I just bought a 97 Z28 after my 94 was totalled. anyway when driving the car I can hear a whining from the rear end. I thought it was the tires so I swapped the tires from my other car and the whining was still there. I talked to a few people and they said one of the previous owners may have put a set of gears in the car - would that cause whining?

the whining seems to go up and down with wheel speed.

any ideas?

 

Sometimes tires will fool you with this noise as well.I would check the rear end for fluid,then add some limited slip differential fluid as well.hope this helps.

 

Also just for kicks,try putting the recommended total tire pressure into the tires,and drive around a little,and see if that changes the tone of noise.If it does,then I say maybe a tire problem.My02(44 lbs.)But after this test,put the tires back to 38 lbs. or so for driveability.When tires get old,they sound horrible.Hope this helps.

 

I have been meaning to check the fluid but could someone installing a set of lower gears make the rear end whine - also what is the best way to check the fluid - I have never worked with rear ends

 

On the side of the pumkin (rear end) there is a filler hole. Take the screw in bolt off and stick a clean finger in there, level with the car (don't bend your finger) you should feel fliud just to the top of the filler hole. Hope that helps.