Please help diagnosing gearbox noise 190e 16v

[Uk Merc Man]

hi all

1990 190e 2.5 16v Manual

Developed a strange whirring noise from the gearbox area, happens whilst in gear and is engine speed related. If I put it in neutral and roll no noise.

the strange thing is it only happens in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, the second i change up from 3rd to 4th it stops and the box is silent again, its also silent in 5th.

So, what could cause a noise in just 1,2,3 not 4,5???

I checked underneath and the only thing I could see was that the gear linkage arms where very close but when I change to 4th and 5th one of the arms moves away fron the other increasing the gap between them, I levered one of the arms accross to increase the gap between them and it was ok for a while but on the way to work it started again.........suggestions?

The car still drives fine/changes gear perfect

please help!!