1988 N/A convertible-

I've been experiencing alot of whining in my transmission. Driving it around or sitting still, it doesn't matter. It won't make the noise with the clutch in, but leave it in neutral and let the clutch out, the noise starts. I first thought it was either the throwout bearing or pilot bearing, so I replaced both since they're cheap, but that wasn't it.

The sound is similar to a bearing noise, but upon removing the transmission and disassembling it, all the bearings seem to be good. The only thing I saw was pitting on first gear on both the mainshaft and the countershaft. I'm guessing that's the problem, but unless someone can tell me anything else to look for, I'm going to assume that's the whole problem.

Picture of first gear
Sorry, I know it's kind of blurry, but it's the best shot I can get.

Are there any typical failure items in a N/A transmission that I should look at?

(I'm not going to swap it to a TII, so please don't force the issue. I have a spare N/A trans with bad synchronizers sitting in my garage that I'll be using for parts.)

Thanks- Terrence

 

I am having the same problem, sow hen you figure it out let me know. Since puttin gin poly tranny and motor mounts the transmission noise has gotten much more noticable in the car. Besides the increased bearing noise that I expected I have a persistent whine in 1st/3rd/5th gears.


BC

 

Well, so far as I can tell, the only problem is first gear. I've always heard that the NA transmissions were pretty weak, but I don't think they meant that the gears would go bad. I think the most probable cause of failure was abuse

 

Sounds like the bearings within the tranny are bad.
I've had that in my TII, and when it was at its peak, everything but fourth gear had bearing noise... so i replaced it with another tranny

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

see if it applies...

!!!Speculation!!! (correct me if i am wrong please)
I think my new tranny has a little of that too, but I think that is due to my tranny mount failing (the mount on center crossmember of the tranny is gone....)
so if your tranny sag lower than it should, it may cause bearings to fail (crossing my fingers hope mine is not dying right now)

 

FYI, its not the center crossmember that is bad. It is actually the 2 small tranny mounts. The thing you are seeing in the middle of the crossmember doesn't actually hold any weight.