978Jeep

Truck:
1997 Cherokee Sport 4.0L 5 speed manual

Driving to work this am and I get this horrible whining noise in all gears that goes away when I push in the clutch... (thought it was the belt since my AC Compressor blew yesterday and I had to fix it in a parking lot). Now after starting the truck... there is almost zero belt noise when the engine is reved w/ the clutch pushed in!!!!!!!

I've noticed a lot of gear oil and smoke coming from around the catalytic converter area but I figured it was just the cat being clogged since it rattles and needs to be replaced. Also note that everything was gravy until this AM... sh!!ttt **** SH!TTTTT

Question is, anyone experience or know whats going on here?

If my tranny is dry... how screwed am I right now? (give it to me lol) Can I add oil and salvage it? I still have a 40 mile commute home

Big Bess

seen your thread and have seen in past manual transmissions that when oil is to low you will have trouble shifting to other gears, so best thing would be check it out ASSAP even if your in a parking lot. Manuals seem to be the last fluid check on a vehicle if we never see a leak. and if you need to X-O it out it is cheaper to replace than an automatic.

978Jeep

Thing is, changing gears is as good as its been since I got it... there has been no change in how my truck shifts between gears.

Big Bess

Is the oil level ok? and is the noise in all gears or just one? does the noise change when climbing in speed or just driving in town, or at highway speeds?

978Jeep

I don't know how to check the oil and hav not checked the oil level yet...

I noticed the noise start on the highway today traveling in 5th gear and it sounded like a hum.... I was pushing in the clutch to make it go away but it just came back after a minute or so... thought it was the belt/ac compressor I just replaced...

when i got off the highway, 1st and 2nd gears were so loud and 3rd not so bad... 4th gear almost felt like it was non-existent...

noise seemed to get louder going up bigger hills/more strain on engine/tranny

fishtaconc

X200 on checking fluid, My toyota (totally different vehicle I know) was doing the same thing except in 4th no noise checked the fluid it was low filled it up but it was too late tranny died 2 wks later only had 4th gear. Mine was leaking out of the top plate where the shifter goes into the tranny. There should be plug on the side of the tranny the fluid level should be to the bottom of that hole. Just a note use GL-4 only GL-5 will attack the brass synchros

captainofiron

Check the oil and fill it up ASAP, because if not, you can say goodbye to your syncros

Big Bess

do you have one of the repairs manuals (chilton or haynes) or even the owners manual for the vehicle? you can go to the maintanence section and see where the location is to check your level of the transmission. need to eliminate the basic check first then go from there. sounds like it could be a bearing some where, front or rear is tobe determined after some other checks later.
If you had problems with the belt then I would just check out the level in trans first just to be sure no major problem could happen. then go to the noise where you can hear it. how about when it is just idling and then revving, perhaps you may have some one help you to listen. this can really help too. gotta run. hope this helps.

TrekkerJmm

@978Jeep check your PM's...Tj

978Jeep

sickkk thanks! I'm going to check as soon as I get out of here.

OverlandZJ

This is common... it's your throwout bearing singing. It only operates when the clutch pedal is depressed and spinning against the pressure plate.

Time to do a complete clutch job.

captainofiron

normally I would agree

but the way he says that it varies by gear makes me think of gear oil, I have this experience 1st hand, the previous owner didnt take care of it, within the first few days of owning it, I had similar experiences, and I opened it up to check the fluid level and it was nearly empty

OverlandZJ

Looks like i skimmed over too quickly and misread... ignore me today.

978Jeep

including the noises I'm hearing while in gear?

edit:
Ok, now we're making more sense... yea, transmission isn't doing to good I don't think... i could be totally wrong... but it never made noise whether clutch was in or out until i was driving for about 15 minutes on the highway this AM... where things started to whine really bad.

978Jeep

can anyone walk me through checking the tranny fluid or changing it? I'm a NOOB w/ every intention of changing that!!!!!