Is Driving with a "Knocking Flywheel" OK?
 

I believe I have a knocking flywheel and I was wondering if there is any harm that is going to come to anything, other than the annoying noise at idle by doing this? Is the flywheel in danger of totally coming apart, or is it just some slopiness on the internals of the flywheel? Thanks!

A knocking sound means something is not right. It will be cheaper to get it inspected / fixed now, if you wait, you could be sorry, very sorry.

The dual mass flywheel gets too much play in it. That is what is causing the noise..... Don't know if would come apart, but i certainly wouldn't drive it knowing there is a part spinning thousands of rpms right under my legs with a bunch of teeth on it...would you????:eek:

A half hearted or full miss fire @ idle will cause the flywheel to rattle. Check compression, insure the tune is good & test the injectors. A fresh set of Bosch 3's from Jon @ FIC eliminated the flywheel rattle @ idle on my 90.

Hmmm...funny that you mention injectors. I just replaced my TPI with a Miniram and just used the SVO parts (24 lb/hr) that were on there. Maybe I should swap back to my "known good" injectors, although it does make the "death rattle" sound when the engine shuts off.

You didn't mention and/or confirm if you're running a DMF. If so, rattling is not a death sentence (like some here would lead you to believe). If it rattles the most on shut-down, that's not an issue. If it rattles while at a stop light, you either have a miss or someone converted to a SMF.

The only thing that will cause DMF failure is a compromised seal -- according to the expert, Bill Boudreau. It does not hurt the motor to continue running a DMF with weak springs.

If other things contribute to rattle (like the need for a tune-up, bad injectors, etc..., consider repairing that to minimize annoyance and rattle).

If you have an automatic or non-ZF transmission, ignore this post. You're car is about to EXPLODE!

:D

As long as you were sure that the knocking problem is indeed the DMF, I do not think it is going to separate and grenade...

It is a DMF with a ZF, so no explosion here :) The fact that I just put the miniram on without changing the tune on the computer might be a contributor.

The rattle totally goes away at anything above 1100 rpm.

--Calvin

I drove my '89 around for almost a year with the "knocking flywheel" while I tried to decide whether to go back to DM or go SM. No issues at all, other than the annoying 'clunking' sound whenever I would shut the car off. But there's an easy solution to that: shut the car down with the clutch depressed. No noise.

My flywheel was making the same annoying noise at idle. I decided to change to a SM from SPEC with a stage 1 clutch. My car definitely has a miss, as I need to change injectors (which is next on my list). In any event, is there a market for a used DM flywheel and clutch with only 40K on the car?