Loud Rattling noise coming from engine!! Please Help!!
 

Hello,
I have a 1997 Porsche Boxster, 6 speed with 61k original miles. About two weeks ago I started hearing a loud rattling sound coming from the engine, the car drives perfectly fine, goes into gear smoothly, when I push the clutch in the sound goes away. I did a little research and thought it was the throwout bearing so I replaced that but the sound is still there. This is my first Porsche and I don't know too much about them so if anyone can give me some advice it would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!!http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1430109652.jpg

To replace that, the entire transmission comes out. Was a total clutch job done? Sounds like clutch related.

It's kind of pricey to replace the whole clutch at the moment plus I was told the clutch is good, the gears go in perfect, just the throwout bearing needed replacing. Thank you for your reply!

My guesses, in order of ease to fix;

1) exhaust leak or loose heat shield (will increase under load)
2) flywheel, especially if it's a lightweight
3) transmission input shaft bearing (highly unlikely)

My money is on #1 as this is a very common issue with the 986. ;)

Flywheel is why I asked if it was a full job. The clutch / flywheel is cheap compared to the cost of remove & replace trans. You only want to do that once in many thousand miles.

Could a bad motor mount cause this?

If the engine mount was that bad you'd barely be able to change gear and the driveline clunk would complement the rattle.

Posting a video would help with figuring this out.

Anna you have a beautiful car, congratulations!

a video of the noise could be helpful indeed to ID the source of the noise

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typically, this is when most stop driving the car and visit a professional.
If you don't know the issue how can you be sure you are not creating a bigger problem by driving it?

btw, your car looks heavily modified. Were the headers replaced recently? They may be rubbing. I think that sound goes away when the clutch is engaged and starts rattling again when the car is idling.