Please help diagnosing gearbox noise 190e 16v
 

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!!

anyone, I am freaking out quite a bit you know!

Try a linkage adjustment. You put a pin through a hole in all of the shift levers with the trans in neutral. If it doesn't fit perfectly, you adjust the appropriate lever with the screw fitting on the end of the shift rod.

This sounds more like a bearing problem to me, though.

ok I'll give that a try. Now you mention 1st has got slightly more tricky to engage recently.

If not that, what sort of bearing could it be, are there any "servicable" parts to the box without removing it ans stripping it down??

Many thanks

There are a bunch of bearings that support the various shafts and gears. You have now pretty much exhausted my knowledge of manual transmissions.

To do anything with the box, you have to take it out, which is expensive. So you might as well put in a rebuilt unit with a guarantee. There are enough 5-speeds in Europe that you might be able to find a good used box with a limited guarantee.

It all depends on how long you plan to keep the car. IMHO, you are better off with a used or rebuilt than paying for someone to go in and muck around and find the problem, and then other worn parts are found and suddenly you are looking at a giant repair bill.

Cheers.