First worriesome noise from my new car, woo!

Anyway, when I had my old Rover and I thought the gearbox oil was low, the mechanic dude said it is usually 5th gear that makes noises first, not 1st, because that is at the top of the gearbox (turned out to be a crownwheel bearing or something, gearboxes are beyond me).

Anyway, I've noticed in this new car, that whenever I use a gear at the top of the gearstick, i.e. 1st, 3rd and 5th, and apply even slight power, there is a strange noise almost like an air leak. I surmised it isn't because 2nd and 4th don't make a noise, and there is still plenty of power.

Then I was driving back home just now and I noticed 5th was making a strange kind of whooshing/whirring sound, but also a sound that could be some kind of metal spinning against another metal, as gearboxes do.

Then I noticed it makes a strange whirring noise when I even push the gearstick over to the right from neutral and not engage the gear.

Then I decided to make a video to aid in anyone who cares to help's analysis: http://s355.photobucket.com/albums/r...Video-0007.flv

You have to turn the sound right up to hear it, and it does make another sort of clacking noise when 5th is engaged, but by phone mic couldn't pick it up. The strange little whirr when I push the gearstick over.

So, is it likely that that is the early warning sign of low gearbox oil? Cause I really don't want it to get worse and have to fork out £400 for a reconditioned box and as today is Sunday there are no garages open.

A new car really shouldn't be losing gear oil. Got a warranty?

Yoda hasn't got a new new car...he got another car after the infamous Rover, so he's just calling it new.

As for the gearbox, it could be anything IMO, but checking the oil is probably a good start. Check the input/output shaft seals for where it might be escaping.

my girlfriends chevy pick up does it too... even when in nuetral it sounds like its spinning around and there's loose metal in there and it makes weird clunks once in awhile when shifting. no idea what it is but it'll up shift and down shift without the clutch in every gear just perfectly. but i'm not going to worry about it being she wants me to swap in an auto. fluid levels are fine and its got to be one of the smoothest shift trannies i've ever driven. we've put about 200 miles or so on it since she bought it and haven't had any problems with it yet. just one of those weird noises.

Fill it with EP80w90 and see what happens.

And don't rest your hand on the gearstick when you're driving either (we all do it though)

Nah, I don't, it was just for demonstration purposes in that video, the weird noise was clearly audible even without my hand on the gearstick and at 70mph.

Thinking about it, there was a lot of residual oil sat around the engine bay near where the gearbox resides when I was looking over the car before I bought it, but as it wasn't coming from the block I thought nothing of it. I'll give that a check out tomorrow then, thanks.

DO NOT DO THIS!

Frink, yours probably takes real gear oil, but not all manual transmissions do that anymore. For instance, all the FWD GM manual trannies that I'm aware of mad ein the last 30,40 years use fluid similar to 10W30 motor oil. Using a much higher viscosity will rob certain places of oil. In fact, the transmission in my Fiero had heavyweight gear oil in it when I did my engine rebuild and there were assloads of metal that came out with it.

Use whatever fluid your owners manual tells you, unless you have something official tell you otherwise, like a technical service bulletin. (Fiero owners manuals say to use 10W30 but a TSB indicated to use Synchromesh fluid at some point after the manuals printed. The gearboxes run MUCH smoother with the Synchromesh fluid.)

__________________
Stalker: sentenced to life.

this is 100% right. the nv3500 5 speed in the gf's truck requires the synchromesh fluid and i've heard horror story's about people running gear oil in them and burning them up within a few days. i believe some also use atf.

Indeed. According to j-body.org for the L61 engines:

__________________
Stalker: sentenced to life.

It takes 75/90 so 80/90 wasn't far off... I do work in a garage after all