meezusthegoat

Hi all,

I’m just creating a help thread on the forum to try and get a diagnosis for my car, a 03’ 350z track with 79K. I just bought this car 2 weeks ago and I'm getting this noise when I’m just crawling around off-throttle in town at roughly 2.5K rpm I feel as though something is seriously wrong. Normally my car doesn’t this make noise under heavy (full throttle) acceleration; however, it does make the noise under moderate acceleration at speeds greater than 80 mph. I'm praying that my differential and my transmission aren’t going on me lol. Can anyone help me and point me in the right direction? Thanks.



my 350z is making the EXACT same noise as the 350z in this video:

travlee

iTrader: (8)

nobody will be able to diagnose a car over the internet, i would suggest changing the trans and diff fluid to see if something that simple resolves the issue

guess basic troubleshooting is not your forte

meezusthegoat

Hey man thanks for responding so quickly to my thread, I'm planning to change both my diff and trans fluid ASAP. however hearing this type of noise with a car you just bought, is really disconcerting. So I just posted to the forums to see if I could get a second opinion. I.e. my diff gears or bearings inside my trans.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

Start with simple first, do you know if there is an aftermarket diff in there? If it is not shimmed right it could cause whine

meezusthegoat

Hi travlee,

No I don't think there's any chance that I have an aftermarket diff in this car. I bought this Z because it was bone stock, with no performance mods what so ever lol. Till I change the fluids, I think it's the diff unfortunately the stock vlsd's that come in factory performance car's like ours are poo.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

make sure you get the proper weight of fluids

meezusthegoat

hi travlee,

My car should have the correct fluid weight as I don't think My Z has had the diff or maybe the trans fluid changed, my bad I should've really looked at that when I bought the car. I did notice tonight however that when I really heat the transmission and diff up (do pulls) the whine gets ever so quieter and my transmission slips through all the gears. Maybe your right it could be dirty, low, or old diff fluid. Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate it.

Mandrake

It sounds like a pinion bearing to me.

meezusthegoat

@mandrake

Possibly but I maybe think it's the trans. I had a buddy of mine stand outside the car as I drove by and he said It sounds like its coming from the front. Plus I've been having a really hard time getting the car into second recently. On cold starts, my trans either locks me out of second, goes in halfway, or grinds a tiny bit (rare occasion). This is Only cold starts but my car does none of these things when it's warm and the trans is hot.

meezusthegoat

Hi Everyone,

A quick update on my situation, I drained and filled my trans with new transmission oil (Redline MT-85) about 1 week ago. The transmission oil I took out was very brown and had a typical "burnt" smell but there were no indications that my gear box was failing: and best of all NO metal shavings at all. This discovery says that it may not be the trans throw-out or input shaft bearing but some other component; plus today I've identified that my car makes the noise with increase in engine RPM, regardless whether my clutch is in or out. Overall this means that it could be something like a belt or idler pulley bearing on the front of my engine, low and behold I just discovered that the belt driving my AC compressor snapped. Later this week I'll replace the belt and thoroughly inspect for play in all my drive pulleys. If fixing the belt and inspecting the pulleys doesn't remedy the noise I'm going to leave my car At RDZ speed shop in Danbury, CT to see if they can Identify what my noise is.

meezusthegoat

Hey guys another update,

I took my car to the Z shop in Danbury and they said despite the noise everything was normal with my car. Not very happy considering I've driven at least 6 350Z's and have never heard this noise. In the trip home, however, I noticed something about my car: If I pull my passenger seat forward and physically stick my head in the space between the rear deck and the floor I hear the noise, crystal clear. This Means that this noise is most likely the diff and it can't be from the transmission since the trans in our cars is positioned far ahead of the shifter.