my 05 S. Mann Cabrio started getting an occasional whine in the gearbox usually on take offs (first drive) and only for a sec or so that was last summer... car was put up over the winter and now that its back out i have a few hundred miles and the while comes and goes.. never very loud just enough to hear and after warmed up, gone.. then yesterday it gets different, on my 17 mile trip into work I get a gear noise, one gear on another , and I hear it directly behind me as if its in the differential. I pulled the rear plug and check the oil it dark but fine.. so to be sure I drain it (at work no less) and replace it. there in the parking lot. As a mechanic by profession i know preventative maintenance is everything.. and I head home. seams quiet for a few miles, then gets loud, gear/gear . if i accellerate, it gets louder, and letting up quieter.. I shift up it gets softer.. as well.. so I tippy toe home being i am on my own, after 10 pm and in the country... it grumbles, and makes a whomp about a mile from home, and i manage to sneek it home at at 30mph in 6th gear...
Im thinking the worse, as if something has come loose inthe gearbox, or a bearing has failed.. checking the fluid I pulled out, (first sample) there is no metal to be found... so now i will check the second sample, by completely draining and see what develops.
I have heard of wheel bearings (rear) and looking for information on gearbox issues all i find is the 3 bars (been there a few times)...
another puzzler.. it did do three bars on me on the way home, BUT i could shift through gears up and down.
anyone want to chime in on this, I am all ears...I want to hear what you think.. I will tear it down, and it will probably cost me many $$...
I will get it fixed, btw I have only 44k miles on the car..
email me directly if you got any tips to share.. thanks.. steveg scg13803@yahoo (dot com)