'90 Camaro, L05 engine, manual transmission, no upgrades to the rear end or tranny (to my knowledge. PO was kind of an idiot.) It's my daily driver, and it's taken me just fine on dozens of 300+ mile trips. I know the tranny or possibly the clutch is going, but it's still quite drivable... until yesterday.
Driving up the road just fine, all of a sudden, CRAZY loud chatter started, sounded like it was coming from the tranny. I mean, louder than the engine. I was quite close to home with 3 other people in the car, so i turned around and got it home... the noise was considerably quieter in 4th gear, but it was present and LOUD in all gears, not so much with the clutch in... I'm thinking my transmission finally went, but I wanted to see if anybody else had this happen, or if it could be something else... don't wanna spend a couple grand if i don't have to. :P Thanks.

 

Sounds like a number of issues could have occurred. Of course first step is check the fluid, could be dry and that's damaging. My initial thought was your clutch pilot bearing, but also do a quick check of the universal joint in the front of the driveshaft.

 

I'm certain it's not fluid, as I just recently filled it, and it hasn't been leaking... I'll check that though. I meant to check the U joints, but I hadn't had a chance to do *anything* since driving it home. I'll check it out tonight. How might I check the clutch pilot bearing? Or is that a pull-it-all-out job?

 

I've been having a similar issue, but not nearly as bad. Just a tiny bit of chatter from the clutch, but it's mainly just the squeeking of the throwout bearing for me.

Thank goodness I have this on hand.