ok, was leaving a parking lot yesterday, and came upon a mammoth speed bump. came to a complete stop before it and inched across at a diagonal. mid-pass, there was a large, heavy thump as something under my car hit the speed bump(i shoulda went out the way i came in). immediately after getting to the other side of the speedbump from hell, i hopped out and took a look underneath, as it wasnt the normal noise of the exhaust hitting the bump. no fluid, nothing hanging outta whack, and no obvious hit marks.

fast forward about 5 minutes as i get onto the highway...

1-4th no prob, but shortly after putting it into 5th, there is a slight whine when i press the gas. it was odd to me, and sounded like something in between rear end gear whine and an exhaust leak.

no more fast forwarding, about 30 seconds later it gets louder, the noise is building.

i do a quick troubleshoot at 65mph:
1. push in the clutch: noise goes away
2. shift to 4th and 6th, same noise.
3. when in neutral, rev it up to about 3500rpm: noise does not return.

after that, i pull the heck over and get the puppy towed to my house(AAA plus rocks). i took it around the block a few times to diagnose it some more... at this point the noise is just outright offensive.. it sounds(and feels now!!) like i welded a ratchet to the body of my car so that it hits the u joints on the driveshaft. it changes the speed of the noise with rpm, and the noise is only there when in gear. it is a constant whine with rpm dependant thumping, and man, i do not want to drive it anymore, it feels like it is beating the hell outta my car.

i checked under the car and could not see anything that was out of place or to near the xmission. also, as i understand it, since the noise goes away when the it is in neutral: it points away from it being a problem with the clutch or from the driveshaft back.

i am aware that this problem could have come from something other than hitting the speedbump, and the combination of the thumping with the whine makes me think i will be looking for a new xmission..


please, oh, please tell all this crap is just a throwout bearing. ok, maybe say it is a clutch issue too, cause i want a spec 3

 

You've got good imagination.

Either way, I would get underneath there and examine everything carefully. There should be a hit mark somewhere if the car has been hit.

I would also jack up the rear and have someone put it in gear and drive it a bit while you're underneath listening. You should be able to find out where the sound is coming from. Then you can decide what to do next.

 

thanks!


yea, i am itching to get under the car while running/in gear.. i want to find whatever is making the noise and drag it out back and beat the hell out of it.

do you think that i am right for assuming that it is transmission related, since it goes away when in neutral?

i hate what this car has done to me tho, on one hand i am hoping it is an inexpensive quick fix; on the other hand i am hoping i will have to remove the tranny, which will in turn get me to pulling the engine...

i look at every problem now, as a chance to upgrade.

 

You definetely don't need to pull out the engine to take the tranny out. In fact I took mine out and put it back in twice last week and no problems.

It does sound like it's transmission related, but like I said, get the front on some ramps and the rear on jacks and have someone drive it for you. I'm sure you'll be able to locate where the noise is coming from.

 

oh, don't get me wrong, i am aware you can remove the tranny without removing the engine, lol...

i am just the type of guy that says "while i am here i might as well..."

i have a decent rebuild planned for this fall with some power adders and whatnot.. i just keep looking for an excuse to start sooner than i planned