so this morning on my way to work, i put my truck into neutral and started hearing a horrific grinding sound coming from my gearbox. it also slightly grinds in 1st/2nd. can anyone PLEASE chime in? i have no idea what it can be... i'm kinda new to manual transmissions. by the way, it's an l42.

 

This grinding sound can be several different things ..possibly throw out bearing a easy swap when doing the clutch if its worn or damaged some grinding can happen .and slightly grinding in between gears can be worn synchro gears ..if possible I would drop the trans and inspect or replace your throw out bearing it maybe worn so bad it's that it's not allowing for smooth shifts do to limited travel/ or not enough pressure on the clutch pressure plate ...< this is what u would hope for sense it's not that expensive .how many miles are on this tranny and clutch

 

the transmission has (estimating) 100k on it. the previous owner said he installed a clutch kit on it about 1000 miles ago before i bought it. and i haven't put too many miles on the truck yet. any clue where i can find the bearing for this tranny?

 

Okay need to reframe that last post normally a throw out bearing doesn't cause a grinding gear .but will make plenty of noise if worn out or damaged but can make for sticky and clunky shifting . In some cases ...you can find them at any auto parts store ..they sit behind the clutch on the input shaft no special tools are required to put it on . It's possible u may just have bad synchro or a bent shift fork . I would look for transmissions around town . As well just also check your clutch master cylinder make sure it's bleed right and no air in the lines .

 

since you mentioned it, i just replaced the clutch master cylinder last week along with the slave cylinder. i found one on rockauto that was a wholesale closeout and it ended up being an oem teq replacement. and before then i had no issues with any transmission noise at all. i replaced the cylinder because i noticed it had fluid leaking. wellllllll since i've put the new one on... i noticed i have the same leak issue. any clue what may be causing this?

 

as much as i want to hope it's an internal issue lol the truck is in overall great shape for its age. doesn't leak/burn oil... drives/shifts like butter.

 

As leaking under the dash like they normally do . if your loosing pressure leaking you won't have full clutch fork movement if its leaking check your line connections on both ends firewall side and tranny side ..u may have gotten a bad rebuilt one ..replace it with a good one but make sure your air tight and bleed real good u may have found your problem air in the lines results in delayed response of you shifting and the transmission not responding fast enough

 

i went ahead and ordered another one. rockauto refunded my order 100% and i didn't even have to ship the old one back. so hopefully that'll fix my issue! thanks again for coming through for me scrub88!

 

Well hope that's the problem sure is a hell of a lot cheaper than any of the other possibles

 

so after making some clutch adjustments, tightening, bleeding, etc it sounds horrific. it grinds like hell whenever the clutch isn't pressed. is this indicative of a bad throwout bearing?

 

Normally thro out bearings make noise when the clutch is pressed in ..I no it's a job to do but u might wanna drop the trans and inspect the previous owners clutch job and thro bearing it could be possible that something has come loose or was hastily installed . If its grinding while sitting still In neutral ? Clutch not pressed . It may be in the rotating assembly clutch disk and pressure plate

 

If you were anywhere near Portland, Or I would give you my old l42. Made a little bit of noise but I prob would have ran it had I not found the 5 speed.

 

So just to clarify are you saying that it's making a grinding noise all the time if the clutch isn't engaged? Or only when you try to shift?

Usually a throwout bearing, when going bad, will make noise all the time and shifting will be next to impossible until it finally goes and then you...no..go.

Assuming yes but have you checked your fluid and did you follow the manual when replacing the slave? I suspect something happened when you replaced the slave.

 

Yeah dude, a throwout bearing is going to scream murder when the fork isn't even hitting it to the ****ing pplate.

 

These worthless ****ing forums...

 

it makes a hellacious noise when in neutral and first gear. after shifting to second and higher gears its fine. but when i push down on the clutch pedal the sound goes away. i also suspect that it might be the slave. rockauto sent me a replacement that only lined up with one of my mounting bolts and i put it on anyways. i'll swap them back out and see if that is my fix. if it's not i'll keep ya'll posted.

@74 hilux butcher, thanks for the offer man! hows about we ship it greyhound over here? my girl would love more car parts cluttering our porch, kitchen, and back patio.

@MercuryMan, you have an L42 transmission right? i can't find the fill/drain holes on mine. is the fill hole on the driver's side in about the middle of the transmission?

 

so i got home, put the correct slave on, bled it, and it's still doing the same. screaming in neutral as soon as i start it, and when i press the clutch in it stops. does this mean i need a new clutch assembly?

 

Sounds like its the throw bearing. Did you replace it when you did the clutch? Either way, if the noise goes away when you barely push the pedal its the throw out.

 

i haven't touched the clutch since i've gotten the truck. the previous owner 'said' he did it about 1000 miles ago and i doubt he replaced the throw out. any clue where the bearing is located at on the gearbox?

 

Yep, When you have the trans off the motor and look at the trans input shaft there is a bearing attached to the shift fork, thats the throw out bearing. Its held on by these 2 little clips, it looks really cheesy but once the trans is on the motor the bearing is held in place by the clips and pressure against the pressure plate fingers. Also while you have the trans off check the fingers on the pressure place to make sure they are smooth and the guy didnt not tighten down one of the pressure place bolts. It makes some of the fingers stick up farther then the other ones and can kill a throw out very fast.