Whir in neutral with clutch out.
 

Hey group,

How much whir, if at all, is normal when the car is idling with the clutch out in neutral? When I clutch in, the whir goes away. When I release the clutch the whir comes back.

Could it be the throw out bearing? Or is my tranny oil stale or low? I'm not sure if the previous owner ever changed or topped off the gear lube. The car is an 04 with 9000 miles.

Its normal...all the MT's do that...its kinda lame...but normal...

It's the throwout bearing, they all do that it's not a big deal. I would change the tranny fluid if you are in question of it ever being changed just for peace of mine. I used Royal Purple Max Gear 75W90 it works great.

I'm more inclined to think that it is the tranny not the bearing... since conventional logic dictates that the throwout would make noise when clutch is depressed.

Blame the lack of insulation, sound deading, over engineering which would have made the car heavier...but prevented you from hearing this normal sound...

the sound doesn't bother me. i do question what causes the whir though. could it be the lightweight driveshaft?

Release clutch => a bunch of transmission shafts start spinning. Since the transmission sits just below and in front of the shifter, and there are only two layers of rubber boots and one pleather boot between you and it, you end up hearing it.

^ding ding ding...

got to remember this engine gets a lot hotter than 4,6,8,cyl.in the design of the bearing there was no way to keep the bearings lubed to take the heat. so in term they rattle or sounds like a whirling gear set untill you depress the clutch and put pressure on it to quiet it down.hope this helps.when i'm driving the noise mixes in to the sound of about4,5,6,7,shift89shift! what noise?

Heh....this again.

When mine was in last time I asked them to listen to it.

"It's gear rollover and perfectly normal (for now)" is exactly how they put it. It gets louder with age.

My interpretation of the "for now" part is to keep your eyes open on the TSB list as it may soon come up.

I too noticed this the other day. I was like crap, not another problem!:banghead: Glad I found this.