Precisely.
RX-8 = Welcome to Crazy World.

Right, when the clutch is engaged I hear the whine but when the pedal is pressed (disengaged) it goes away.

This is on the RX8 by the way.

It's hard to hear the noise at those speeds and and I can't get the RPMs up high enough in 5th without overbearing engine/wind noise. I am aware that 5th gear is straight through 1:1 so that should eliminate the gear variable.

I've just taken some video with sound from my phone (trying to download it now) but I have noticed the noise goes away when the clutch pedal reaches the disengagement point, not with slight pressure pedal pressure like mentioned before. I'll upload the video and we'll see what you all think.

I finally figured out how to extract the video from my phone and convert it... You'll have to turn the sound volume up quite a bit to hear it. The first part is the noise at idle, which I understand could be considered "gear chatter" but the noise increases in frequency and volume when I rev to 2k rpms and hold for the rest of the video. You can hear where the clutch is engaged and then disengaged (every 3-4 seconds), by the way the a/c compressor is off. Let me know what you all think.

http://forum.vwsport.com/pics/data/5...071117_3g2.AVI

Man that's really too distorted to tell. Maybe you could make another video with the car outside of the garage and the phone under and/or next to the car?

yeah not good. what did they replace already in the tranny?

Yeah, that was the best sound quality I could get... I guess the most I can really ask for is it normal for the transmission to make such a significant change in noise when the clutch is engaged vs. disengaged when in neutral with throttle held slightly open?

Per the work order:

QTY / PART NUMBER / DESCRIPTION

1 / R501-17-335A / OIL SEAL
1 / Y602-17-306 / BEARING.RO
3 / Y601-17-108 / STEEL BALL
1 / Y601-17-131 / OIL SEAL
1 / Y611-17-325A / COVER.BEAR
1 / Y601-17-40XA / SHIFT FORK

*edit*

Here is a much better quality video clip with perfect sound capture. My digital camera is higher quality than my stupid phone, don't know why I didn't think of it first.

http://forum.vwsport.com/pics/data/500/MVI_1266.AVI

That is the normal gear noise.

completely normal gear rollover noise that is.:)

Right. Economy of words.
I shall eschew suesqupedalism.

all that work and it will sound the same.

beers :beer:

Thank guys, even if you say the sound at idle is normal I do for sure still have a very loud whine under load. I was hoping the idle noise would give some indication as to what the problem was. Well, I guess I'll just leave it up to the Mazda rep and hope the decide to just replace the entire tranny. Thanks again.

Wow, after hearing the second clip in your edit, when the camera is set up outside of the car I can hear the wine that you're talking about.

So you already had some transmission work done?

i can see why:) im sure its just a typo and not actually a spelling error;)

Yeah, they tore it down and replaced the following parts.

QTY / PART NUMBER / DESCRIPTION

1 / R501-17-335A / OIL SEAL
1 / Y602-17-306 / BEARING.RO
3 / Y601-17-108 / STEEL BALL
1 / Y601-17-131 / OIL SEAL
1 / Y611-17-325A / COVER.BEAR
1 / Y601-17-40XA / SHIFT FORK

They were not very willing to spend a minute of time to explain what they replaced or why. They basically gave it back (after keeping it for 2 1/2 weeks) and said, "Thats the best we can do...call Mazda if you aren't satisfied". I took their advice and the dealership said they would call when they hear from the regional rep, that was 6 weeks ago and the service manager just keeps blowing me off. It's getting old at this point, therefore the reason I want as much ammunition as I can when the car does finally see the Mazda rep.

Dude, you gotta do some research and write mazda directly. You shouldn't have to wait 6 weeks to hear from the regional service manager. Sounds like they are blowing you off.

One more thing is that you should have been given a copy of the repair order which should have the technicians step by step "story" of how he diagnosed and repaired the problem. Without it the tech and dealership would never get paid by Mazda for the repair, so check that and let us know.

I take it this transmission whine started after they opened up the gear box or is that what it origionally went in for?

Damn Blackberry!
Sesquipedalism.
Whatever. It isn't funny anymore...

yes it is.

beers :beer:

Only because I STILL didn't spell it correctly!
Damn it! FAIL!

Well, good thing for "edit post", though it doesn't save me in your quote!

I'm ready to start making an issue out of this 6 week time frame but the service manager always has a good "excuse" so I've chosen to take the high road and give him the benefit of the doubt.

The work order states they installed updated shift fork and updated retainer plate and bearing. They tore down the tranny for this gear whine issue, when they gave it back it didn't change a thing however the tech claims it got better.

Your gonna eat yourself a bigfoot?

Heh...

Masticate Sasquatch?

I used to have this same problem with a little squealing noise while sitting in neutral at traffic lights, then when i engage it the noise would disappear, this only happened after mazda replaced my original clutch with another oem one, however, only 5000 miles later the clutch was completely worn down, not because of my driving habits, but because of the way the jackasses at the stealership installed it, the new clutch was under warranty and they replaced it with another new one, this one works great and is as smooth as when I first got the car, no squealing noise either, so my question is, those of you with the noise, have you recently had a new clutch installed, as improper installation of the clutch may have something to do with it, im not 100% on how a clutch works and how it is mounted, but it certainly seemed like the problem was in the install and not with the way the transmission works/operates

I have this noise with the stock clutch. I purchased an extended warranty with my car, but it doesn't cover the clutch... But yesterday i found some paperwork from the dealership saying that they cover it for 2 years(i bought it last yr), so let me see what they will do. I will post an update when I will have the info about the repair.