Well, my truck has developed a new noise that seems to be getting slowly worse. I just rolled through 45K miles, and it seems that I now have a whirring sound when the tranny is in gear, reguardless if the clutch is depressed or not.
The noise is the worst in 2nd and 5th gears. Like I said, it doesnt matter if the clutch is in or not. As long as it's in gear and the truck is rolling, I've now got this whirring sound (almost like when a kettle begins to steam....shhhhhhhh!).
Any ideas? It's definitly a new sound, and it's got me worried.

 

my first guess would be to check and make sure the fluid level is up there

 

i have the same sound if i understand what your trying to say... which transmision do you have the mazda or mistubishi... i think that it might be the somwere in the clutch assembly

 

You sure its not the rearend? When you have a rearend whine, it will sometimes sound like its coming from the transmission..

 

i know its not the rear end on myne i changed the fluid and inspected everything...my abs is messed up too!

 

on a 2002 he has the mazda, if the noise changes in different gears then i would say its probly the tranny... does it happen when coasting in neutral or only when in a gear?

 

the sound is only in gear, and occurs whether the clutch is depressed fully or not. when I take it out of gear (put it into "neutral") the sound goes away. I checked the clutch fluid, and it's at the full line. I havent checked the tranny fluid yet (was at work all day, and then dealing with the kids all evening), but I'll check it on lunch tomorrow.
any other ideas? my buddy from the fire dept rode around with me this evening, and he thinks I may have a syncro going bad?

 

I had the exact same sound on my 94......just before the main shaft exploded and blew a hole in the tranny case. It wasn't pretty.

 

Synchro's dont make noise when they go bad. The gears are just hard to change and can grind as well. You are prolly battling the notorious bearing noise that is typical in the mazda tranny...

 

bearing noise, huh? joy. is there any way to fix it?

as long as nothing is broken/going bad, I guess I can just turn the stereo up a little louder.

 

If you're talking slave cylinder throw-out bearing.. then I don't think so. I'm hardly an expert, but I've had a clutch replaced for the supposedly infamous throw-out bearing noise. What I experienced was a squeal when getting moving from a stop, particularly going up a steep hill. I never had any problems once all the way in gear (clutch fully engaged). Although I've been told that I 'caught' it early. I've heard others have had their clutches fail from this. Obviously then they can't get the vehicle into gear at all!

My trans/t-case have always made noise. The line I've gotten from Ford is that it is a byproduct of the fancy shifter package in my LII. Supposedly those big, heavy rubber boots on the normal Ranger shifters do quite a bit to deaden the noise..

 

yeah mine does the same thing it's the pilot bareing more than likely and i also have an 02...

 

if it goes away when moving in neutral, but is there when moving and in a gear regardless of position of the clutch, then you may be lookin at the input shaft bearing going. check the tranny fluid and if it's low, then it may very well be the input shaft bearing. if it's low fill it back up and see how things sound, but if one of the bearings is going then there's probly no saving it... but you can drive it for quite a while normally on a shot bearing... at least i did until it finally let go.

 

Hehe, I kinda feel like an idiot now. After a long and horrible day at work, I figured I'd check into the fluid level like TireIron suggested. I popped the hood, and started looking for the tranny dipstick. Now maybe I'm just blind, but there doesnt seem to be a dipstick for the tranny on my truck?
So, oh gods of ranger wizdom.....can someone tell this poor boy how to go about checking the fluid in my tranny? haha

 

Mine doesn't have a Tranny Dipstick...

 

Manual trannys don't have a tranny dipstick....LOL That's auto's only.

 

yup, no dipstick on the M5OD, lie down under the driverside of the truck and look at the driverside of the transmission. there are 2 plugs there, on near the bottom, one about halfway up and they are labeled fill and drain. pull the fill plug (its something like 24mm or so), tranny fluid should dribble out if its full, if not stick your finger in there and see how low it is. to fill you gotta pump mercon ATF in until it starts flowing out then stick the plug in.

 

My '99 Mazda B4000 just started making this noise as well, only happens when under throttle tho.
Tried to check the tranny fluid level but the bolt is stuck, gonna have to give it a try with a hammer tomorrow. I've asked a few knowledgeable people to have a listen and they think it is the throwout bearing. I really hope this is fixable... its WAY too annoying.

 

i have the same problem in my old 94 i didnt really affect anything it just was really annoying me and my dad have put over 75,000 miles on it like that i could be the fluild because our cap is ceased up on the tranny it still drives fine just the right front brake is locked up right now. 5th gear is the worst when everyone rides in my truck they say it sounds like dying cats lol

 

I got that same problem too but it is in 3rd and 5th only it has been happening for a couple months now and nothing has gone bad yet.

 

I had that noise, about three day later my transmission blew up because it had no fluid in it. Defiantly check your fluid levels people.

 

wow, another old thread.