For the last month I have noticed a whine from the gearbox/transmission of my WRX MY96. It not very noisy, but it is more noticeable before everything warms up. It can be heard in 3rd, 4th and 5th gears. The frequency is proportional to road speed rather than engine speed. It does not seem to getting any noisier at the moment. There are no other symptoms.
I have changed the gearbox oil as a precaution. The car has done 54,000 miles and the gearbox oil was last changed at 30,000 miles. The oil was clean, but had coloured up slightly. There was no sign of any metal in it or on the magnet in the drain plug.
Does anyone have an idea what the problem might be?

 

Hi Charles,

My gearbox (MY98 UK) has whined in 1st/2nd from new. After a titanic struggle with IM warranty dept., they agreed to replace the box and guess what - the new box whines just as badly...

I don't like it, but I guess it could just be a characteristic of the car. The noise will gradually get worse as the gearbox wears too.

Just learn to ignore it....

Cheers,

Alex

 

Charles,
Just a thought. Have you changed your tyres recently? Are they all the same make and wear level? If not this will make the diff whine.
Regards
Did