Tranny Noise

[Braden8]

I'm a former ASE master tech and the owner of a 93 Esprit. The previous owner had suffered, in ignorance, of "red hose syndrome". I replaced with stainless steel braid immediately, but second gear had suffered and always require a slower shift. Last winter I removed the engine and trans and replaced the clutch, rebuilt the trans, did a valve adjustment, timing belt, etc. I replaced synchros, second gear, 1st/2nd synchro hub, and necessary bearings and soft parts. After putting it all together it shifted beautifully, but I now had a noise on decel. Acceleration and maintaining speed are all OK, but decel in ALL GEARS produces a whirring noise audible from the shift tunnel in the car, and reflecting from the rear of the car when driving next to wall or guard rail. I now have the tranny torn down again and find no signs of any problem. The fact that it happens in all gears, and manipulating the shifter while it is making the noise in no way changes the noise, leads me to believe the problem is with the ring and pinion. Everything was set up meticulously according to the factory service manual. The original carrier bearings were used and the carrier bearing preload nut was returned to its original position and the preload was checked with a "dry" assembly (ring gear and carrier only, no primary and secondary shaft) as per the manual.
I hope someone has some suggestions for me. As much as I like tinkering with it, the warm weather is almost here and the twisty backroads beckon.

Braden

[kmaier]

Well, I've not opened up the Esprit gearbox but have worked on numerous others over the years. Your descrption sounds very much like a ring and pinion problem. Based on your re-assembly, one possible reason would be that the outer bearing races (for the differential) somehow got reversed. Granted, the manual clearly states to make every effort NOT to do this and I am in no way suggesting that you are not qualified to do this work, but it's the one thing that would make sense as it would probably throw off your backlash without grossly affecting your preload. Hope this helps... having nice weather and no Esprit to enjoy it with is not nice.

Regards, KM
2000 V8

[Braden8]

Thanks KM. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the ring and pinion as well. The odd thing is the how the noise sounds. Most ring&pinion probems have a lower frequency, more like a growling. This has a higher pitch, more like a shaft rubbing the case. Since the carrier bearings were in good shape, I didn't press the races or bearings off, so they remain pressed into their respective housings and on the carrier. I'm thinking I'll go ahead and replace the bearings and set the preload and backlash from scratch if I don't find anything else.

Braden

[kmaier]

Braden,

If the sound on deceleration is not a lower pitch, then it may not the ring and pinion generating the noise. A higher pitch sound could be caused by a problem with either the secondary or primary shaft. If you noticed a higher pitch sound when decelerating in lower gears (assuming the same vehicle speed) then the primary shaft would be suspect, otherwise I would suspect a problem with the secondary shaft.

If you replaced the secondary shaft bearings, you may want to check for any play and also to ensure that nothing is rubbing (like 5th gear which is outside the main case). Not sure if this is going to help you solve your problem but at least it's something else to check.

Regards, KM
2000 V8