I have a 2004 6MT with 51000 miles on it.

The car (and I) is from Las Vegas, but I've been driving it in the midwest (Michigan and now Cincinnati) since August. When it started getting cold, I started noticing some whining seemingly coming from the transmission.

It only happens when I am in gear and begin accelerating. The pitch rises with RPM. When I bring it back to neutral, it dies down. I've only tried it with gears 1-4 since I live in the city.

When it warms up (about 10 min) there is no more whining.

I brought my car in for a major service yesterday and asked about the whining at the dealership. They said it was my clutch, but there is about 1/2 wear on it. So, if I can deal with the noise, there isn't a need to replace it. That is what I was told......

Any ideas? Should I find someone else to look at it?

 

Its norm for the MT to do this in the cold I guess. I'm from Vegas (Summerlin) it get to below 30 out at 4:30am I start my car and let it warm up before I move it. But if I dont I hear the same sound in 1st and 2nd when I'm shifting at 4,K after I get into 3rd it gos away. Just let your car warm up (yeah like 10min) when its cold out before you move it.
-Gil

 

Yea, the transmission noise is pretty normal in this car, with the transmission basically inches from your legs. You can quiet down a lot of the noise and also protect the transmission better by going with synthetic trans fluid. I'm using Redline MT-90, and for me it cut down like 50% of the noise while making shifting noticeably smoother.

I don't see what this has to do with the clutch.

 

Most people associate the two as one intatie but they are separate intaties.

 

Gotcha guys. Thanks a lot!

I just noticed that it whines when i'm in neutral and i step on the gas a bit just like the gear problem. I assume this doesn't change anything. Too bad I just changed the transmission fluid as part of a major service.... dang.