Whirring roaring noise

[Thedogscar]

Hey fellow Vibettes short time lurker first time poster here. Searched the forums a little but didn't find an issue exactly like mine so here goes. I have a 2004 1.8 front wheel drive purchased brand new with roughly 120,000 miles on it. It's been a good car for us but lately is throwing out this godawful noise that sounds like it's coming from the front (engine compartment area.) It starts as you go down the road and does not do it in neutral revving in the driveway. It sounds completely normal at idle speed.
You first hear it at roughly 25-30 mph and it gets progressively louder as you go thru the gears up towards hiway speeds. (5-speed manual.) By the time you hit 60mph it kinda sounds like a rocket ship preparing for lift-off. Just kind of a loud hum or roar noise. As you let off the gas and slow down the noise abates accordingly. The best way I can desribe it is it just sounds like the engine is revving like off the charts but the tach obviously reads normal and it drives normally. No other issues.
I know I need to take it in and have it looked at but I thought maybe you guys could kind of help give me an idea of what I might be looking at before I dive in and start listening to mechanicspeak. You know, (you need a new johnson rod blah blah blah.) I can change oil and a tire but am not a gearhead by any means so my knowledge is a bit lacking. Thanks for any help or ideas you might be able to dispense.

[joatmon]

Welcome to genvibe, but I may have bad news.

Vibes have been remarkably reliable, but the one major exception to that is the early years 5 -speed transmissions. A number of us, myself included have had them fail. Some bearing in them goes out, and your symptoms sound just like mine did. One shop I took mine to said that it was not economical to rebuilt the transmission, better to replace it. I replaced mine with a later year 5 speed from a junkyard, and it worked fine until at 288K miles other issues had me trade the car for a near identical (but automatic) Vibe.

Some folks here have been too leery of the 5 speed issues, and when their 5 speed failed they replaced it with the 6 speed transmission used in the Vibe GT (and matrix xrs, and some other toyotas) The 6 speeds have been a whole lot more reliable than the early 5 speeds. One difference (other than an extra gear and a different shift pattern) is that the top gear in the 6 speed isn't geared as high as the top gear in the 5 speed, so in the top gear, the same engine at the same vehicle speed with the 6 speed will need to run faster than one with a 5 speed. Not much but some, so there might be a minor MPG hit.

You can look for used transmissions near you at car-part.com. Some junkyards will install them for you. If you go with a used one, get some warranty, so that you know its good when you start.

All that being said, you need to have some mechanic look at it to verify the problem, its too much money to just take my word for it. You'll want to deal with it soon, if it is the tranny then all that whirring/roaring would be continued and increasing wear and damage, and at some point it will strand you

[sideshowalan]

Could be the 5-speed problem or a wheel bearing.

Confirm it's the transmission failure if the noise goes away when putting the car in neutral at speed.
Confirm it's the wheel bearing by lightly swerving left and right at speed, the noise will get louder when turning one way or the other. If so, the problem wheel bearing is on the opposite side you're turning to (bad right wheel bearing if it gets louder when swerving left).
Let us know what you find out.

[Thedogscar]

Hey guys thanks for the responses. Took a test run and the noise does not abate in neutral at speed and I thought maybe got louder with a slight left swerve and quieter back to the right. Not sure but will bring the wife on a test run when she gets home from work as another set of ears to see if she can confirm what I thought I heard.
After you advised of the tranny problems I delved into the engine and transmission forum and found out about all the issues but I haven't had any other problems excepting the noise. She shifts like butter no grinding or forcing or popping out of gear.
Sounds like it could be just a wheel bearing? Fingers crossed will bring in next week to find out for sure.

[Thedogscar]

Hey sorry it took longer than forever for me to update the situation but it's been a hectic month.
Yes it was a wheel bearing. After one shop told me it wasn't because there was no wobble in the wheel another shop confirmed it was. Then roughly a day or two after their first repair it started growling worse yet. Brought it back in they said the first part was defective and fixed it again, hopefully right this time. Whew! No issues since (roughly a week now) so fingers crossed we're finally good to go.
All in all still way better than tranny replacement probably about one-tenth the cost eh?

[sideshowalan]

Good to hear it wasn't the transmission.
Best way to avoid failure of the 5-speed is to change out the gear oil regularly.
Highly recommend Redline MT-90.

[lannvouivre]

Hopefully they used a reputable brand like timken or national. SKF and MOOG are also good brands.

It really helps to go the extra mile with a nice wheel bearing, so that you replace it again many years later instead of later that year. It can also fail early if installed improperly.