Since i bought my car it has had a whirring noise coming from the transmission somewhere. the clutch is totally silent whilst the car is stationery whether your foot is down or up and all sounds fine. once the car reaches about 20mph the whirring noise starts and gets faster with more speed. Whilst driving the noise stops when the clutch is pressed down, but comes back when you lift your foot back up. and the noise isn;t there when the car is in neutral whilst moving.

it was taken to a garage and they told me that the gearbox is knackered. but i don't see how this can be the case if the noise isn't there when the clutch is pressed down. any ideas people??

Lay shaft bearing between the clutch and gearbox.

This can be caused by low gearbox oil.

As Ford boxes are "lubricateed for life" the oil gets crappy.

As there is no drain hole, the only way to drain the oil is to pull the prop shaft and raise the front of the car to let gravity do it's job.

May be worth doing that to look for metal filings.

Lay shaft bearing between the clutch and gearbox.

This can be caused by low gearbox oil.

As Ford boxes are "lubricateed for life" the oil gets crappy.

As there is no drain hole, the only way to drain the oil is to pull the prop shaft and raise the front of the car to let gravity do it's job.

May be worth doing that to look for metal filings.

the garage said there was too much oil in the gearbox so they drained it down to the right amount. they also said that the gearbox casing was getting quite hot. but as it was not a ford garage and my car is pretty rare up here i don't know whether to believe them. wouldn't the layshaft bearing make a noise if the car was in neutral whilst moving with my foot off the clutch though?

It may just make the noise while under load, I.e clutch engaged.

i have spoken to someone local who deals with engines and gearboxes and the Mazda gearbox that is fitted to many cars including mine is apparently prone to collapsing layshaft bearings. i guess i was just praying that it was a thrust bearing. as its damn near impossible to get a gearbox for it. and i'm not confident enough to do any form of surgery to the gearbox i have lol if it were to be the layshaft bearings... what damage could be done by turning up the stereo and ignoring it? lol

The lay shaft will cause a fair bit of damage to the gearbox.

The lay shaft supports all the gears and one collapsing will truly frag the box.

hmm... no idea what i'm gonna do then lol i have no idea where to get a gearbox like that from as the guy i spoke to had a word with his suppliers and he was apparently laughed at :-/