5MT Transmission Noise - Shaft or TO

[nickb21]

'02 OBW - 220k. ~100k on the clutch/TO/pilot bearings.

 

I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this.. but..

 

Recently started noticing a very loud-ish noise coming from the trans. Guessing it started about 2-3 months ago (maybe 3-4k miles?). Hard to tell exactly due to some exhaust work I've been slowly doing, and my heat shields rattling like all heck.

 

Really started noticing it in the last week or two. Clutch disengaged = no noise. Slowly let the clutch out in neutral, and as soon as it starts to catch i get a roar/whirring/bad news sound. Not really noticeable in reverse, or in 3/4/5th probably due to all the wind noise. Very noticeable in 1st and 2nd, although if I'm in first and let off the gas and kinda coast the noise goes away.

 

Anyway, I crawled underneath real quick while it was running in neutral, and to me it seemed like the noise was coming from the tail of the transmission. My understanding is that there are two bearings on the input shaft: front and back, which could explain the noise location.

 

I'd really rather not crack the case open, but it may have to come to that with the price/availability of that trans with the right final drive around here.

 

With that said, I found this most excellent thread which looks solid (I'm not so sure of the easy part):

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/87305-easy-transmission-front-seal-replacement/

 

Questions:

-From what I've read, as long as I don't touch too much stuff in there, I shouldn't have to worry about shims, pre-loads, etc. Right?

-Guessing I should replace the oil seal, front and rear input (or whatever the proper names is) bearings. Anything else?

-I haven't drained the gear oil yet to see what kinda mess there is, might try it for fun?

 

Guess I'll end up doing a clutch while I'm in there...

 

Thanks for reading the novel!

 

[Fairtax4me]

Yep, the two bearings and the input seal and you should be back in business.

Gear oil will probably come out grey. Usually does.

 

The mainshaft bearing is the common failure in those transmissions. Not terribly difficult to replace if you have a press. The front bearing doesn't really go bad, but its only like $20 last I checked so its worth it to replace while you're in there.

 

If you're gonna do the clutch also reseal the separator plate and replace the cover o-ring inside the bellhousing.

Rear main seal don't typically leak on these, but that's more of a judgement call. Many times a "leaking" rear main is actually the separator plate. And the rear main then starts leaking after it has been replaced.

[nickb21]

Thanks! Well this should be an adventure. I do have access to a (harbor fright) press, so that should help.

 

Good idea, I certainly forgot the o-ring last time. Hopefully the rear main is still tight, I'd rather not touch it.

 

I'm sure this is a "could be tomorrow, could be in 10k miles" question, but any guess on how long I've got (do these grenade)? I won't wait too long, but might be a few hundred miles before I can get to it.

[Fairtax4me]

Guy I bought my 95 from put close to 50k on it with it making noise. In the last 10k it started popping out of 4th, so he would skip 4th until it started popping out of 5th. So he started holding the shifter forward to keep it in 5th. When it wouldn't stay in 5th or 4th anymore even when holding the shifter he started holding it in 3rd. Eventually it wouldn't even do that anymore and it wasn't workable to deliver pizzas with anymore since he needed to do 55 up and down US29 where he worked.

I've got pics of that somewhere. There wasn't much of a bearing left. Basically, you've got a couple years, but if you wait that long you'll be putting a new transmission in it.

[Fairtax4me]

Fun video I made of it: