Symptom: Clutch cable damper rattles when the clutch pedal is NOT depressed, only when the car is in neutral.

I put my car (1990 245DL M47 LH3.1) in my "trusted" indie Volvo shop to have them adjust the exhaust (several leaks, since I couldn't push the pipes together under the car with no lift), and to have them diagnose (or fix) the rattling clutch cable damper.

Their response: There is something wrong "inside the gearbox or bellhousing. The clutch, or something else (throwout bearing?) must be dragging, causing the fork to vibrate, which resonates and causes the damper to shake and rattle." (my paraphrase )

?? This shop did the clutch job for me last March (~15,000-20,000 miles). It really seems to me like they screwed up, or the parts were defective. Before I call them and get "worked up", is there anything else that could cause this rattling?

When they did the clutch, they replaced everything except for the fork (PP, clutch, cable, throwout bearing, machined flywheel, rear main seal, etc etc etc).

Help me out here - I am not the most "pushy" person - but don't want to have to do this again. Will probably do it myself, as they would charge another $900 if they did.


Mike