Whine in 4th and 5th

[Tim]

The last two Festivas I owned would make this irritating whine in 4th and 5th gear.

It will only do this while my foot is on the gas pedal, not in neutral or when I stop giving the car gas.

My last one had a new clutch and the tranny oil replaced, and it ran fine for a few months until I parked it over the summer. When I went to start it up, it made an irritating whine in 4th and 5th. It didn't seem to affect anything and I put about 5,000 miles on the car before getting rid of it.

Now my current Festiva is starting to make this noise. I parked it for about a month when the distributor went out, and I am pretty sure it didn't whine before that. It's much quieter than the last car, and hardly noticeable, but I have sensitive hearing.

Anyone know what causes this? Is it bad? Or normal?



Regards,

Tim

[FB71]

when was the last time you changed the trans oil?

[Tim]

To my knowledge, it's the original oil.

[FB71]

hmmm..... you might want to start there then, Timmy. My guess; you're low on trans oil... refill w/ 80W-90 for the most noise dampening.

[Festiva GTX]

hmmm..... you might want to start there then, Timmy. My guess; you're low on trans oil... refill w/ 80W-90 for the most noise dampening.

Are you sure it safe to use 80W- 90W? than Mercon III? last time I used in 1988 Ford Escort it grenade it with manual transaxle. :shock: but only I have tried Royal Purple in my festiva manual transaxle it works better like cure and more quiet too.

[FB71]

yup, 80W-90 is fine. I have it in my trans right now. Any quality trans lube is fine, really. I run Mercon V in Uncle Fester, and noticed a very slight increase in fuel economy. Blooregard got quieter when I changed his original oil to 80W-90. Stock fill was a gear lube slightly lighter than that, and service replacement was Mercon. I also ran 80W-90 in old Escort MTX-IIs and IIIs, and never had any trouble. I suspect your Escort trans had other troubles...

[Festiva GTX]

^ Yes probably my 1988 Escort GT transaxle had problem other kind than oil 80W 90. Which Mercon or 80W 90 have best benefits for transaxle and both have different in fuel economy ?

[donna]

hey guys, dont know who is correct, but my haynes manual for the 88-97 festiva and aspire models, says to use Mercon automatic transmission fluid for both auto and manual trannys, 2.6 qts, this is on page 1-2 in tune-up and routine maintenance section,,,,so whats up? I drained out the tranny when i got the car a few months ago and it had gear oil in it, but i went with haynes and refilled with Mercon,,,,,is haynes wrong?

[kzbill]

Haynes not wrong, Mercon is the recommended fluid. I bought my car for $50 cause it had a blown trans. I don't know if it was filled before or after it blew but it was full of 80-90. I assume after it started making noise.

[worfdog]

i have started putting synthetic auto trans fluid in my festivas.they seem to shift better when the temps drop down low. have not had any trouble with none of the manual transmissions in my cars.

[FB71]

Ford Service pubs called out Mercon as the service replacement fluid. However, I've been around long enough to have actually attended factory service training for the Festiva and first gen Probe (I even have the coffee mugs...) Factory fill was a gear oil somewhat lighter than 80W-90, which is why Ford called out Mercon as the replacement. They were concerned that 80W-90 would cause high shift effort in cold weather. I have yet to encounter this suspected concern. MerconV or other full synthetic oils can reduce fuel consumption and permit slightly easier cold weather shifting, but lack the high-pressure additives in gear oil that manual transmissions should have. Based on my nearly two decades of Ford specific experience, customers most often filled their trans' with gear oil to try to mask damage they had already caused (burnouts, stuck in snow/mud, etc.)

[worfdog]

Ford Service pubs called out Mercon as the service replacement fluid. However, I've been around long enough to have actually attended factory service training for the Festiva and first gen Probe (I even have the coffee mugs...) Factory fill was a gear oil somewhat lighter than 80W-90, which is why Ford called out Mercon as the replacement. They were concerned that 80W-90 would cause high shift effort in cold weather. I have yet to encounter this suspected concern. MerconV or other full synthetic oils can reduce fuel consumption and permit slightly easier cold weather shifting, but lack the high-pressure additives in gear oil that manual transmissions should have. Based on my nearly two decades of Ford specific experience, customers most often filled their trans' with gear oil to try to mask damage they had already caused (burnouts, stuck in snow/mud, etc.)

i have heard of people using 50 weight motor oil in their manual trans.do you think it would have high pressure qualities of 80-90w gear oil but sort of thin like the atf?

[Tim]

Well, I figured out what the whine is. It's the input shaft bearing - it rattles at idle until I push in the clutch.

Next time I work on the car I'm going to try some synthetic ATF and see how that goes.


Thanks!


Tim

[kzbill]

So I guess, mercon, and change the fluid from time to time as in maintenance?

[FB71]

i have heard of people using 50 weight motor oil in their manual trans.do you think it would have high pressure qualities of 80-90w gear oil but sort of thin like the atf?

no, engine oil doesn't contain the high pressure additives that gear oil does. However, you can cut the gear oil by 50% with 30 weight engine oil for a lower viscosity.