M30 manual tranny question

[hamada]

This is just great. My clutch went out after 30k miles? hmm. It was slipping/then I was overjoyed by the wonderful smell of my clutch saying goodbye. Along with that, the main trigger to my problem was:
-When I roll from a stop to first gear I can hear noise the best way to describe it is it sounds like the steam train beggening to move (Tsh-Tsh-Tsh) Very annoying noise. I can hear it coming from the middle of the car thru my shifter..
-As I go faster the noise becomes more rapid as in the pause between each time goes away.
- Eventualy it winds down at higher speeds.
The first diagnostics pointed towards the TO bearing, and since my clutch was going down..I thought that was the source of the noise. NOT!

When my clutch was being replaced I was told that the tranny's input shaft is loose (great news)..
sorry for the long rant but my question is, before I go and fork out a grand for a tranny...could this be the source of the noise?

ps: center bearing ok/tranny mounts ok/ guibo ok


Thanks for your help
hamada
90 535im

[Jeff N.]

You should generally be able to determine the source by the following.

- Tranny in neutral, clutch engaged, car stopped. Slowly rev engine. Do you hear the noise? If so, it's likely engine or mainshaft.

- Same as above, push in clutch. Noise? T/O bearing.

- Tranny in gear, clutch depressed, car rolling. Noise? The driveline or tranny or throwout bearing.

- Tranny in neutral, clutch engaged, car rolling. Noise? Driveline or output shaft of tranny.

I'd try these different combinations and see what you can figure out. If the tranny's just a little noisy, try putting in some Redline MTL or even Redline MT-90 to quiet it down. These tranny's will make some mainbearing noise for quite a while yet work fine.

Jeff