my car (MY98 UK) has recently started making a rather annoying whining noise in 1st gear, identical to what you get when in reverse

any light to be shed ? should i be worried ?

chris

 

anyone?

 

Yeah, any sudden change in gearbox noise is a cause for concern! Whining is normally caused by tooth damage to one or both of the gears concerned, and first is a s*d, as the input gear is machined onto the input shaft, meaning a new shaft if this one's going.

Did this just start by itself, or was it prompted by a hard launch from standstill/missed gearchange/forced change to first or similar?

The first obvious diagnostic step is to make sure your gearbox oil level is where it should be.

The second one would be to drain the box, and carefully examine any swarf that either drops out in the oil or remains stuck on the magnet built into the drain plug.

The bad news though is that once this sort of thing starts, it normally only gets worse, so professional help is likely to be needed at some point.

 

thanks for the reply

it was first noticed after a hard launch

i checked the gearbox oil the other day, which was low so i topped it up, but its still whining

i will check the drain plug i think

any ideas how much this would cost to sort

cheers
chris

 

Oops!

Okay, couple of things to check for when you drop the oil out:

First of all, you can expect around 3.5 litres of oil to come out, so make sure you use a bucket or tray that'll hold that amount.

Once you've got the oil out, pay close attention both to what's in the bottom of the oil container itself, and to what's attached to that magnet in the drain plug.

If your car has already had a transmission oil change during a routine service (and by now it should have had), you should only expect to see small amounts of "iron filing" type swarf on the magnet. If you see any bigger bits, it's likely to signal bad news, and be especially attentive for bits that look like fractured bits of gear teeth.

Either way though it sounds like there's damage to either the input gear, the driven gear, or both. If you're gentle with it, it might never actually break, but if you're harsh...

Cost is a difficult one to estimate, as if it was me, I'd just get the parts and change 'em myself. However, if you go to a main dealers and get them to sort, it'll costa packet.

You may find it more cost-effective to get an exchange gearbox from a firm of refurbishers or dismantlers, so get in touch with the likes of Grade A and Central to find out how much a box will set you back.

I'm sure though that one or two helpful souls in the trade will be replying on this thread within the next few picoseconds, so you'll have a good idea of the options pretty soon!

 

just a chance, have you checked your power steering res?
mine was whining for england, I checked the powersteering res and it was nearly empty, filled it with Dexron III and the whining went straight away

worth a try as it only costs a fiver

 

Might be a possibility if it was whining all the time, but if it's only happening in first gear, it's pretty conclusive