EDIT: Found its not the gearbox at all, but rather the diff!

Going to have to get the car onto stands and pull the axles out and pull the cover and inspect the internals.

OK so here is how the story goes, got into the car last night drove to a mates house, all ok, no noticeable noises (that I remember hearing anyway)

Left the car in the driveway for about 30 mins, got back into it and it grinds/rumbles/rattles in 1st through to 4th gear.

Most noticeable in 3rd and 4th in any rev range.

Noise goes away when I push the clutch pedal in though.

But noise is louder when I push the shifter down.

Have removed the shifter and check it all nothing wrong down there and noise still there?!

Any ideas?

Got a mech @ work to take a look and he's also not sure without pulling the gearbox out and pulling it to bits!

just a guess... thrush berring ? / clutch ?

(gotta get myself a spell checker sometime soon)

edit

"push the shifter"... with the clutch in or out ?

Clutch is new, thrust washer would make the noise all the time.

Push the shifter down when its in gear driving along the road

So while moving you push the pedal in to disengage the motor from the drivetrain and the sound goes away?

Since the gearbox is constant meshing even while rolling with the clutch in the gears etc are still rotating so if it was something to do with the gearbox internals I'd think the sound would stay...

Thrust bearing would get worse as you pushed the pedal in, if the bearing were shot then it would grind more when force is applied to it,

Only thing I could think of is possibly crankshaft thrust bearings, but I'd think that would get worse with the pedal pushed in just like the clutch thrust bearing.

Otherwise layshaft bearings, or layshaft gear is damaged. Clutch pressed in, removes the force from the motor transferring through the layshaft, the louder noise when the pedal is being pushed in could be the axial force on the layshaft...

Also I'd be checking flywheel bolts, can you reproduce the noise in neutral by revving the motor? Startor teeth not fully disengaging?

Shouldn't be the crank thrust bearings as yes logic would say that it would get louder when pushing the pedal in?

May check the flywheel bolts sometime since I see a few people leaking oil into the box etc. But that wouldn't make any more noise etc.

Can't hear any noise revving the engine in neutral but will do it again with the car on a hoist perhaps.

Nar the starter teetch as that again would do it in all gears and probably shoot a few bits and pieces away inside the bell housing.

Not looking good though :( Wreckers want mega $$$ for the J160s!!!

Have you checked the gearbox fluid to see if its topped up and that there's no little bits of metal etc in there?

I know when my box was about 0.5L down on oil it sounded pretty noisey, topping it up helped alot but its never been the same since :(

Not the gearbox!

Its the diff! Unsure at the moment if its just the LSD unit or possibly the pinion, no chunks inside though I drained the oil and filled it again.

DAMN!

Stock Torsen or TRD LSD or something?

hey nick i seem to have the same problem with mine...

1st gear - whining noise coming from gear lever(gets louder as revs go up)
2nd gear - again,some whining noise,chattering starts to come in(not very noticeble yet)
3rd gear - same as 2nd gear
4th gear - no whining noise but pure chattering,grinding noise and farking loud!!
5th gear - all noise goes away and fuel pump noise can be heard
6th gear - slight chatter but seems normal

is this what you got nick??mine's starting to get on my nerves!!!

TRD Mechanical 1.5 Way.

Plan is:
- Get a 2nd hand complete diff head
- Swap out my whole diff for the 2nd hand item
- Pull apart my old diff and check it all out inside to see if it was the pinion/crown gear, bearings or the LSD itself and hopefully be able to keep my TRD 1.5 Way - can't afford a new one $1250! (if anyone wants the last TRD 1.5 Way Mechanical LSD let me know, great price @ $1250 including!!!)

Got a video of the noise, will load it soon

Click HERE for the sound/video file

oh...ok...dats totally different sound from mine...lol...!

Wonder if my axle tramping issue was an early sign?:
http://z4.invisionfree.com/lexusaltezzaclu...wtopic=8512&hl=

can you feel anything when going really slow in first ( just creeping 1000rpm 1st gear )

Nothing beats a stock Torsen LSD...

Until a wheel comes off the ground that is <_<

I have a grinding problem tooo :( However, mine is as such...

Pulling away in 1st while changing to 2nd it grinds. It only happens then and on the rare occasion changing to 3rd?? No noise when revving in neutral. Sometimes it sounds as if it wants to fall apart :(

Feel it in every gear now LOL, even when I had to reverse the car into the garage >.<

Mighty think those are your syncros rather then the diff

Sounds like its crunching during 2nd & 3rd shafts which is synchro related rather than the differential, have you done an oil change recently, I'd try some Redline MT-90 before stripping it down.

Thanks XNickX & Leiden, will look into it ;)

my guess is chipped tooth on the crown wheel or pinion.

resulting from axle tramp.

any news nick??

So what exactly causes axle tramp?

Unbalanced rims? Slightly out of round rims?

My driveline is starting to feel a little slack, theres a very momentary gap between the clutch engaging and the power reaching the rear, feels almost like a small thud when everything tightens up

I've still got layshaft gear slack in my mind as the culprit which has become alot more pronounced with a lightened flywheel but would be good to get some other opinions first

Pics and details on inside the diff to come this week or coming weekend :P

Hmmm, starting to think mine could possibly be Diff related too, except mine is a stock Torsen,

Is it normal to be able to turn the driveshaft by hand forward and back about 15 degree's before feeling any resistance?

Not sure to be honest Leiden, will check next time I'm under the car.

Photos of carnage!

Pinion one side:


Another side:


What was left (few more floating inside the diff:


The TRD LSD was fine, new bearings just to be safe though but all back in and all go now :D

Ouch... glad to hear your back up and running!

Did you notice any kind of grinding or whine leading up to the knocking or did it just happen rather instantly?

Nope nothing at all, noticed the axle tramping, not sure if it was related though but since replacing the diff, mine has stopped tramping >.<!

But not 100% yet if the tramping was a sign.

Kinda happened instantly, all was fine, then I heard noise, which got louder and louder within the hour!

Yep, that's certainly do it...

Just an aside, what's the recommended oil for the Torsen diffs and how much of it do you need to use? I could look for the info myself but I'm lazy tonight...

All here :)
http://z4.invisionfree.com/lexusaltezzaclu...?showtopic=2841

Diff. oil
3SGE and 1GFE:
LSD - 1.00L - 85W90/GL5
NO LSD - 1.05L - 85W90 GL5
2JZ-GE - 1.15L SAE 90 GL5

How's that for service, ACNZ, the club that never stops giving haha!

And quick too, 2mins!!

Same as manual transmission oil then?

Cheers Nick.

MT oil should be GL4 otherwise you'll kill your syncro's

Just as a note, if you have a TRD diff make sure you use the trd oil which contains the necessary friction modifiers.

The TRD diff oil can be used in a normal torsen diff, but normal diff oil cannot be used in the trd lsd.

X 2!

So what's the club price on that oil Nick? ;-)

Would a GL-4 oil be ok for the diff or would you not recommend it? I have the Redline MT90 to go into my MT and I'm doing the diff at the same time.

I'm not so sure if I'd use MT90 in the diff. I doesn't say on their web site that its suitable & it won't have friction modifiers that GL5 has for the LSD.
I can do you 1L of Mobil1 80w140 GL5 fully synthetic for $24.50 if you like Jeremy. We use it in everything from Transits to Falcons here at work. It's good stuff.