that I had a problem with the mill, his advice proved true: keep it above 2k and it’ll disappear. Once I adapted my lower speed driving style (which took a little time, experimentation, and attention), viola! And in the process I learned how insanely fun this thing is at any speed. I should note that part of the problem was that 1st was super tough to downshift into when moving at all, even with rev match, which had me keeping it in 2nd at low revs. Dealer’s advice: only downshift when you’re at or near a full stop. What I found however after few hundred more miles of break in is my driving style joyfully adapted, the rattle no longer occurs, no doubt in part to things wearing in a bit more, and it’s easy to downshift on the fly now after the tranny gets to operating temp. Still some balky stiffness when cold, but expect it to improve further with a few hundred more. Hope that helps.

 

[Orchardbike]

I know exactly what you’re describing, same as in the initial post in the thread Crestima references in his reply below. I’d been used to the ease and flexibility of my Miata that lets me go into a tight roundabout in 2nd at about 1500 and mash the throttle on exit with nary a protest from the tranny or motor, or even start out from a stoplight in 2nd on a slight downhill grade to skip 1st. Can’t do that with the Emira. When I called the dealer about the rattle, fearful that I had a problem with the mill, his advice proved true: keep it above 2k and it’ll disappear. Once I adapted my lower speed driving style (which took a little time, experimentation, and attention), viola! And in the process I learned how insanely fun this thing is at any speed. I should note that part of the problem was that 1st was super tough to downshift into when moving at all, even with rev match, which had me keeping it in 2nd at low revs. Dealer’s advice: only downshift when you’re at or near a full stop. What I found however after few hundred more miles of break in is my driving style joyfully adapted, the rattle no longer occurs, no doubt in part to things wearing in a bit more, and it’s easy to downshift on the fly now after the tranny gets to operating temp. Still some balky stiffness when cold, but expect it to improve further with a few hundred more. Hope that helps.

Mine turned out to be something more than that as my clutch ‘exploded’ just 30 miles later……

 

[Last ICE]

Mine turned out to be something more than that as my clutch ‘exploded’ just 30 miles later……

Wow - that’s rough.

 

[nimbus]

Hi, has anyone had the above issue? It’s quite a loud scraping/rattle, when accelerating in most gears (but loudest in 2nd), from 1000rpm to just over 2000rpm. It completely goes away after 2200 revs. It sounds mechanical and coming from the engine bay. It’s a V6 manual. Any ideas before I take it to the dealer?

that's probably the adapter Lotus used to attach the transmission to the engine... its not just the Emira, the earlier Lotuses were like this as well.

Annoying, but it's not broken, they all do it

 

[Orchardbike]

that's probably the adapter Lotus used to attach the transmission to the engine... its not just the Emira, the earlier Lotuses were like this as well.

Annoying, but it's not broken, they all do it

Nope, it was a clutch thrust bearing that was causing the noise. Just 430 miles in and it disintegrated taking the clutch plates and flywheel with it!

 

[nimbus]

oh no

 

[falafel91]

Do you have a video of the sound? I have something similar, but have had it since i had the car from 400 miles. Currently at 1300 miles and no issues, but i have a similar sound in 1st going from 1k-2k rpm then goes away.

 

[Orchardbike]

Do you have a video of the sound? I have something similar, but have had it since i had the car from 400 miles. Currently at 1300 miles and no issues, but i have a similar sound in 1st going from 1k-2k rpm then goes away.

No sorry, I don’t. My whole clutch, release bearing and flywheel have been replaced, but they still think there’s an issue in the gearbox as well