O Learned Denizens,

2004 350Z, 120k miles. Pretty stock as far as I can tell.

After some work to get rid of a rattly driver's door, clonking wipers, squealing belts and growling wheel bearings, I can properly hear the transmission noise I noticed early on.

It's basically under load, in gear, when driving. As an engineer I would call it "hash" - the noise gears make when they can't quite decide if they want to play nicely. As the speed comes up - when the engine gets over about 2,500 rpm - then it goes quiet. So if I drive in a somewhat sporty way keeping the revs up, it's barely noticeable, but for round-town bumbling it's pretty apparent.

My first instinct is to drain and refill the transmission fluid as this will tell me how much shaved metal is in there. I am guessing it could just be (for some reason) low on fluid. In any case, a drain and refill will do no harm.

I don't think it's the release bearing (which I can hear, but not in a way that concerns me) because it's clutch up, in gear, under load. Or the dual mass flywheel, which again I associate with idle in neutral.

Clutch cushion behavior itself is very smooth.

I don't really fancy doing transmission work myself, it's something I have always paid someone else to do. I've found a local shop that I think I can trust. But right now I don't know what I am asking them to do other than a rather lame "take out the transmission and fix the noise, please?"

I can easily post a recording of the noise if it helps.

Thoughts/comments?

Damian