on my way to work today I noticed this whine sound coming from the transmission. as soon as i got off the interstate i started to hear it... i put it in neutral and revved the engine lightly. didnt hear it. but when i put it in gear (any gear) it sounded like a supercharger whine... suddenly it goes muffled and it goes away. this whine sound went on for 2 miles while i was trying to listen to it and go through the gears... i have a spec stage 3 clutch and i have noticed throw out bearing rattling sounds at idle. didnt feel any grinding on the shifter. i can go through the gears smoothly and no grinding. what could it be?

sorry for the run off sentences... im on my phone typing this... your help is greatly appreciated.

 

ugmSTi433 just had a problem similar to this... turned out to be the center diff; had the dealership replace it on warranty.

 

The rear center differential bearing can sometimes ride hard due to the thrust forces of the stepper gears. If this is the case, you'll probably hear the noise most prominently during neutral or off-throttle. Keep your crap in a pack though, as it will take quite a while to have this terminally damage the center section (I've ridden one out about 6 months in the past), but I would recommend staying out of boost and driving easy until you get it fixed.

 

thanks for info. i have the car at tranny shop here in lakeland. the owner was kind enough to do a free diagnostic on it and im still waiting for him to all me back... when i was driving to the shop, it tarted to rain hard. with my windows up i was hearing something rattling around the tranny and i feltit on my shifter... reguardless of what it is... its not going to be cheap.

 

No warranty? Don't flame me, I've never done anything with a warranty

 

no warranty anymore... 51k miles on it... and mods that kill warranties...

 

Actually there is still a warranty. Powertrain is 5 year/60k miles. Doesn't hurt to try no matter your mods. Mastro is said to be mod friendly.

Straight off Subaru.com
(SUBARU.COM : TOOLS : WARRANTIES FOR 2005)

Powertrain Limited Warranty
Powertrain coverage for all models is five years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. It covers the major powertrain components listed below:*

Engine block and all internal parts
Cylinder heads and valve train
Oil pump, oil pan
Timing belts or gears and covers
Water pump
Flywheel
Intake manifold
Oil seals and gaskets
Turbocharger Assembly
Transaxle case and internal parts
Transaxle seals and gaskets
Axle shafts and constant velocity joints (except boots)**
Torque converter
Electronic transmission control unit
Transaxle seals and gaskets
Propeller shaft
Wheel bearings

 

That doesn't sound fun at all. Definitely try your odds at any warranty work before doing it out-of-pocket. I'm curious to see what the issue is and if it's similar to the odd center diff problem I had.

 

Just to update you guys, I got the car diagnosed today. The mechanic had the car on the lift, ran through the gears in the air and listened to the tranny with a stethoscope. He said it seems a bearing is floating and its definitely an internal malfunction. Bottom line, its gonna have to come off, and rebuilt.

I remember reading in the past that a performance clutch (in my case spec stage 3) was too rough for the gears on the STi's 6spd?

I will have to take it to Central Florida Euro cars (subaru dealer) since they are the closest here. As broke as I am, I cant afford having the car towed to Mastro And about the warranty... Well, Mastro knows about the spec 3 in it and most likely will void the warranty.

To give you guys a better idea, it sounds like a very bad throw out bearing rattle now. It even does it when I'm in neutral and coasting to a stop. It could very well be the center diff. What do you guys think?

I'll keep updating this thread as I get more news.

 

i doubt that clutch caused the problem