clicking noise upon de-acceleration. trans?? 03 MSP

[mazzdog]

i have a 2003 MSP, hardpipes, and urethane MM. Whenever i slow down, no matter if im coasting in gear or in neutral. there is a clicking noise that goes with the revolution of the wheel. slow or fast. if i accelerate it goes away. if im on the brakes its still noisey.

i had it on a lift today, the axle boots arent torn. and the heatsheilds seem to be fastened. ive searched a little, and the only thing i found similair someone referred to a bearing in the trans, (manual by the way). maybe the differential. i was just wondering if anyone knew of any common issues. you help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KrayzieFox]

Is the noise still present if you press in the clutch?

 

[HighSpeed]

^^^ that.......and be thinking differential bearings as a worse case scenario.

 

[mazzdog]

yeah its still present with the clutch pressed in. would i need to replace the diff? or can i press new bearings in?

 

[HighSpeed]

well the bearings are on the Diff, so you need to take the diff out and have the old bearings removed, then replace the bearing races in the casing, making sure that everything is even. If the races are not right then the bearing will not sit correctly and will do some major damage. I just took a flat peice of wood and tapped the new races in until they were flush with the casing, it was easy. Make sure that this is the problem first though because you will be doing alot of work

 

[hornsfan10609]

Wheel bearings?

 

[MSP_12]

Mazzdog, what ever happened to be the issue here? After a little spirited driving over this past weekend, I too now have the EXACT same noise you describe. It's only when coasting and decelerating, in or out of gear, clutch engaged or in neutral. I'm starting to panic. I hope it isn't the differential itself coming apart.

 

[Valk]

Mine does this. My dif had two recrangular keys floating around in it that i couldnt fish out. Bearings were ok. I took the trans apart to replace the input shaft bearings but didnt have $1000 for a new dif lol. Mazda couldnt tell me what the floaties were but they could not be removed so i just shoved it back in. That magnet is highly effective lol. Captured the inner race of my input shaft bearing and spared all the gearsets.

Ps id go get a trans from a p5 es if your looking for the cheap fix. If it is the dif your looking at a minimum $600 to replace it doing he work youself. Bearings are cheap. But good opportunity to replace all bearings and give the trans a good inspection. At oeast with a p5 trans you can drive the car around while you rebuild your good trans.
Or you know. Spend $1500 to have it done.

 

[MSP_12]

So do you drive yours like that?

I've got mine on stands right now just getting ready to pull it apart. I'm going to do it all myself. I'm prepared for the worst as far as a new differential is concerned.

I'm torn on the diff though. The car has 168500 now and I've had it since it had 90,000 and I've never put a diff in it, I figure if it was going to go it would have went by now but I don't know if it was replaced before I got the car...

So that's kind of where I am right now. Like you said, it doesn't hurt to get in there and clean it up a little, take a look at what's what....

 

[hornsfan10609]

Check the CVs and wheel bearings before you pull the trans unless you are certain it's coming from inside the trans.

 

[Valk]

Dif is not something the average owner would have done in the cars lifetime just because.
The difs on these cars will not blow up if you drive them like normal cars. Clutch dumps at high rpm are typically what does them and it is commonly shearing the dif case. I havent heard too many people having their dif internals blow up but anything is possible given the right conditions.
In my case i think the input shaft bearing blew and though none of my gears were damaged, some might have found its way into the dif.
Do as horns says and inspect those parts first.