I have a 1990 legacy and yesterday it started making a whining noise from some where in the drive train... it sounds like the classic wore-out bearing whining sound but it changes pitch when I shift gears or am down shifting which would lead me to belive it would be a trans related problem. When I get home (if it is not raining or snowing) I am going to jack it up and check the side to side play of the wheel bearings and try to eliminate that as a culprit. Any other suggestions? Are there and common problems that I should check for? I wouldnt think it is the rear end due to the fact that the sound changes when I shift... The gear/bearing whine was very noticable for about 5 min and then went away for about 10 min and came back for another few miniutes. What do you all think?

---and by the way, yes, I checked the trans gear oil and it is clean and full! It is a 5 speed manual trans...

i had a similar noise it was mainly in 1st and 3rd gears......but i lost 4th gear and just decided to replace the trans before i could investigate the noise......i would like to see what you find out?......good luck......

clutch related - pilot or throw out bearings.

any history of vibrations - i'd start sniffing out the front axles. have those ever been replaced? though a whine doesn't sound like that.

is it minor or loud, can you feel it? heat shields make lots of buzzing, vibrating noises too that change with load. seems like more soobs than not that i buy have hose clamps around the heat shields to hold them tight!

 

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My friend just suggested the throw-out bearing last night.... so I decided to give it a test drive and check out this theory---but it would not make the noise yesterday so I guess I will just have to wait! Yes, I replaced the axles about 6 months ago.... I will check those heat shields, although it dosent sound any thing like one-- but you never know!