Hey could anybody tell me what this annoying whine is, in my series 3. It is heard mostly around the 60mph mark. It also makes the noise when it's out of gear. I think it may be the diff?? is there a fix for this problem? that isn't really expensive.

THanks brendan

 

According to Chilton, if its not a wheel bearing then its most likely caused by the pinion gear to ring gear clearance. They list a procedure for checking it out, but advise that the actual repair requires special tools and should be left to the Dealership. But I never believe what they say anyway!

I'm sure that someone here knows how to get it done. I sure hope so, because I have the same issue. Sort of a low growling noise that gets louder as I go faster. Wish I could be of more help. Good luck!

 

Hmmm interesting. So where is this procedure for checking. It's a rather annoying noise, i am also trying to find out the best exhaust set up for it to, so that'll temp muff off the noise hehe

 

I've had a whining comming from the back of my car for like the past four years and haven't been able to figure out the cause (of course, I haven't really taken the time to inspect it either). I figure it is either the diff. or a wheel bearing. The whining varies with the speed of the car, but hasn't gotten any worse in the past four years, so I really don't even worry about it, which probably isn't a good thing.

 

Couple of things that it 'could' be; wheel bearings on the rear, the diff fluid needs to be changed, or your rear U-joint is going out.

The wheel bearings on these cars are not easy to change. They are pressed into place with retaining collars and require a significant amount of effort to change out without a machine shop at your disposal. Best bet is to pull the axles, get the replacement collars and bearings and go shopping for your local mechanic outlet to see if they can help you with the hard work. They will need to grind the collars off and then split them with a cold chisel to get the old, bad bearing out of the way - no other way to do it without damaging the axle, and that would make a bad problem much worse.

The rear axle (diff) fluid is SAE90 gear oil that you can use any common brand to replace. This is perhaps the easies of the 3 things that I recommend - you should start here, as this would be the easiest and cheapest fix of the 3. Grab your 1/2" drive socket wrench and get under the rear axle - remove the 'FILL' plug at the top of the diff, and then, with a drain pan nearby, undo the 'DRAIN' plug. The reason why you remove the FILL first is so that if the FILL drain is rusted closed, you don't drain all your fluid out and then have to figure out a way to flip the car over 180 degrees to fill the diff again! With it all drained out, replace the drain, refill to the bottom of the fill hole. Replace the fill plug.

If you have an LSD rear end (GSL and GSL-SE only), then you'll need the GM LSD additive that comes in a 4 oz bottle. This is a friction limiter that is added to the fluid to help lubricate the clutch plates in the LSD and makes it much quieter. If you're running your LSD without the additive, in addition to noise, you're causing undue wear on the clutch plates which can lead to premature failure.

For the rear U-joint, usually this problem exhibits itself in a strange vibration in the rear end along with the speed-relative noise. As vehicle speed (not engine RPM) increases, the noise will increase along with the vibration intensity. When it goes out completely, you'll find that the car is nearly undriveable due to the rear-end oscillations. The fix can be complicated - the U-joints are not replaceable in the stock Mazda driveshaft (front or rear), but Mazdatrix sells an aftermarket driveshaft that takes commonly available U-joints. Price for these is around $300 for the aftermarket replacement, and about $600 for the Mazda factory part - if you can find one...

All in all, your best bet is to go with the cheapest part to replace and look at it again if that doesn't fix it. SAE90 gear oil is pretty cheap, plus your time to drain the rear axle fluid. Have a look at these options, and report back with what you find. HTH,

 

I had an annoying whine in my 7 so I told the wife to get out and it went away .lol. Sorry I had to do that. I am in the process of changing my rear bearings due to the same systems but I would also get a clicking sound when I turned at low speed.

 

Have the same problem.

I was thinking it was coming from the right rear. I'll do a fluid change first and report back here if I notice any change from it..... I have an LSD btw.

 

http://www.mazdatrix.com/g2.htm

 

Yeah, mine is sort of a growling, rumbly, moaning kind of sound that does not seem to come from either side of the car, more like rear center. Replaced the diff fluid first thing with high quality synthetic, but it made no difference. Certainly sounds like a pinion to ring gear issue. I will probably never know, because rather than rebuilding it I'll probably swap in a limited slip diff at some point down the road.

If someone knows of a relatively simple way to adjust the pinion to ring spacing, please let me know and maybe I'll reconsider. Sorry I couldn't help more with the issue that started this thread!

 

I'm not telling you about my whining gears cause it led to a new tranny

 

I did the fluid change and the LSD additive, and I still get the clicking on turns. I think this is the clutches "ratcheting". Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Thanks for your input guys, ill give it a go on the weekend and see what happens. If not, guess i might have to pump the stereo until it's a real problem. lol

Cheers. Brendan

 

did mine recently...make sure you tell the mechanic NOT to use a torch or else! my mechanic actually had a fork type tool that removed the old bearings with the press...then used the same press minus the fork tool to press the new ones on...

i saw the whole thing because i wanted to make sure he didn't use a torch

can anyone give me a link to that GM LSD additive? I'm running without it