I have a 2003 Touring. I had the transmission replaced just under a year ago. I noticed a whirring noise when the car was in neutral but when I pressed the clutch pedal down the noise went away. I took this back to the dealer and they assured me it was normal yet I don't recall this noise before. I am about a week away from 1 year and I am wondering if I should have this looked at before my 1 year warranty is up? I have only put 4,000 miles with this new transmission and it has made this noise the whole time. Here is a video of it Thanks in advance.

 

The Z transmission has heavy duty, large diameter gears (when shifting you’re quite aware of moving some heavy metal around). In neutral with the engine running, the transmission input shaft is turning. This shaft is geared to the counter shaft, spinning it and all the gears on it. Each gear on the counter shaft is in mesh with and spins the corresponding main gears. Basically everything in the transmission except the output shaft and the sliding shift collars is spinning. This can make quite a calliope of whirring and whining sounds. When you push on the clutch pedal the input shaft is disconnected from the engine and everything inside the transmission stops turning and falls silent.

Your you tube video isn’t working, but every new Z owner has had the experience of pulling into a quiet garage with hard smooth cement floor and walls and wondered “what the hell is that”. This along with a bit of chatter from the throw-out bearing is normal for this Trans. Try to reload the you-tube video so that the real experts here can judge whether the sound is within the normal level.

 

Thanks Jennifer, it seems that the video may be set to private and I can't make it public with my iPad (of course). I will get on YouTube with my laptop and tak care of that this evening.

 

normal

 

Video should be working now.

 

I notice from the temperature gauge the engine and presumably the transmission are cold. Because of this, the engine is idling at about twice the normal speed which makes the trans noise more prominent. Does it not quite down a bit when warmed up? To my uneducated ear this sounds about the same as my Z and others I have listened to.

 

Sounds normal...

 

It was cold but it sounds like this all the time. Sounds like this is normal and maybe the new trans just has a different or louder sound than my last one. Thanks for the help!

 

And the good news is I just looked at the invoice and the trans is a 009!

 

Mine does it as well, I was freaking out for a week until I read about it all over the internet as being normal.. It pretty much goes away when it warms up.