My 2000 Maxima has about 53,000 miles. A few weeks ago it started making a front end whining noise when accelarating. I took it to the dealer and they said a bearing is bad in the manual tranny. They found metal pieces on the tranny drain plug.

They have to order the part from across the country. I'm still driving it until the part comes in. They did say it will be covered under the 60,000 mile drivetrain warranty.

I can't figure out why this happened. I have never abused the transmission. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

 

Hmm, this is a big issue with the 4th gens. This is the first I've heard of it with the 5th gen, but since it's the same tranny it's not too surprising. Try to get them to replace all the bearings while they're in there or better yet, the tranny.

Speculation is incorrect preload causes this but no one is sure. It's nothing you did or could prevent.

 

Thanks for the reply. I just got my Maxima back from the dealer. They said many bearings in the Tranny were bad. As you suggested, they replaced them all. The differential bearings were also shot and had to be replaced. My car is running great now. They said it must have been a bad batch of bearings. What do you think? Also, can you explain what "incorrect preload" is? Thanks.

 

Or just the tranny whine? If you had additional troubles, could you explain them? Thanks

Colonel

 

The whining was the worst symptom. At first it only whined while accelarating in first and second gear. Then it got worse and worse until it happened in all gears. Also, I had a mild grinding noise while coasting or decelarating. I thought this was the new brakes I had installed but it turned out to also be the tranny bearings.

Does anyone one have any idea if this problem could reoccur? This repair was under warranty but if it happens again I'll be on my own.

 

"ericdwong" commonly posts in the general and 4th gen forums. He's pretty much the expert at the 5 speeds around here. If the dealer used the right shims to get the correct preload on the bearings you shouldn't have the problem again. He's made several posts on the issue and can explain it much better than I can. I would search for some of his stuff.