Miata drivetrain whining noise?

[CosmosMpower]

Looking at a few 1.6L NA's and drove one today, the car drove great but I noticed that in 1-3rd gear there was a bit of whining noise while the car was in gear and accelerating. Seemed that in 4th or 5th cruising at a constant speed it was gone. Shifting itself was fine and nothing seemed to out of the ordinary, is this a typical problem? Could changing the tranny/diff fluid out make a difference?

[cam76034]

Did the whine go up and down with your speed or did it remain somewhat constant pitch? Mine has a whine that is constant (differential) and changing out fluid in tranny and rear didn't change anything.

[Treibenschnell]

Whining, in the gearbox and on this board, are, unfortunately, pretty much standard fare for the early Miatas.

I know mine almost sounded like straight cut gears it made so much noise...

[Nexus Flux]

Did you give it some cheese to go along with the whine? J/K

As gears wear, the lash get's greater and they don't mesh as well as they did when they were new. The gears you mentioned have a higher ratio and are used more frequently, therefore they are subjected to more stress and wear.

[CosmosMpower]

Well the car has 160K miles on it and it shifted just fine 1-5. I don't quite remember if the whine went up or down as the RPMs increased but it almost sounded like a mini supercharger. I did notice that at regular constant cruising it didn't really make that noise and i think after I shifted into 3rd or 4th it was also much quieter.

The overall car was very well maintained with detailed records. It had the water pump, timing belt, thermostat, valve cover gasket, fluids replaced within the last 20K miles and the interior was nice. I just wanted to know if the gear whine is a huge point of concern down the road if it drives fine overall.

[Flyin96M]

Well if there are no other issues with the rest of the car then I would say it is not worth worrying about. You can pick up a trans for @ $250 and they really aren't to hard to install. It would also give you an opportunity to install a better clutch and flywheel.

[CosmosMpower]

Well if there are no other issues with the rest of the car then I would say it is not worth worrying about. You can pick up a trans for @ $250 and they really aren't to hard to install. It would also give you an opportunity to install a better clutch and flywheel.

Sounds good, I was impressed with the car otherwise. It had a new clutch put in about 20K miles ago and was driven by a mid to late 30's woman who's owned it for the last 5-6 years. She bought a 10AE so this one had to go and I think it was treated nicer than most the other used FS miata's I've seen. I made them an offer last night and they accepted, just have to get it from CA to TX now.

BTW it's a 93 LE

[Sharpie]

Congrats!!!!! Mine whines a bit, always has, nothing has given up yet. If you would PM me what you paid, I'd like to keep up with the market on high mileage LE's. 227k on mine now. Look forward to seeing it.

[CosmosMpower]

Congrats!!!!! Mine whines a bit, always has, nothing has given up yet. If you would PM me what you paid, I'd like to keep up with the market on high mileage LE's. 227k on mine now. Look forward to seeing it.

Darn, I was hoping I'd be the only one in the area but it's nice to have a twin. Any pics of yours? Also is FM2 the flying miata turbo kit? PM sent by the way.

[Sharpie]

Join us on this list too. http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/93LE/

I know of at least 4 other LE's that are on this list, so we now we're up to 5.

I need to take some pics of mine, it's been awhile. Yes, I have the flyin' miata turbo kit. I got lucky and bought it with a lower mileage engine. The price was too good to pass up.

Now I guess I should go wash it.

[Sharpie]

Forget pictures. Stevan and I want to get all 5 together and have a beer somewhere. If we can't get the other 2, we'll at least have 3.

[CosmosMpower]

Anyone happen to know any car movers? Need to get this thing from Socal home to Dallas. Open trailer is fine, I think the last one we used was 600 bucks from LA to Dallas but i can't find the paperwork.

[Treibenschnell]

Anyone happen to know any car movers? Need to get this thing from Socal home to Dallas.

Titus moved his car from Cali to Texi several years back... he'll have a couple of links for you.

[CosmosMpower]

Titus moved his car from Cali to Texi several years back... he'll have a couple of links for you.

Thanks I'll shoot him a PM

[Radio-Active]

Buy a plane ticket and hotel fare.

It'll be worth it.

[Sharpie]

Drive it. My dad will hook you up with a place to stay in Albuquerque. He has an LE too.

[Flyin96M]

Buy a plane ticket and hotel fare.

It'll be worth it.

This is the option I would take especially this time of the year! Of course it is a long drive in a high mileage car.

[Treibenschnell]

This is the option I would take especially this time of the year! Of course it is a long drive in a high mileage car.

Nah... half of that drive will be in this state alone!

[Sharpie]

He's already out there. Drive it home. The car had all the major stuff done in the last 20k miles. It'll make it.

[Majik]

Whining, in the gearbox and on this board, are, unfortunately, pretty much standard fare for the early Miatas.

I read the thread title as Miata driver whining noise