Whining in drive train
 

It seems as though I have a whining in my drive train somewhere. It is heared at all speeds when decelerating. It is most audible at around 40mph. Stereo has to be off, and windows up, but it is loud enough for the tech to pick up on it as a probbable issue. (brought it in for about 5 minor issues) Anyone else had such luck?

Yep and they replaced my tranny.I believe it was a bearing problem but mazda said yank the entire tranny.

OUCH.... Thanks 'Turbo. How many miles did you have on it? Also, how long did it take for you to get it back?

I'm thinking if they have to yank the tranny, I might also have them put in a mazdaspeed flywheel for the hell of it. Anyone with one have pros/cons?

Your symptons are very similar to mine

check out this thread:
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=25838

and this one, more detail here

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=25711

I'm confident that the new diff will provide with years and ton of miles of trouble-free operation.....

Dealer just called. The noise is coming from the rear diff. They are having the parts overnighted, and I should have my car back no later than thursday.

Damm...these diffs are popping left and right....

After reading all of this stuff. I will be setting up my appointment. The noise is getting louder and pissing me off royally. I'm not buying the tire needing to wear down excuse anymore. thanks everyone.

Dropped off my car this morning. It should be ready by the end of the day. I'll report after I get it.

Got my car back today. Man do I love warranties, it cost Mazda $2224.64 to fix my car. I think I am going to do a fluid swap after about 1,000 miles to a synthetic in both the diff, and the trany. hopefully that will help prevent any future problems.

Got the "M" flash while I was at it, and man did it smooth out the acceleration.

The RX8 already comes with synthetic gear lube in the diff and tranny from the factory....I am going to change it over to Redline fluid though....

Oh, btw, my car is down until Monday, the one "Rotary Certified" tech was off on Friday. Why nobody elese can do it is beyond me, but no big deal. So it looks like Monday I'll be able to enjoy my ride again......

Well, after a long time, I have my car back. It is perfect...no noise and drives as good as ever. It is a little dirty inside from careless mechanics, but that's ok...I'll clean it out....Oh man, it's been a while.....feels good to have her back.

yep...they are kinda fragile....but so are S2000 diffs...hey maybe we can meet up, I'm in Brockton...I want to hear your diff...could be other things...

sure, I'm free saturday morning. What's a good place? I'm sure it's the diff, it's the same noise as last time brought on the same way, just quieter.

Shoot, Saturday I work....I get off at 4pm....anytime after that...

Is this different than the whining when you start the car then let up on the clutch pedal?

yes

Oh yeah Justin, I forgot to tell you, thanks for the info on the Teamvoodoo knob, I got it. It does make it feel better.

sure does, the clutch sounds more like it's just whirling, this is an obvious gear whine, like a soft siren I guess you could say.

Anyone know where I can look for a non OEM LSD? There has to be something a little stronger out there. Hop up racing only offers 2 way diffs. I don't quite want a 2 way, basicly because I'm not sure how it would react in the snow. I tried Mazdaspeed, but you have to register with them, and give race results.

I doubt the LSD is going to change anything...I believe it's a bad ring and pinion setup from the factory....it wears out wrong and makes that noise. If you get another LSD, you still have to use the old ring and pinion, it won't make a difference......

I know it uses the same gears, but I think the torsion is puting some sort of stress on the gears causing it to wear out. I figure (could be dead wrong) a clutch LSD will give more of a posative hook up without over stressing the gears. Short of getting a custom made third member like I did for my truck (rock crawler) I think it's one of my only options. The dealer might replace this one too, but at $2,200 a shot, they'll come up with some reason not to replace it prety quickly. I just wish they put in a stronger diff, my corvette put out close to 400hp with independent rear, and it never hinted towards third member problems. I realize it's not a $50k + car, but it also only (supposedly) puts out 240hp.
Another thing that crossed my mind is this car runs prety steep gears 4.44 if my mind serves me correctly. With rock crawling, the steeper the gears, the more likely you are to break axels, cv joints, and gears due to a lot more tourque to the wheels. Usially that was a gear ratio of over 5:1 that you want to start being careful. I guess this is a round about way of saying that maybe the gear ratio is a contributing factor to the failing diffs.
I am curious though, one bad diff can be a deffect. Two leads me to beleive that it is a weak link. If it is a weak link, then why aren't there more people having problems?

That's a theory, and there are plenty more.....not many can be proven though...

I only put 100 miles on the new diff, no noises....who knows?

Just an update. Yesterday I was bored at work, so I brought my car into the install shop and changed the diff fluid to royal purple 75w90. The oil was a deep shiny grey. When I looked at the magnetic plugs, both were covered with metal shavings. It is rather interesting puting a pruple fluid into your car. The noise seems to have dropped considerably, atleast in half. I'm rather pleased so far, but it's only been a day, so I don't want to get too excited.