Appears to be a whinining noise in 2/3/4 gear, drop clutch and the noise stays. Roll to a stop and the whining noise stays until complete stand still, reducing as speed reduces. Need real quick answers as very worried.

 

I've had it too- twice now: Both times required major surgery I'm sorry to say!

The first time there was a rattle that developed into a whine, this was cured by the dealer replacing 4th and 5th gears due to abnormal wear (previous owner was apparently driving everywhere with his hand on the shifter-bad).

The second time I had exactly the same symptoms as you, over time the whine has gotten progressively louder and rougher too.

Garage thought the centre diff was on the way out so they changed that but the whine remained. Now the car's had the 'box stripped and sent to a gearbox specialists- they're now changing all of the gearbox bearings.

This is all being done on the Proven warrantry too so I'm quite impressed at the service they've provided.

Also, this appears to be a rare problem according to my Subaru dealer. Maybe we're just unlucky.

How old's yours? mines a MY96 Series McRae with c60k miles on the clock.

 

Oh siht!!!, mines MY00 with only 30k on the clock and just out of warranty!!!!. The noise seems to increase with speed, was this the same with you. Any one else have any suggestions!!!!!

 

My 99 did the same thing. Had been doing it for a long time, dealer said it was probably best to leave it well alone as it was out of warranty. Traded it in a couple of months back and the dealer had to replace the box before he could sell it on.

In the US the 5 speed Subaru box gets a very bad name for reliability. All the dealers here say there isn't a problem but then when you start talking to people you find you are not the only one.

Hopefully your's is still under warranty.

 

Yes, that sounds about right. Whine increases in volume and pitch the faster you go.

One point the dealer did make to me was that they didn't think that it was on the verge of failing.They were quite insistent on this too although they obviously admitted that there was a problem.

Personally I didn't buy that. I come across bearings and gearboxes all the time professionally and know a knackered one when I hear it. Mine was fcuked!

 

Aust H YHM

 

I would image bearings are the problem, some Subaru models were released with s**t branded gearbox oil which flogged out the bearings. Mine died at 200,000km though.

REPLACE the oil imediately, and you may notice the noise go away because you gearbox oil maybe thinning out

[Edited by submannz - 4/28/2003 1:07:13 AM]

 

I think my gearbox has just started doing the same thing. It only seems to be on second gear, and only seems to happen when the car's cold. It started making the noise about 2 days ago, and isn't apparent after 2 or 3 miles of warming-up.

The sound is like a graunching whirring noise. It's audible on changing to/from second and also on over-run, coasting, in second.

Suggestions?

 

Fatman, yes yours sounds like bearings.

[Edited by submannz - 5/9/2003 11:13:59 AM]

 

I'm not particularly mechanically-minded. You mention "bearings" - please explain. I imagine that there's no such thing as a good gearbox fault, but if that is the problem with my car, how serious could it be? Is the drivetrain about to go bang in an expensive way? Or, could it just make a noise and never actually do anything more than that?