Mad Jap

I've seen a few posts where people commented that the 5 speed tranny makes a "growling" sound when taking off aggressively.
My tranny makes such a sound, but it makes it even when I'm not launching hard.
I first thought maybe it was the pressure plate that was worn out, so I had the clutch replaced with brand new Sachs.
No dice.
I thought maybe the tranny fluid needed to be changed.....I used the Valvoline synthetic...again, no dice.
It almost feels like the bearing in the first gear might be worn. However, the tranny behaves perfectly in every other way.

Am I just being paranoid? Do all of these trannys sound like this?

Thanks for the help, fellow Max heads!

Keven97SE

My car does the same thing. It's gotten much worse over the past year or so. With the clutch in, the drivetrain is quiet. With it engaged, I get a very noticeable noise. When accelerating, the car growls. It used to only happen in 1st and 2nd and at lower rpms, but now it does it in all gears as far as I can tell and at all rpms. The car is just loud. I think it's the same thing you think it is...bad bearing.

I also get the growling when I'm in, say 2nd gear and decellerating towards a stop but the clutch is IN...that is, I'm coasting to the stop but the car's in-gear. I get a duller version of the growling...kinda implied to me that it's not the input shaft but the output or layshaft.

As of the last week, I also now have difficulty getting into 1st and 2nd gears. There's much more resistance than before.

My tranny is dying.

MaxRX7

My 86 RX-7 makes noise when in neutral with the clutch pedal at rest. When I depress the clutch the noise goes away when the transmisson is in ANY gear. I have been driving like this for 3 years now, and the problem has NOT gotten worse. I now have 250k miles on my car. I don't think it is worth to replace the bearings at this point on my car, because I still have the original clutch with no signs of needing replacement. I just have gotten used to the noise.

Black95Se

iTrader: (2)

When I was in 2nd and rolling to a stop with the clutch in I would get sort of this sound like something was winding down from speed (Fast and high pitched then gradually slowing and getting lower.) It turns out some of the bearings were bad so I sent it in for all new bearings all-around. It's being done for $500 if you're curious. BTW Nissan quoted me $2500 because in their minds I needed a NEW transmission. I should be getting the car back in a few days and man I can't wait. Good luck guys...and also it made a noise when the clutch was not in like you describe. I hope getting new bearings will fix that too because it's sort of annoying.