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I was driving down the highway yesterday and I all of a sudden noticed a whine coming from the rear of my car. It only occurs under a load. It increases in pitch and loudness the faster I go. If I put my car in neutral (stock A4) it stops whining. I have done some research and have seen a lot of different things that it could be but was curious if any of you guys could pin point my problem a little more. I know that this is not something that I will be able to dig into w/out a lift and dont want to get duped just taking it somewhere and just telling them to fix it. Any help would be appreciated including advice of who around the North Houston area could work on it for me. THANKS!
I was driving down the highway yesterday and I all of a sudden noticed a whine coming from the rear of my car. It only occurs under a load. It increases in pitch and loudness the faster I go. If I put my car in neutral (stock A4) it stops whining. I have done some research and have seen a lot of different things that it could be but was curious if any of you guys could pin point my problem a little more. I know that this is not something that I will be able to dig into w/out a lift and dont want to get duped just taking it somewhere and just telling them to fix it. Any help would be appreciated including advice of who around the North Houston area could work on it for me. THANKS!
How is the tranny fluid? Red? Brown? Is it smoking with little bubbles on the dipstick? (keep in mind you have to have the car at operating temperature and on a flat/level surface to check the fluid)
This is the first step. Also really think...is it doing anything else out of the normal? Slamming gears harder then normal going 1st into 2nd? Taking long time to shift? Shifting too quick?
Since you say the noise goes away in neutral I would almost rule out a differential issue. Just go at it 1 step at a time.
Have you checked the fluid in it? Maybe your seal is leaking therefore the differential fluid all leaked out.
Wouldn't the differential not be a factor seeing the noise goes away when he puts it in neutral? or is it because under load the differential would be harder used and therefore make noise?
Hmmmmmm now iam unsure...Guess the best bet and to check BOTH fluid levels.
Long ago, I had a differential failure due to a place that used the wrong gasket. No, it wasn't a Corvette. Whining started happening as soon as it ran out of fluid while I was out of the local area at the time. The lack of fluid ruined it. The whining would happen while on the gas.
Ok, so I took my car to a local shop and they flushed the transmission and said the fluid level was fine and the fluid color was normal for amt of miles. The rear is still whining of course so they are going to try and diagnose it on Monday. Any suggestions?
Last edited by SpeedRacer C5; Nov 9, 2008 at 10:20 PM.
Reason: updated
If you go with an aftermarket gear oil for the differential with slightly more weight to it, it should quiet it down. Stock is probably 75W-90, so you might try Severe Gear oil 75W-110 or 75W-140.
The place that I took it to still has not checked the diff fluid. When I called today they said the tech that was working on it had to go home early and that they are going to check it first thing tomorrow. Guess we will see.
So they finally checked the fluid in the differential and said that there were chunks of metal that came out. Suppose now is the time to get a new differential... So I was thinking 373s, a tc, output shaft if needed. The car is a daily driver and will be for about another year and a half. Any suggestions on who/where to get this done? As posted above, I am in the N Houston area.
Just did mine too... only I wrenched it while at the strip. Nonetheless.. DTE makes several models. I had LAPD/RPM rebuild mine. Price ended up about the same, but I have a warranty on it. I also did the hardened shaft at the same time.
I know this is an old thread, but I am experiencing the same whining noise coming from the rear. I brought it in to a local shop and they told me it doesn't sound good and that the repair could be expensive. How did this problem pan out for you? What was the fix and how much did it end up costing? Thanks.
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