Hi, my '96 Jetta GL started making an unsettling grinding sound - it happened pretty suddenly on my way back from work.

When parked, I can rev the engine all I want and it's perfectly normal and smooth. As soon as the car is in gear, the grinding ensues It doesn't matter how fast I'm driving, it seems to be directly related to RPM's, when i am over 3000 rpm it doesnt do it as much. It seems to do it the worst when i am speeding up or going up a hill. When i put my car on blocks so the front wheels can spin freely it doesnt make the noise at all.

I'm assuming it's something in the manual transmission, but does anyone know exactly what the problem could be and what this may cost me to have repaired?

 

How severe is the grinding and does it get worse when you turn? Did you go through all the gears while it was on blocks?

 

The grinding sounds pretty bad, It doesnt seem to get worse when i turn and i went through all the gears while it was on blocks. I am baffled really on what it could be, i just changed the transmission oil and there was no filings or anything in there.

 

I would check your cv joints and your wheel bearings first. You can do that by jacking the wheels up and and see if there is any play when you move the wheel in and out and also spin the wheels and look for any out strange movement from the joints or the axle. If it's not those then it may be the trans. To answer your first question, a new trans is about $2,500 without labor. I found a used one for a friend of mine for $600.

 

K thanks for your help, ill check that out asap.

 

Actually, I think your trans is fine. I don't know what I was thinking. If it went through all the gears and didn't make a noise then it's fine.