Oh no.. pre shoboom noises?

[haydenm315]

I noticed yesterday my car was making a humming/whining noise while moving. It transmits through the transmission. I can feel/hear it through the shifter. I can also hear/feel it through the clutch if the car is moving and I press on it.The clutch pedal seems normal at a stop, and I'm able to engage gears fine. The noise is there whether I push the clutch in or have it out, neutral or in gear but it does change slightly with clutch action. I can still hear the noise with the engine off and the car coasting to a stop in neutral. The noise is speed proportional. The pitch doesn't seem to change with speed, just the frequency. Maybe it goes beyond human frequencies at speed, and I just can't hear because of my noisy car. If you drive with the windows down you might miss it. It makes no difference if I turn the wheel left or right so I'm not thinking wheel bearings.

My first thought was trans fluid was low. The fluid is new and I topped off with some dextron/mercon atf yesterday at walmart. I had to pull up on a curb, buy a pump and some fluid. The noise is still there. I checked for things rubbing the driveshafts. The oil level sensor wire is close to the shaft, but I doubt i could make this kind of noise. It seems like to me, something is rubbing inside the transmission.

Does this sound like the calm before shoboom diff pin? Any ideas?

 

[Kens1992mtxSHO]

When my dif went I had no tell tale signs. FWIW my SHO whines a little in third gear.

Good luck diagnosing the problem.

 

[haydenkayne]

every sho has its own whine, just like a woman

 

[AREA 91]

Check to see if it's the secondary canister on the back of the intake. Unplug it while it's running and see if the noise go's away.

 

[shoshirtsandhat]

Put the car on a lift , put the car in gear and inspect, use CAUTION...Hope it helps ....
Joe

 

[Eric VerValin]

Let me see if I can find a clip of the noises mine was making before I yanked it out.



That was my noise... swapped out another transmission, and its gone. Still have yet to get Bizzy's hands on it to see what is really going on in there.

Origional Post

 

[haydenm315]

Thanks for posting the video. I listened to that earlier. The whine in your vid almost sounds like too tight of a timing belt. Been there once as well trying to reuse the tensioner and mucking up the tension procedure. I can definately deduce the noise I'm hearing is related to the movement of the car, and not the movement of the engine. It's hard to diagnose a noise from video sound, but after listening 10 times, might be the same deal. Sounds like your noise continues even with the wheels stopped though?

If I shut the engine off and coast in neutral I still get the noise and it changes with speed, not engine revs. I can even feel the noise and hear it change slightly if I press the clutch pedal. I think this trans with over 162k is close to saying no mas, kaboom, thank you, and have a nice day. I've read threads on here where the diff pin chewed threw the trans case. My guess is it starts sliding out, begins chewing the housing and eventually gets thrown. I definately don't have that nasty idle sound.

Tomorrow is a day spent at my buddy's shop. I'm bringing an extra transmission, pressure plate, and clutch disk just in case. I suspect issues with my clutch install since I didn't use the alignment tool and it's slipping after breaking at high revs. I am clueless whether these probs are related. I'm already having nightmares about putting the subframe back up or swapping the tob sleeve. It can be a real PITA to bolt the subframe back up when you have those whacky recall nuts. We fought for an hour doing just that. I just have to suck it up and repeat. You've gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[93rev2sev]

Sounds like you are well prepared for whatever it might be. Have you ruled out wheel bearings?

 

[SHO_DOODmorrris]

It makes no difference if I turn the wheel left or right so I'm not thinking wheel bearings.

think he has

 

[Tecchie]

Well as for wheel bearings, on my dads 99 grand am just replaced the pass side wheel bearing, and no noise difference even when turning, usually didn't start whining until you were at 40+.. his was an auto trans though... and if you push the clutch in and out and it makes a difference that is probable because of there being torque on the bearing to being little or none....

Think of it like worn brakes, squeak when rolling, and squeal when applying.

 

[haydenm315]

Sounds like you are well prepared for whatever it might be. Have you ruled out wheel bearings?

I haven't ruled out wheel bearings, but I'm pretty bullheaded on that one. It's been years since I've gone down that road, but I went down it once before, and it wasn't too long ago, maybe 40k miles.

I had to replace the 93 spindles to upgrade the wimp brakes. In order to do so, I grabbed 2 94+ knuckles from the junkyard and had 2 new bearings pressed in. The bearings sold to me where of different manufacturers. One was a timken. The other was a ???? The timken one was really tight. The other had a looser inner race. I wondered about it, but just installed. It's possible the hum is from the wheel bearing. I always thought you could spot a wheel bearing from increasing the load on it when turning. We shall see tomorrow.

 

[Eric VerValin]

Honestly... I don't care what anyone says... I don't think you can diagnose a front wheel bearing without the brake's and rotor completely off, and out of the way.

And yes, the whine was actually from my alternator. It's one of the peices I reused, because before my car origionally took a crap, I had it rebuilt. But in the 3 years it sat idle, and rusting.. the bearing got noisy. It's not nearly that loud now... almost non existant.


Now the noise would stop, IF I got both wheels stopped. I actually think mine was the diff bearings being shot, and starting to wobble the diff. Spooky as that sounds. I wondered about a pin coming out, but honestly I haven't even taken it apart to look at it. Didn't want to disturb any evidence, so Bizzy could fix it a little easier maybe?

I wish I could tell you more.. Good luck.