[Guest]

Well after owning the car and having nothing go wrong at all with it in 6 months I now get 2 things in as many weeks

I'm experiencing a whining noise that appears to be coming from the front left of the car (I personally think from the front left wheel but I can't really tell 100%), it sounds much like the Dynamo you get on push bikes and would appear to start as soon as I move but is only audible above 20mph, as speed increases the whining gets louder and higher in pitch. The sound remains when the clutch is dipped and does not appear to change when the brakes are applied. I've checked and there appears to be nothing rubbing on the wheel although the inner side of all tyres are now worn (I knew I needed new ones already).

I'm booking it into the local mitsu dealer for a check but any educated guesses would be very helpful

Ta
Ryan

 

[Guest]

Sounds like it is the missus

 

[Guest]

nah she cries when in the car, doesn't whine anymore, if she does, I just go faster

 

[Guest]

Sounds like its tired from your driving hols

PS - How many miles did you clock up altogether?

 

[Guest]

managed 2800 right after a bloody service too so I'll need another in the new year

arse

 

[Guest]

oh yeah and it only started 2 days ago, I got back from my hols on Saturday

 

[Guest]

Ryan

I've had exactly the same problem (amongst others!) recently and I'm picking my car up today after a gearbox rebuild . It does sound like the gearbox bearing problem, well documented elsewhere on this site. Does the sound dissappear when you press the clutch?

How old is your car and how many miles have you done?

Dave

 

[Guest]

Your car doesnt like the climate anymore

Seriously, front left whining sounds like what MAXI's front left driveshaft (cardan, how do you say that?) started to sound like first, then it would go clac clac clac on hard right cornering. He replaced it just before you came. It's fine now. He got it second hand, contact me if you need replacing so you dont get ripped off.

Before you start paying hundreds of GBPs for labour for your garage to take all that off, better check with a passenger that the noise does indeed come from the left hand side. Or just come back down to MC and we take the whole car apart just for a laugh (2 days). You could get it rewelded together for more stiffness (what do you think Jo?)

Take care

 

[Guest]

DaveG,
I don't think its the gearbox, as I said the noise remains when the clutch is pressed.

The car is a 2 year old e6 GSR with 19k miles on the clock.

Claudius,
I went for a drive with my bro last night and he couldn't be sure that it was coming from the front left, I know the car better which is why I think it is. I'd thought about the driveshaft

The car should still be under manufacturers warranty anyway (it was 3 years wasn't it?) so if it is I'll get it done for nothing

Yeah I must say we get ripped off in the UK for labour, sucks.


R

 

[Guest]

Ryan

That's exactly the same as my car, didn't matter if you pressed the clutch the whine was still there. My whine got worse quite quickly too. This all started to happen after I had a load of problems with what looks a faulty clutch. When I pick the car up today I'll know for sure if it was the gearbox or not, that and the clutch are the only things that have been fixed or replaced. I'll let you know what happens.

Dave

 

[Guest]

I doubt if it is the gearbox as you have only covered 2800 miles. The whine from the gearbox is due to worn bearings because of the incorrectly set pre-load and I doubt if the bearings will wear out that quickly (although not impossible). Typically the bearings will go from 12,000 to 25,000 miles if you have the pre-load problem.
It could be a wheel bearing and if it is whining that bad get it sorted ASAP!
It could also be the driveshaft as Claudius says, does it clunk on full lock?
It could also be a driveshaft/centre diff bearing if its only heard on the left of the car.

Number one suspect would be the wheel bearing so check that first, jack the wheel up, spin it and have a listen to see if you can hear where the noise is coming from.

 

[Guest]

ok I take it back, just taken a friend for a spin in it and I must be stupid and partially deaf in one ear cause apparently the sound is coming from the gearbox, immediately thought it might be the dreaded bearings

Dropped him off and drove straight to the local Mitsu dealer who had a quick drive and agrees that he thinks its the gearbox as well. I guess this is another case of the Input Shaft Bearings wearing? bit of a coincidence if its not, 19.5k miles and a whining from the gearbox....I'm sorting out a warranty claim right now and will book the car in ASAP. Just to add numbers to people who have had this problem, the mitsu dealer said they had exactly the same problem with and e6 only last month.

Should I be ok to drive the car if I don't push it?

The Mitsu dealer suggested a full gearbox replacement rather that a rebuild, what have others had done under warranty? naturally I'd prefer a new gearbox but I guess it depends on what the CCC warranty people have to say about it, I suspect a cheaper option would be to replace the bearings.

It seems that the gear box oil change I had done just before 16k miles did **** all good, I was specifically trying to avoid this problem and took all the precautions that I could. As I've already said I'll be changing all driveline oils EVERY service, wonder if this would still have happened if the oils had been changed on the previous service (this was before I owned the car).

