Transmission Whine?
 

1997 1.8 with 85k miles - Stock engine

Background:
I had my clutch replaced (will call this clutch 2)- Clutch 2 had a bad pressure plate (or so they said), so i had another one put in (clutch 3) - they left TO bearing from clutch 2 and I had some whining coming from the clutch area and also the whine i will explain in a minute - SO I had them pull the clutch a 3rd time and put in the new TO bearing. (I was only charged for initial clutch install and the new clutch) With the whine still present, the garage told me it was in the transmission and would take getting in there to fix it.

The whine occurs when the vehicle is in neutral, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, NOT IN 4th, and barely in 5th. When you press the clutch the whine disappears. It is very audible and pretty embarrassing.

So my question, is this a botched clutch install or just the luck of the draw that my transmission is going out? Or is it a simpler part like pilot bearing? What should I be looking at?

In random discussions Brain had mentioned he had this same noise at one point.

VIDEOS
This video shows the noise in neutral and how it stops when the clutch is pressed.



This video shows the sound in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and how it is not there in 4th.

that sounds awful; get a new trans.

Same symptoms. When we tore down the transmission, we found gear and shaft damage. A new transmission (not used) was cheaper than the parts for a rebuild.

Bearings are dead. Eventually it will make clunking noises. Worry about it then.

So i guess I am looking at an entire transmission? fark.

They are cheap used

How close are you to summit point? I can get you contact info for some spec miata racers out there.

4-5hrs I think. I'm all the way down south.

I just crossed the 90k mile mark, can I expect a used one to hold up longer than that? Anything I should worry about or avoid? Gonna swing by a used parts garage and see what they have.