Gearbox Whine

[JuniorSkyline]

Hey guys, first post Im very new to skylines and my knowledge is basic.

Im about to enter the world of owning a skyline, looking at buying an 96 R33 Gts-t seriies II which only has 92,000kms on the clock. And has been serviced and seems to be looked after properly. It was owned by an older guy who I called and he told me he handed it in to a ford dearlearship so he could get enough money for a family car. Well a guy from the dearlership decided to buy it for himself and now has been promoted and is selling it as he is getting a work car.

He has just put new shocks and alloy wheels on it and the skyline is basically stock and first asked for over 10k now I have got him down to 9k

I asked him honestly what he thinks of it and he said he is very happy with it but there is a slight whine in the gearbox, but he says it is common with skylines and isnt worth worrying about.

Now I do know it is very common but from what I hear it can be costly to find the problem, and if I do leave it over time it may get louder or could cause problems?

Well I have read up a bit on common whines that skylines can make and its seems as though the input shaft needs changing or hopefully just a new oil chasnge is needed maybe with some additives, I have limited information on the whine it makes and in what gears as I havnt had any time to give it a test run, but it makes me wonder if I should not be looking at this car because there may be problems that will arise int he future around the gearbox.

Does anybody have any tips? will this whine prove to be costly down the track and this skyline is not worth looking at? what would you do.

[Birds]

Very hard to determine how bad the problem is when you haven't driven the car to report on symptoms...I strongly recommend doing this before making any obligatory payments on the thing. But at a guess I'll say this is a bearing whine inside the gearbox...could just as easily be the clutch though (thrust bearing for example). Could also be the diff.

Your worst case scenario (also at a guess) is a reconditioning of the gearbox, which will cost you circa $1300 to fix including gearbox R&R. And yes, it can lead to worse problems down the track if not attended to straight away. Assuming this is the only thing wrong with the car, and as long as you don't mind carrying out this repair as soon as you get the car, then it could be a good buy. Keep in mind that although bearing issues are not atypical of thrashing the gearbox (synchros usually wear first), it can still imply the car has not been serviced regularly or treated properly...so carefully examine the rest of the car for other potential issues.

[Moodles2]

The 5 speed Nissan box is common to all R32s, all R33s, all R34s except the GTR.. and whining is not common, it might just be as simple as a gearbox fluid change to solve it. If the box does need replacing down the track, Nissan 5 speeds are very common anyway.

[mid life crisis]

your gearbox sounds like my ex mrs just too be on the safe side i replaced her with a younger model ......on the other hand your gearbox could last for yrs without a problem

[JuniorSkyline]

Hey guys, first post Im very new to skylines and my knowledge is basic.

Im about to enter the world of owning a skyline, looking at buying an 96 R33 Gts-t seriies II which only has 92,000kms on the clock. And has been serviced and seems to be looked after properly. It was owned by an older guy who I called and he told me he handed it in to a ford dearlearship so he could get enough money for a family car. Well a guy from the dearlership decided to buy it for himself and now has been promoted and is selling it as he is getting a work car.

He has just put new shocks and alloy wheels on it and the skyline is basically stock and first asked for over 10k now I have got him down to 9k

I asked him honestly what he thinks of it and he said he is very happy with it but there is a slight whine in the gearbox, but he says it is common with skylines and isnt worth worrying about.

Now I do know it is very common but from what I hear it can be costly to find the problem, and if I do leave it over time it may get louder or could cause problems?

Well I have read up a bit on common whines that skylines can make and its seems as though the input shaft needs changing or hopefully just a new oil chasnge is needed maybe with some additives, I have limited information on the whine it makes and in what gears as I havnt had any time to give it a test run, but it makes me wonder if I should not be looking at this car because there may be problems that will arise int he future around the gearbox.

Does anybody have any tips? will this whine prove to be costly down the track and this skyline is not worth looking at? what would you do.

Thanks for the reply's,

Got to give it a drive today and I was very impressed with it overall, he has just put new tyres on it along with some alloy wheels and the age of the car didnt show at all, it looked like it was in very good condition. He has just put new pedders shocks on it aswell, but the ride of the car is alot different and bumpier to what Im used to but I have fell in love with skylines and will forgive it

I have read alot of things on the whining inside skylines and it sounds like the bearings go in them alot, makes me wonder if I recon the engine, it may fix the problem untill a year later down the track.

There is a mechanic at this particular ford dealership that gets alot of skylines in with the exact same problem, and HE told me that HE said there is not point fixing it and he recogns its the boxes they put in tend to losen up after a little while (this being the drive shaft I believe, unsure how the drive shaft would whine?) and he has pulled the gearboxes out under belief of a bearing failure, replaced these and had the same issue arise later on (thats the seller telling me what the mechanic said).

So I will actually call up some mechanics that have worked on skylines and see what they say besides just the sellers opinions and what he tells me. Because that does sounds a little suss. But I was afraid of this whine getting louder and affecting the gearbox and this could cost alot more if I dont address the issue straight away like you say and then having to spend $2500 on a new gearbox.

Good news is the car was serviced every 5000k's and seems to be looked after, obviously being a skyline Im sure its been booted a couple of time.

The whine was in all gears and didnt wind with the clutch in, sounded more like it was at the front of the car to be honest there wasnt much noticability but maybe it will get louder.

Its the original clutch so i doubt the oil has been changed and maybe its about time to do it.

I'm really hoping it just needs some thicker oil, not the gearbox being pulled out of it. But new oil just sounds to easy.

If it is a bearing will it affect the gearbox and its life?? (may depend what bearing is stuffed in it) and would you recommend just forgetting about it and hope for the best or get it looked at??

Edited December 1, 2009 by JuniorSkyline

[Birds]

Dude, did you even read my post? Please read all of it, carefully...you've missed some very key points.

Also, I recommend test driving another Skyline of the same model for comparison. Too many people get hooked on their first drive of one, impressed by the performance etc. and look past the faults because they have nothing to benchmark it against.

[JuniorSkyline]

mate I did read your post, I am hearing from 3 different people completely different things to wether or not it will affect the engine (if it is a bearing)

mate I did read what you said properly and over and over many times. Just to let you know I was out lsast night and came home late and jumped on and posted and was tired sorry I missed anything