legacycentral bbs

I am concerned. My 95 5MT has a noice that sounds like a spinning bearing when I push the clutch in. The sound decreases as the RPMs go done. If I am coasting in neuteral & move the shift lever toward or into a gear the noise gets lowder for a second. I beleive it is the release bearing. Here is my concern, I also have a gear whine on deceleration. It is in all gears when I am decelerating with the car in gear. The whine goes away if I push the clutch in. I have been told the gear whin could go on for years. Do I just do the clutch job & hope for the best on the tranny? I can't afford a new tranny or a new car right now. Any suggestions would be appretiated.

How many miles are on it? I agreed with the throwout bearing diagnosis up until you told me it changes when you switch gears.

It's possible you might have a main bearing in the transmission that's on its way out That could be the cause for both your clunking and your whining. Find out by doing this: Change your transmission oil and look very closely into the old oil. Can you see any sizeable metal chunks or shavings? If you can, then yeah I'm afraid that's what it is. In that situation, I would just keep driving it until it conks out entirely, which shouldn't be for a while.

Good luck.

I changed the tranny & diff fluids when I first got the car & again when I first noticed the whine. Both times there was nothing in the oil that I could see or feel. Since I have more gear oil I will go ahead & change it again.

Sorry about that. It has 98400 miles on it.

sounds like the pilot bearing to me. Pilot bearings take it on the chin when engine or tranny mounts become worn (as all legacies seem to do). The pilot bearing is on the end of the crank, and supports the tranny input shaft, and so depends upon good alignment of engine and tranny to lead a long life.

The good news is that it won't stop you, I've driven my BMW for 30,000 miles with a noisy pilot bearing, so far. I won't change it 'til the clutch goes.

The pilot bearing would be one of the things I would change when I did the clutch. I had one go bad in one of my VW buses it stopped me by not allowing me to shift at all. It was jsut a little bronze bushing in the end of the crank. Thanks.

Thanks for the input. I tried adjusting the clutch. There was not enough freeplay so I am hoping that will help the throwout bearing last a little while. Still not sure about the whine. Probably just live with it for awhile.