The DareDevil

Both my cars are a quite loud in terms of transmission whine/noise.

cie_lab

My tranny whines a little on accelleration. Not so much at cruising speed. The same thing in my Jeep, especially after a lube change.

I don't know much about the porsche tranny in terms of how the gears are made, but whine has a lot to do with how the gears are cut. The 'sharper' the teeth on the gears, the louder the whine. Also has to do with the gap between the gear teeth. As the gears wear out, space increases, increasing noise. Certainly doesn't mean there's anything wrong. Most manual trannys are fairly bulletproof. You have to do something really insane to destroy one. Even if you grind gears once in a while it's not likely to cause a lot of damage.

With that said, synchros are another story. Is your transmission hard to shift? If so, you could be losing a synchro (or two). The word seems to be that the 2nd and 3rd synchros are the most succeptible to wear. Again, depends on how you drive. If you do a lot of engine braking, that can wear out the synchros faster.

tifosiman

The 944 N/A trans does not fit into that "bulletproof" category.

As the R&P wears with mileage the lash becomes worse and the noise does as well. Having a trained shop crack it open and reshim the R&P will add years of life and decrease the noise somewhat (although it will always have some by design).

Its funny. A couple years back there was a local Porsche shop that was going out of business, and they had an open to the public sale to get rid of all of the spare and used parts they had in stock. No lie, they had a PILE of broken 944 transmissions. And by PILE, I mean dozens. Its a good indicator of the issues that 944 transaxles face, and also the economy of just buying a decent (loose term) used one over having one rebuilt.

cie_lab

still getting used to the idea of a 'transaxle'. I would classify R&P problems as axle problems, but since they're one in the same here, you make a good point.

I also remember reading something about 968s with some sort of problem in the R&P from the factory.

tifosiman

968 transaxles (which are not audi units like the 944 trans and have a lot in common with the G50 transaxles) had some issues with R&P tolerances from the factory. Most 968's on the road have had the issue sorted out already if they had it to begin with, unless it is an uber-low-mileage car.

austin944

I hear a lot of whine in first gear in my '84 when the engine RPM gets above 3K or so. Love that raw mechanical sound!

I read somewhere that the late cars have less gear whine because they have more insulation in the back compartment, or something like that, but I don't know if it's true.

pjburges

My PO ran two different sized tires on the back of his car and now my R&P is shottt! It whines constantly, my 2nd gear synchro is shot probably from all the Boy Racer **** he was doing, and it hates to walk into 1st- but I usually dont downshift to first either. I have to roll the car foward bit by bit until it will fall into reverse, and my transmissions hollers in all gears when de-accelerating. That said - I can RPM match, double clutch, gas-brake etc and I dont have any problems - the car is noisy but performs more than adequetly for the road. Wouldnt want to take it to a SPEC race though. Just put some Swepco in and use that tranny until it REALLLY breaks.

bjzorn

I hear gear whine in 2nd and 3rd as well. However I should say that I have no sound deadening through out the car(I do keep the rear hatch carpet in for street drving just to get it looking good) so the noises in my car are louder than normal

Spidey944

Whenever I hear a whining in mine, I pull over and let the b!tch out.

DarylJ

My lash is what I'd describe a horrible. How much should something like that cost to get done? Would it even be worth it compared to picking up a used one that's in decent shape? I assume it would need to be out of the car to shim it.

Keithr726

I've owned two 944s (NA and turbo) and both of them had it in 2-4 when in gear off the gas. A fluid change didn't help much either. All the 944s I've been in did it.

tifosiman

You'd need to check with a trans shop to get an estimate. It won't be cheap. It has to come out of the car and the trans has to be opened up. If you are handy you could bring them the trans yourself. That's the best case but even then you are still looking at several hours worth of shop labor. A decent used N/A trans can be had for $400-$500 all day long. But who knows how long that will last. The re-shimmed one would probably give you better piece of mind, if the rest of it was OK all things considered.