loud whine from rear

[callmethewander]

and it's not gas. My '89 S2 makes a loud whining type noise especially at higher speeds and in higher gears when I let off the gas, if I depress the clutch and coast the noise goes completely away.
I will check the transax fluid this weekend, but do you have any other ideas?
thx

[nynor]

worn ring and pinion gear

low transaxle oil

[flash968]

that would be my first guess too, but it could be torque tube bearings.

[nynor]

all respect flash, but he said that with no load (the clutch engaged) there was no whine. i'd think that if was torque tube bearings, it would be all the time. feel free to correct me.

[mreid]

I hear it when the wife sits in the backseat. Ignore it.

Ring and pinion. Off the gas with the engine braking, it loads the gears in the opposite direction. When you depress the clutch, you remove the load.

[flash968]

with no load, there would be no load on the bearings either. that shaft flexes quite a bit under load. that produces side load. once you let off the throttle, that load goes away. don't get me wrong, as i said, my first though was also ring and/or pinion, but i have heard the torque tube bearings create a whine, on load only, in 2 different cars.

pretty easy to tell though, up on a rack, with a stethoscope.

[nynor]

okay, that makes sense.

i get whine with my car at the opposite extreme: when decelerating, usually when riding the engine compression down a hill. really annoying.

[Triple_T]

Mine squeals under full boost above 4500 RPM. Traced it to: car squats under extreme acceleration, and the half shaft rubs on custom exhaust at these extremes. I have a new hanger for the exhaust. We'll see in the spring...

[callmethewander]

thanks guys, i put the car up on ramps today and checked the transax fluid, had to add a quart. we'll see.
I am concerned about the ring and pinion as I've heard its somewhat of a common failure at high mileage, i have about 180,000 on it now. i'll see if the fluid helped. Maybe i wasn't clear though, the sound only happens when decelerating in gear "engine braking" i suppose.
Whats a harder fix, torque tube bearings or ring and pinion?

[callmethewander]

The Noise has not diminished at all after adding transax fluid. I guess it's either the ring and pinion or torque tube bearings. I don't know enough about either to determine which is the cause, but I drove my '87 turbo which has only 82,000 miles and there is no such noise at all, I probably had just become used to it. I transferred my insurance and registration so I'll be driving the the '87 and taking the S2 off the road. I'd like to fix and keep it, but the reality is that it's probably to much of a project for me to do myself. Any ideas what an otherwise nice '89 S2 would be worth?
Or what's involved in either tt bearing replacing or ring and pinion gear fix?
thx.

[flash968]

pretty sure the S2 is like the 968, and the torque tube bearings require removal of the transaxle to get at them. then you have to send the torque tube out to have the bearings pressed out and then back in.

ring and pinion will also require removal of the transaxle. parts will not be cheap, and putting together a transaxle properly is almost art. anybody can slap one together, but getting it right, so that things last and are happy, takes patience and the right tools and parts. i've been working on cars for over 30 years, and i still send out transaxles, diffs, and trannies to somebody who knows them.

[Eric_Oz_S2]

Ring and pinion bearing failures normally show up as whine on deceleration. Tt bearings may whine but often in conjunction with vibration.

[Will_S_944]

My 944 AT started the very same whine today, Last monday going to an interview I hadn't let the car warm up as usual in colder weather, and there was an odd temp 'drop' in rpm a few minutes after hitting the interstate, My initial thought was it was just an odd valve that might have had been frozen and it popped open...
Today every time I decelerated/lift up off the gas I would here a whine that varied with the speed, the trans then did an odd downshift after I'd come to a stop for a few seconds...

I thought it might be the ATF level, but after I returned home there looks to be oil coming from the transAXLE area, I've not gotten to much into the drivetrain on it but I think I'd correct assuming that the transaxle uses regular 80/90 gear oil while the TRANS uses an ATF??
Are there relitively "Easy" seals that need replaced around the axle shafts??

[callmethewander]

thanks, yes I'm leaning toward Ring and pinion also, I wouldn't attempt that one but I do have a transaxle from an '88S, is that the same as the S2?

[flash968]

get it up on a rack and listen to it with a stethoscope. you'll know right away where the problem is.

[callmethewander]

thx flash