choupette.944

After working several months to revived my previously non working 1989 944 NA, I took her out for a ride with my son and enjoyed teaching him the intricacies of manual transmission 🙂

While cruising at around 80 km/h I noticed that I could hear the gears in the transmission. Nothing bad. Just a constant sound under load and gone when you put the tranny in neutral. If I had the radio on, I could not hear it. Is it normal? I expected that a 35 years old car would not be as silent as my other more modern car, but still, it is strange to hear that. Is it normal?

For info, I previously replaced the transmission oil, I cleaned the 1/2 inch of gunk that was covering it and removed, clean and relubricate the cv joints. The transmission works great, no issues with changing gears.

Martin

audi49

I hope others chime in as well…
after 9 years of owning my 944 I have not noticed as transmission noise. What does yours sound like? And if you unload the engine but keep the car in gear does the sound go away or decrease? You mention it goes away in neutral. Does the sound change in frequency if you stay in the same gear but change speeds? And how many miles does your car have.

choupette.944

it has 200 000 km.

The noise is gear noise. A lot like when you drive fast on reverse but really not as loud. Not noticeable when the radio is on, but it is when it’s turned off.

When I change the transmission oil, it was clear. It was probably not the original oil as I could see that the fill plugs had been tempered with. But I could tell it was at least a few years old.

The noise is present when in gear and applying power. It is there when cruising and accelerating. Pretty much all the time when in gear.

M.

KevinGross

It is not possible, for me at least, to give you a 100% diagnosis via email. With that caveat, I would say that it is not normal to hear gear noise under acceleration (foot on the throttle). With years and mileage, you may simply have a transmission in need of a rebuild. It would be helpful to you to find a local PCA friend with a 944-series car and compare sounds between your two cars.

What is normal is to hear noise from a 944-series transmission when warm, at low speed, and off the throttle. This is the reverse gear idler rattling. But under acceleration, highway speeds, no, there should not be noise.

choupette.944

Thanks for your reply.

I will try to see if I can record the noise. And test all combinations (under load, cruising, etc...)and get back with the info.

M.

bonus12

Does not sound normal or you would not be noticing it. Normal transmission noise is overwhelmed by road noise, tire noise, engine noise, exhaust. Yes, reverse is a louder whine in many cars, as you know, but not 1st-5th gears. Can you confirm the noise was present before and after the transmission fluid change, without getting better or worse? I wonder if the wrong oil was used prior. What oil did you go with? And you filled it until it was coming out of the lower plug hole? Just checking.

choupette.944

Fill it until it was coming of the lower plug hole? The lower plug is for getting the oil out. I fill it until it comes out of the bottom of the top plug hole.

i used 75W-90 synthetic gear oil.

bonus12

Oops yes, that is what I should have said.

Gage

I think the FSM specifies the oil level to be 6mm below the bottom of the fill hole.

choupette.944

You are right, Clark mentioned that he filled it up to the bottom of the hole. For me, as the transmission was at a slight angle when I filled it, it’s about that. I checked when level and it was just a little lower than the bottom line.