2004 330Ci rattle at idle

[Patrick Bateman]

I notice after being for a drive there's a rattle when the car is idling with the clutch engaged (clutch pedal not depressed, to make it clear). When I disengage the clutch the rattle disappears. This does not seem to happen when the car is cold. From what I can hear, although it's hard to tell, the sound isn't present in gear while driving along.

I'm pretty sure the sound is coming from the driver's side in the region of the front door/front wheel.

I've read different things regarding bearings but does that give an indication is to which specific bearing (if a bearing at all) it could be?

I've searched other forums and can't find a definitive answer, some appear to say it's normal.

[E30M3SE]

That will be the clutch release bearing.

[Patrick Bateman]

I've read that a few times then there's always a handful of people that come along and say that it's only that bearing (throwout bearing it seems to be called as well?) when the clutch is disengaged (pedal depressed) and the rattle becomes evident.

[roofer]

The fact it doesn't do it from cold would indicate gearbox layshaft gear chatter. Nothing to worry about. It the oil thinning as it gets warm, newer manual boxes run a very thin oil in comparison to what used to be used.

[Patrick Bateman]

Hopefully that's the case, makes sense with regards to the oil heating up as well. It isn't annoying and I doubt anyone would notice it if I didn't tell them, even if I did tell them in one case...

Cheers.