Hi all, so after changing the timing chain and coolant pump, the engines lovely and quiet now so quiet I've noticed another noise ! So when the car is in nutural, it's like a tapping noise/bearing, but I can only hear it in nutural, push the clutch in and this noise disappears, it had a new clutch kit fitted last year , done a bit of googling and think it's a input Shaft bearing, so i figured this first and easiest thing I could do would be to change the transmission oil, because it might not of been changed for 120k miles, I'm not sure if A1 clutches use the same stuff they drain when doing the clutch hell I'm not even sure if you have to drain it to do the clutch, but I'd imagine they would reuse to save money as it's 15 quid a litre, is this something that may help anyone else think it's worth a try? Thanks again all.

 

Just pulled this from Google

 

A worn or defective input shaft bearing can cause noisy operation in neutral with the engine running. The pitch or tone of the noise changes with engine speed and a slight vibration might be felt through the shifter. This symptom can also be caused by deficient gear oil levels or quality.

 

Thanks

Mike

Edited 22 October, 20205 yr by MinkyMike

They do tend to 'chatter' in neutral but seem to go on for years like that. Mine does it too and I changed my gearbox oil. If you do want to change the oil, only 1.4 MPIs before October 2001 have a gear oil drain plug - later ones only have a 17mm hex filler plug and you have to suck the oil out with a suction pump, I got a cheap one on ebay which worked but I had to modify it with a thinner tube.

The box holds approx 2 litres.

 

Filler plug location is just above reversing light switch...

 

 

 

Edited 22 October, 20205 yr by TMB

You really only need to top the gearbox up but if you want to change it it's not going to do any harm, it just won't fix the worn bearing so it's a waste of your money.

Ah cheers pal, yeah I've got an 2002 plate so guessing I'll have to suck it out, might just try topping it up like sepulchrave said.. not much point spending another 15 quid for a litre if it's not gonna make a difference... Thanks for replys