Thanks. We're socked in here with a serious winter so can't get the car out. Usually I'll have it out 2-3 times on good days in Jan, Feb and March.

 

I got tired of hearing the noise so I went to the dealer. They are replacing my transmission next Thurs. I'll post my results fo sho

 

transmission not diff? How did they decide the transmission was the issue?

 

Wow, you gotta love Driver forum just for this reason. I was just randomly on the main page and saw this thread, been having the same problem and have been worrying myself sick that it's some major issue. Gotta love our community for sharing the good stuff and the bad.

Suffice it to say that I have been having the same issue all winter / as it got below freezing especially with my 06 6MT coupe+PP. Same "whistling" noise around 30-45mph while the car is cold, starts louder like a whine/whistle while then fades to a light whistle when car reaches temperature and then some time after that disappears completely. I also never noticed this before winter started. I bought my car in May and it never made a squeak until this.

I took it to the dealer once for unrelated service and told them to check it out, but suspected they wouldn't be able to replicate the noise because my car was still warm. Sure enough, they tried, but no avail. Next morning after a nice freezing night, it was back and then gone by the time I got to where I was going.
I am actually going to try to take it in tomorrow and leave it with them for the night so they can hear it for themselves. I will post up what they find if anything in a couple days probably.

Good luck to you all, hopefully it's just some normal whine as the car comes to temp, all I know is that it is rather disconcerting.

 

Well, a few things led to the trans. They originally thought it was a belt or the pilot bearing and said the noises were normal. I think they only drove it around the lot and the belts were fine, I tightened them myself. Plus they replaced the flywheel, clutch and bearing a few months ago. They said to come up and check for the noise with the tech so I went up there. The tech came out and wanted to listen to the car while it sat idle. I told him you gotta ride to hear it so I took him on a test ride. It had been sitting long enough in the cold for the noise to come back and 30 seconds down the road it started "whining". He told me to take the clutch in and out and change gears and accelerate/decelerate and the noise was present in all tests. He also turned off the a/c motor and it was still whining. We talked about it being the transmission and he talked with the service guy and he went to order one.

Oh and when I called in to schedule the service the lady could hear the whine over the phone through the bluetooth. Its definitely noticeable.

 

@ Strada: an 06? we've seen 06 Zs with this issue, but i think you're the first 06 G (unless im horribly wrong, which is possible). crap, i was kind of hoping just upgrading to a new year's part would fix it. that's a shame.

@ Dubel: did the tech say if he had a reason why he thought it was the transmission even though it seems to be speed related and not RPM related? to me that's been the biggest indicator that if this is drivetrain it's more likely in the Diff than in the transmission, but it could be something on the driveshaft end thats doing it i suppose.

i've started to get the other odd noise more frequently as its been getting colder lately (the one that sound more like a mechanical whine than a windy howl) and that DOES seem to be RPM related and centered more in the transmission. that one appears at a lower speed and goes away sooner.

ugh. i'm wishing i'd gotten to drive this car very cold before i bought it. this is becoming a bit of a headache.

 

Yea, I'm an 06 with the issue. I'm not quite sure what to think of it. Being that its only at a very narrow speed range and RPM range worries me as it means something is occurring at that particular set of parameters each time. But it being so quick to go away is a good sign.
I don't know. I dropped it off early today and told them not to touch it until tomorrow morning. I should have results to post at some point tomorrow. I can't speculate much other than that. Stay tuned I guess.

I feel like more people have this issue, but since a lot of G owners live in the south, they rarely see sub-freezing temps to cause shennanigans like this. I'll ask the local guys in Columbus if they ever get it or if they've had similar issues.

 

i definitely get the feeling that it's not an immediate concern, as so many people have been living with it for so long, but its definitely loud enough to sound wrong, and it is a bit embarrassing when driving someone else in the car and have to explain that "there's nothing wrong, it's just a noise it makes when it's cold."

it's not something an owner should have to just live with, and i can't believe this hasn't been resolved in at least 3 years of production.

i ended up picking this car over an RX-8 because of a better history of reliability in the G. dealing with this... i'm starting to regret my choice.

 

I know exactly what you mean. I just ran out to get some Chipotle the other night and rolled up to a light by which an apparent homeless guy was standing and I whined myself to a stop. He looks up at me like, "what the hell guy?"
I proceeded to and rolled along...at that stage I figured I should probably just go get it looked at.

But don't start worrying just yet, could be very minor...hopefully.

 

Well, this took a turn for the worse.

I just got off the phone with the dealer. The techs took the car out this morning and heard the noise. Sadly it is much warmer today than it was yesterday and thus it stopped after the car warmed up.
Initial impression from the dealer is that it is likely from the transmission and they want to keep it over the weekend to diagnose further. I will update with more details as they come in. Right now it seems more than a minor issue but then again they really don't know yet.

 

any take from the dealer on what exactly about the transmission?

we're getting a lot of "the dealer thinks it's the transmission" but not many dealers seem eager to help figure out what about the transmission is doing it.

let us know what you hear. if you can make it to a tech to talk to, go nuts and report back!

 

The service guy said the tech wanted to keep it for the weekend to figure it out. He didn't say much more so I didn't press it right then. You can bet I'm going to go down there this weekend and see what's what.

 

Mine is also an 06..

So they ended up getting the trans in earlier than expected so I got it replaced and back yesterday. It wasn't as cold out but I still heard the noise a little that night after the car sat for a few hours. I'm guessing when it's real cold again it will be just as loud as before. As soon as it's cold again I'll comment on it. I had issues with the old tranmission when downshifting into 2nd so I'm def happy I got it replaced, regardless.

This issue may in fact be the differential. I have Amsoil Sever Gear 75W-90 in right now. When I get time I may switch back to the BG lubricant that the dealer uses. I know Amsoil is a strong product though so I might just live with it until the next scheduled maintenance.

 

I don't think this will ever be resolved..thread after thread, and at the my350z forums too. After reading all 10 million posts about this issue...it's not the transmission. Its a nice free ticket for a new transmission from the dealership though. Differential maybe?..but then why is the noise coming from the front?

I just gave up on it...my G performs the exact same way when i bought. I just learned to have it warmed up before I give it a full go.

 

^ everything can be resolved. there's still plenty research that can be done on this before i throw my hands in the air and give up.

i'm starting to buy into the dif theory more and more. what diff fluid is everyone running?

-is there anyone out there thats running a specific fluid that ISN'T hearing it?

-anyone with an upgraded LSD that's hearing it?

-anyone with the finned nismo cover hearing it (unlikely that the last one has anything to do with anything, but could affect resonance.)