I took my 82 400i out for a long drive today as it looks like we're getting a small taste of spring here in the Northwest. I kept hearing this noise (constant) coming from the transmission that sounds like a winding turbine rotating at a thousand miles per hour. It would slow down when I decease speed and wind faster when I increase speed. Anyone ever here such a sound or had anything like this happen? Comments and suggestions appreciated!
I get this noise but only in 1st when cold but it seems to go once warmed up. I had a gearbox cooler pipe leak and dumped most of the fluid resulting in it almost losing drive. All fixed now but for the life of me I'm unsure if the noise was there before.
I've been this route...2times. This is the beginning of complete tranny failue due to the transmission pump failing. If you continue to drive this car, it will begin to over-rev to about 5K, and the car will come to a complete halt, either at a stop light, or on a fast thoroughfare. I was dumb and pushed my luck...and lost..(.flatbed to home). Don't be me. Pull the tranny and get it rebuilt by an expert shop, and put in a street shift kit for $50bucks more. The entire rebuild should cost no more than $1000-$1500..period. Insist on Raybestos rebuild kit. It is what came in it from the factory, and is far superior to some pet brand (higher profit) kits that many shops want to install. You may not want to hear what I'm saying here, but as I said earlier,denial costs much, much more. Or I can sugar coat this, and just wish you "happy trails. You call. I hope that this is of some value. Jq.
I thought that this might be a warning of things to come but as I said at the moment there's no slippage or noises other than a very light whine in 1st when cold. I'm sure you're right so will speak to the guy who works on my Cadi and see what he thinks after he's heard the noise. It's in no way obvious or intrusive like the problem that mgsamman started the thread with but will get it checked out anyway. Thanks for the advice Jacques
I have similar whining noises in the past a simple service sorts it out. Last time it happened the vehicle had been jacked up and dropped a little and the noise was the filter dropping from its housing. Theses TH400 geareboxes are very robust I bet it just needs servicing.
I have a lot of work planned for the car this year starting with a full fluid change in the next couple of months so we'll see. Hopefully you're right - I know these boxes are strong (probably the strongest bit of the whole car on reflection!!)
Let's start with the basics. It sure sounds like low oil level to me. Are you absolutely sure the oil level is correct, when checked hot with a running engine? Is the correct oil in there? There are a few different kinds of ATF and unlike popular belief, they're not always interchangeable.
In addition to my previous post..Iwent the low fluid/ vacuum leaks routes. I even found that the grommet on the filler neck bottom end at the tranny was shot, thus loosing copious amounts of fluid. As it turned out to be in my own case, was that the berring in the torque tube (propeller shaft) had siezed up and was forcing the tranny to overwork, thus tearing the heart out of the tranny's "guts"(technical term) and was just about to start grinding away at the interior housing walls, meaning a complete through-away of the whole trannny. The first rebuild was due to an incompetent shop rebuild, and ignoring the propeller shaft berring. Band-aids won't work here. Jq.
