the problem is readily apparent to me....at very cold temps your trans oil turns to molasses. for the first few minutes because the oil is so thick there is obviously a moving gear that is not getting lubricated until the oil warms up and thins out. in addition Feb 26. I have rebuilt more than a few manual trans. although I have not taken a 6 speed apart as yet the symptoms are ALWays the same....everyone I haVE seen has a reverse idler gear situated high up in the trans, it does not get lubricated on a cold start. it operates o;n the SPLASH system...so people are complaining of noise until the car has been driven for awhile. I changed my oil out on maintenence at 46000 miles although I did not have any problems with it before hand....I used amsoil which apprently was TOO SLIPPERY causing the trans to crunch gears by beating the synchromesh. I changed to Mobil 1 and problem was solved. Now last it is possible that many people have changed their oil after experiencing howl but too late as they may have worn the shaft that reverse idler rides on.

 

okay.

I've read every posts in this thread (took a good hour) analyzing each case from different members, I am leaning towards transmission fluid and/or diff fluid.

There were two members that have had their transmissions replaced. The noise came back. As well there were a couple of members with tranny swap that fixed the problem for good. Perhaps the fluid type used were different on those occasions.

I'm a bit bummed reading up to the latest posting that the problem have not been 100% pin pointed as OP would have hoped (maybe he dumped his G by now lol). Thanks to the time and effort for the members here we've gotten somewhat close to the problem.

I'm going to have my MTF changed to ...MOTUL or OEM (I don't know what my current fluid type is). If that does not solve the problem I will look into changing the diff fluid to BG type as discussed earlier in this thread.

Since owning my G, I've found that I may have all the common problems going around in this forum...

1. faulty CD player (cause unknown)
2. ticking/clicking sound from under front of the car when car is warm (it's not engine knocking... perhaps tranny problem / cause unknown)
3. window module busted (fixed under warranty a while back / cause known)
4. whistling/wind/howling noise when car is cold (cause unknown)

Let's get this one out of the way folks... finish what the OP started. I really don't like the fact that I have to "live with it" until I get a new car...

PS. all of the annoyances did not effect the performance of the car at 55k

 

Have you replaced your transmission fluid with success?

 

I have read the whole post and I have exactly the same problem.

06 6MT

I live in Montreal so it gets very cold in the winter. The problem started this winter when temps went very low (-15C). Brought it to the dealer and all he did was re-lubricate the sunroof..... like that helped.

I drove my G 1/2 of last winter and this problem wasn't there....

I got a tranny fluid change from dealer mid winter (Dec. 2009) No difference. 2 months later (Feb 2010) I switched to Amsoil tranny fluid... problem still there.

Our temperatures are hovering around 0 degrees now, so its hard to diagnose more for the moment

I'm happy to know that i'm not only the one with this problem and i'm not "crazy" .....

 

Are you certain it's the transmission and not the power steering unit? Power steering pumps often object loudly to extremely cold weather.

 

man, still no definite answer? I basically moved on. My car runs great with or without the howling noise.

 

jardoeli, when was the last time you changed the differential fluid?

 

What kind of definite answer do you guys need? It's the transmissions CD008 and below that have this issue. As mention in the previous page, the dealership changed my transmission to the latest revision, CD009 and the problem is no longer there. It has been 30,000 miles with the new tranny with no howling noise.

 

I haven't yet. After reading all the posts, this will be my next attempt. If it doesn't fix it, I'll complain to the dealer and push for the new 009 tranny.

I only have 23k miles (37k KM) on my 06

But I HATE my dealer....

This morning it was 1 degree Celcius, and it did it slightly for about 30-45 seconds. I even put it in neutral, didn't change a thing.

 

I would hear it while backing up out of my driveway if it were power steering. I have a very long driveway.....

 

can someone please answer this.

people who are experiencing the howling noise...do you have a short shifter installed? would it be a problem if I brought my car to the dealership with a short shifter installed and complained about the noise? or should i just remove the shifter then bring it in?

thanks everyone!

 

^^^^^
i have the howling in cold weather and i have teh cd009 and no short shifter.

 

Please let us know if the diff flush changes anything. Oh, and brand of diff fluid will be a bonus.

I am scheduled to change both my tranny and diff fluid changed at the end of this month. I don't know if it will be too warm then to notice anything. Already with the weather we are having now the noise is certainly non existent. (or I have become immune to the annoyance)

In any case, this must be figured out.. but I guess we won't be as aggressive in figuring it out until next winter?....

GL to all of you!

 

Hello:

I've had the whistling/howling noise during cold weather since I bought my 2004 G35 Sedan 6MT. It was originally just when the car was fully cold and below freezing, but in the last year it had been happening more frequently and for longer. I had my transmission fluid changed at the dealer at 72-odd thousand miles, and the transmission was very reluctant to shift and noticeably more sluggish and cold blooded. The dealer had replaced the fluid with the standard 75W90, instead of the slightly-lower "Genuine Nissan Manual Transmission Fluid (MTF) HQ Multi 75W-85" which is optional for colder states (I live in Wisconsin.)

After it got into winter I was rather tired of it because the thing didn't like to shift for 5-10 minutes and howling was even worse. So, I switched to Redline MTL, which is a 'relatively-thick' 70W-80. This instantaneously fixed my sluggish, cold-blooded shifts and dramatically lowered the howling. Dramatically. It happens perhaps 5-10% of the time it used to, and perhaps 5-10% of the duration.

SO: from what I see, the issue is with our transmissions. It is exacerbated by heavier-weight oils. It is not nearly a universal problem nor a functional issue, although it's irritating as hell. So either you pay to crack your tranny open at a tranny shop, or go with Redline MTL and hope for enough improvement. It's working very well for me!

Good luck,


Rick

 

Hi Folks,

A little update.

I flushed out my tranny fluid to MOTUL 75w80 and diff fluid also to Motul.

too be frank I just flushed'em to be on the safe side.. it wasn't really necessary however now shifting has gone slightly smoother.

I saw no particles or metal shaving or darkening of the fluids. They all looked clean.

Too bad I can't test out the howling noise but I have a pretty good feeling it will still be there when the weather gets colder.

sigh..