Assuming that they at least flush the gearbox, change all the bearings and set the preload correctly, I'm guessing that this problem won't reoccur again in 20k miles, any thoughts?

Ryan

 

[Guest]

ooo I must have been typing my msg when you wrote yours HH6

seems we have another one...

 

[Guest]

was hub on mine

 

[Guest]

Ryan

Just got the car back home and done 50 miles and it feels great plus no whine. I wouldn't necessarily go for a new gearbox. Mine has been rebuilt by a Mitsubishi rally specialist and they replaced all the bearings and I also asked for all the synchros to be replaced and set up. It now feels out of this world and is real smooth, much better than any standard gearbox I have felt in any other Evo. I looked at a new and some secondhand, low mileage gearboxes, but now much happier I went the rebuild route. It seems this problem is due to a manufacturing fault, so perhaps you can expect it again with a new gearbox.

Dave

 

[Guest]

Dave,
Did you get your fixed under warrenty? my reasoning might be flawed but imho a NEW gearbox is better than getting the old one fixed, no? if I ain't paying isn't the better option to go for a whole new gearbox if its been offered?

As I understand it the problem with the bearings is caused by the preload not been set correctly, if its then set correctly why should this happen again?

Ryan

 

[Guest]

Ryan,

It turned out my warranty wasn't worth the paper it was written on, it was a third party warranty (no surprise there!). Co-ordsport and the garage took some of the cost as it wasn't very clear what caused the problem, I had a series of problems after a faulty clutch was fitted.

One of the reasons I went for a rebuild rather than new box (there wasn't that much price difference) is because I didn't want to get a box with pre-load problems put into the car and I felt that the rally specialist that did the work would do a better job than Mitsubishi who have caused a lot of these problems in the first place. This decision seems to be justified so far, but early days.

Dave

 

[Guest]

Ryan,
Sorry I thought you said the car had only done 2800 miles from new, anyway I think you now know what the problem is.

Changing the gearbox oil will make no difference if the pre-load is incorrectly set. An incorrect pre-load will put excessive force on the bearings and hence they wear early. You are right to change the oil at every service even though it will have no effect on the pre-load problem, its a good practice to get in to and will prolong the life of a good box.
Flushing the box, replacing all the bearings (as a precaution) and setting the preload correctly will mean you have a box better than a new one! Why? As DaveG says there is no guarantee that a brand new box won't have the pre-load problem which will mean the bearings will wear out again at 20k miles, perhaps out of warranty? You have spent 20k miles running the box in so the gear teeth edges will be slightly worn making for a slick gear change (rally teams actually 'lap' the gear teeth to mimic wear for a good gear change). The rest of the box can be inspected and any other parts replaced as necessary (I had the speedo gear changed as it was worn) and all for £1k including labour and VAT. Put that against the cost of new box £1600 |PLS| fitting |PLS| VAT without knowing if it has the pre-load problem then the rebuild makes sense.
I know you will get it done under warranty (I did as well) but remember that the cost will eat away at any claim limits that the warranty has, something else to consider (may not be a problem though). To be honest I would stick with the rebuilt route UNLESS you are particularily unhappy with other aspects of the box (e.g. synchro worn?). I don't think a warranty company will stretch to a new box for worn bearings unless your garage persuades them otherwise. Personally it sounds like your garage doesn't want the hassle of a rebuild and just wants to part swap, it can be a good or bad thing. Your garage may just want the easy option because they don't have the expertise or confidence to rebuild a box in which case I wouldn't force the issue as a new box would be better than a possibly dodgey rebuilt one. Ask them if they have rebuilt boxes before.

You can drive the car with worn bearings but I wouldn't consider any marathon drives as worn bearings overheat. I covered 1000 miles after the problem was diagnosed because there was 3 week wait for the parts to come in, however I replaced the gearbox oil as a precaution as soon as the bearings were found to be the problem. It is advisable to flush the box and use new oil if you do want to continue using the car.

2000 miles later with my rebuild and I am very happy, the box has been the best it has ever been (same as DaveG). I will be replacing the gearbox oil for Syntrax this weekend as the stuff Mitsubishi use doesn't have quite the same slick feel.

Personally I think CCC should do the repair for nothing even out of warranty (or no warranty) because it is a manufacturing fault.

Check out this thread for more details on the repair.

 

[Guest]

Its a bit **** when mitsu can supply new boxes that have the preload problem, I'd have thought they would have made sure that the known about fault was fixed before sending out a new gearbox that would cause exactly the same problem.

I'd not thought about the benefits of wearing the gearbox in, makes sense, I'm not unhappy with the box in any other way so I think I'll give Ralliart in Dudley a ring and see if they will do a re-build.

Thanks for the advice, lets see what happens.

Ryan