Gear Whine in Manual Transmission??

There are several schools of thought about what causes whining in Subaru transmissions. They range from “they all do it” to “there’s a problem.” I tend to be on the side of “there’s a problem,” although there’s validity to the other side, as well.

It’s in the nature of the way the particular gears are built. Usually, first and second use straight cut gearing so that when they engage they tend to by whiny all the time. When you get to third, you usually hit helically designed gearing which, while it can whine, usually is quieter. Reverse is straight cut and whines.

Since you are telling me that there’s a lot of whining in second, third and fourth, when there really shouldn’t be more than just a small level of whine, then it is quite likely that your gearing is pretty well chewed up. More than likely third, fourth and fifth are pretty much beaten down, while first and second are nearly gone.

Your options are very limited because, at this point, about the only thing you can do is drop in a rebuilt unit to replace the one with the bad gearing. You are looking at about a $3,000 bill for the job, depending on your location and your shop.

Oh, and your question about bearings — the bearing that is usually voted most likely to fail (not succeed) is the throwout bearing which is the device the disconnects the friction plate from the clutch plate face so that the engine and transmission are separate units and you can shift.

In your case, though, you don’t have to worry about bearings because it is your transmission’s gearing that needs the work.