Hey guys, i got a quick question for you who have delt with our transmissions before...When i start my car (5-speed btw) with the cluth pressed to the floor everything sounds fine no unwanted noises...When i release the clutch i hear a whirling/rattling like noise coming from my transmission but as soon as i push the clutch back in it goes away..

Im thinking its my throwout bearing being trash due to the fact that i had a brand new oem throwout bearing on the shaft and fork of the transmission that i had just put in the car but found out that it was messed up so i took it back out in a rush and gave it to the guy who swapped it out with another 1 unknowingly by me at the time that i had left the TOB in the tranny the man took back so i was stuck with the crap 1 that came with the new tranny...So thats y i think its a tob situation..

OR!!! Is it my Input shaft bearing going out?? i would think that that would rattle regardless of if i press or release the clutch...

Sorry for my rambling on but i really want to get some advise before i bring the old girl in to start taking the tranny off for the 4th time lol

 

It's been my experience that an actual "rattling" type of noise like you describe is the throw-out bearing.

My TOB on my Exedy clutch started rattling after not even 20k miles right before I was about to sell my old black VE. Knowing that a potential buyer would likely believe it had a bad input shaft bearing (even though I knew exactly what it was), I went through the trouble of swapping it for an O'Reilly's unit. Needless to say it fixed the noise.

However, there's really no way to diagnose over the internet whether or not it's your ISB or your TOB. From what I've read on here over the years, bad ISB's have been described just like the symptoms you describe and the symptoms I describe. So there's really no telling.

Did the transmission you swapped in have any play on the input shaft?

 

My 4th gen does the same thing. I've read on here and everything pointed to ISB, and then I told my mechanic and let him hear, and he thinks it's the TOB, so I'm confused as hell lol

 

I honestly couldnt tell ya james, i mean it sounds just like a rusty dirty tob spinning and when i push the clutch in it connects the tob to the pressure plate which quiets the bearing...but what i dont get is when i leave it in lets say 1st gear when im decelerating even with the clutch in its rattling...either way its not affecting the transmission at all it still works well in all gears its just the noise thats annoying... sounds like a really bad axle or something lol....i just know that if i spend a couple nights taking the tranny out and swapping the tob and it still has this noise ima be pissssssed lolol

 

Clutch pressed in means the TB is spinning and ISB is stationary - not noisy then means its the ISB.

Clutch released means TB is stationary and ISB is rotating - noisy then means its the ISB.

Either way - if you have to do the ISB I would suggest the TB always gets replaced too

 

i gotcha LVR.... so what ur saying in my case its more than likely the isb making all the racket...how much of a pain is it to put that in? compared to the task of actually dropping the transmission out of the car...is it something a transmission shop would more than likely have to do? either way i dont rly drive teh ole 3rd gen too much anymore but i would love to have it in perfect shape when ever i do decide to drive it...The only things wrong with the whole car at this point is the noisy (isb/tob) and my drivers window wont work.. figure its the damn master switch going up again lol but in anycase thats not too bad for a 20 yr old car :P

 

ISB replacement involves dropping the trans. ISB could last a bit while noisy but if its bad, you could lose the lay-shaft gear assembly in the box necessitating box rebuild/replacement.

Me? - I would get it sorted pronto