hey everyone, I have a 1991 FireBird 305 TBI with a manual trans.

heres my problem, when the car is running in neutral and i let the clutch out it makes a whining noise, but when I push it in the noise seems to go away.

I have tried changing the trans fluid but no help.

Any idea what it could be?

Mine does the same thing most times, but not all the time. Just the pilot bushing, nothing to be concerned about.


I believe all newer performance cars do it. I can speak as far as every single manual 370z does it because I work at a Nissan dealer. Considered normal operation.


I've had my Camaro for 10 years and its done it from the very beginning. Never had an issue and its been the same clutch and I put a ton of miles on it.

would that also be called a throw out bearing?

Throw out bearing is actually what I meant, sorry for the brain fart.


Now here's the only thing I'd like to note though. If it's just a minimal sounding, low volume type noise like mine, then I'm sure you will be fine.


But if it's screaming bloody murder, than it may be a good idea to tear it down for a new clutch.

That whining is neither the pilot bushing (which if it were to make a noise, it would make it when the engine is turning at one speed and the clutch disc is turning at another) or the throwout (which makes noise when the clutch is pressed, or when it's TOTALLY released, but not both).

That noise is internal to the trans. It's just the guts whirling around in there. When you push the clutch in and sit there for a bit, all the stuff that's spinning coasts to a stop and quits whining.

It's normal, in reasonable amounts. Like, if the car has ALWAYS (last 20 yrs let's say) made the same noise, no change, then it's OK. On the other hand, if it was dead silent yesterday until you did a big smoky clutch dump and speed-shifted it into 2nd while the tires were still spinning, and NOW it does it, .... totally different matter.

ok, that makes sense. Ill try to get a short videio of it later if I can figure out how to post a video on here. thx for all the help

ok, so had the car out for a rip today, the clutch is definatley making noise when the clutch is all the way out in neutral, but only in neutral,, It doesnt seem to make any noise while in motion shifting through the gears.. So Im going to go with its the throw out bearing? and not really be too worried about it until it worsens , at that point I guess its new clutch time...

It's still not the clutch. Or the throwout bearing.

It's the innards of the transmission, all those gears and shafts and whatnot, spinning around.

As said, to some extent, normal. If it's changed recently, especially if it's got worse, ... not so much. Maybe.

Is the fluid topped off?

I have only had the car for a couple of months. I basically bought the car and drove it home to my garage and did a bunch of work to it. One of the things that I did was changed the transmission fluid. To change it I just removed the lower drain plug and let the trans drain, then pulled out the upper fill plug and added fluid until it started running out of the fill hole.

So if that is correct then yes the fluid is topped up.

I cant recall it doing it before I changed the fluid, I only drove it the one time to get it home.. Its on the road as my daily driver now.

had the car out today to take it in for an alignment, I noticed when I got home that when I put the car in neutral and released the clutch the whining noise was much quieter, is this an indication of anything?