Hello! I hope someone can help me... I'm quite confused about this noise, and I can't think of any explanation nor can I find in google these symptoms....

...I bought a c-max 1.6 petrol, with quite a few miles on it (140,000). In low gears (a lot in first gear, considerably in second and slightly in third) I hear a noise like a rolling bearing, which increases with speed. 

The noise appears around 1500rpm in 1st gear, 2000 rpm in 2nd, and increases with speed.

If I operate/depress the clutch in first or second gear and the car is moving, the noise decreases in intensity, but does not disappear completely. If I put the car in neutral, it disappears completely, whether the clutch is depressed or not. 

If I engage second gear again with the car moving, the sound appears, without releasing the clutch, and increases when I release the clutch.

When the car is stopped and the engine is on, I don't hear this sound when revving the engine (2000 / 3000 rpm), even if I engage first or second gear, with the clutch depressed. In neutral I never hear the noise, regardless of whether I have the clutch engaged or not.

I bought this car from a guy who is quite lazy, I don't rule out any possibility, such as the gearbox oil not being the right one. In fact, I found it strange that the gearbox was leaking from the selector and the underbody was very dirty (here the topic about), but when I repaired it and refilled the box there was only 100cc of fluid missing, so I guess he topped up at some point.

I checked the fluid level in the gearbox again, and it was strange that when I took out the level screw, a much darker thread of fluid came out than the normal colour?

Could this degraded / incorrect fluid explain this noise? I think that if so, all gears would make the same noise... and... the noise seems from some rolling bearing, not related with a gear shift... 

The clutch are near at the end of his life, but doesn't skidding, and the clutch collar seems ok, don't ear noise when I press it...

Well, I'm really confused, and as far I know, there isn't any explanation for this noise... maybe simply worn gears?

Thanks in advance...

Hi. I replaced the gearbox oil, and the noise was significantly reduced. I continue earing it in first gear (I'm unsure about if the noise is less than before or not, I think a few), but the ugly noise retaining the car on downhills has disappeared at 90%.

I accessed through the reverse gear sensor, to save me to disasamble the black case and cable selectors / fouling everything as I seen in some videos without disassemble it.

To drain it, I used a really thin and flexible tube, seems made with silicone and about 5mm diameter, I purchased 1 meter on a pets shop, it's used for aquarium filters, so cheap. I introduced about half meter, and my feel is that it resting at the bottom of the gearbox. I needed a syringe to accelerate the bleeding (by gravity, bleeding a dot per second only). I'm so satisfied with this method, because I refilled with 1850ml, with the level about 5mm under the maximum, so I think I fully removed the old one.

Then I filled with a more wide tube (and less flexible) purchased on a hardware shop. It has entered only two/three inches, but it's enough. I used the official Ford transmission fluid (so expensive, about 60€ for two bottles!), because I read in some forums of classic cars (not Ford users only) that use it for noise reduction.

...I'm happy with the gearbox oil replacement. I think it must be done some years ago, and the gears are a bit worn, but I hope the wear stops now and simply I get a bit noisy gearbox car for years 🙂

Hope this helps someone!!!