http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/378280-awd-drive-train-question.html

We can talk here or in the other thread, what ever works. Maybe we can keep the diagnostics to the other thread and post the "let's meet-up and take a good look at her" to this thread.

Thanks guys; I'm going to need some help with this one; I feel it will be coming to a bad end here real soon as I have to drive the car!

Some timmes the wheel pulling trick dont work. take your car to a flat parkinglot and drive fast enough till you hear the noise. Then turn left at a constant speed. If the noise gets louder then your passangers wheel bearing is going bad. Do it the same way to test the drivers side bearing by turning right.

As for the wheel spinning freely. Mine does that as well. Its normal becaust the transmission dont have an lsd in it. Now if you have all 4 tires off the ground and you spin one back tire only 3 whels will spin. I just changed a set of front bearings in a 2002 kia optima that were bad and didnt giggle but made a howling noise when driving. I did the swerving test and found the bad one on the drivers front. I just changed both the keep it all cemetrical in repairs. Its an expencive habbit but it keeps my cars nice.

Also try looking at your carrier bearings. They are known to make funny noises and viberations when they go bad. mine are bad and it sometimes makes a funny noise and it viberates my car a little bit even when driving slow. Just grab the drive shaft by the bearings and pull it arround. If it flops arround like a fish out of water then there bad and need of replacing. I have found that DSMGraveyard offers them for the cheapest for a new OEM part. Give jon a call at (269)226-4463 if your carrier bearings are bad.

Update: It looks like the whining sound I've been hearing is definitely coming from the transmission.

Ether way, I really appreciate all the response from you guys, it helps to have someone to bounce ideas off of and the general forum can fail in that regaurd from timt to time.

I got under the car with a automotive stethoscope and determined that the sound is very loud at the main section of the tranny neer the top/front (from the front of the car).

This really sucks because the tranny just had a Jacks rebuild 15k ago. I've been attempting to get Jack on the phone but they seem to be too busy... Not Good! I'll try again, then call TRE. I also plan to have a local transmission shop listen to it before I take everything apart.

I think I'll be in the market for a extra DD car so I can pull the tranny and engine to give everything a good look over. The engine has 25k on a fresh rebuild, so I'm curious to have a look at the bearings (as I did the build myself.)

As long as I can get a second car my stress levels will return too normal and I can begin to enjoy the process like normal; then i'll be back to enjoying my DSM as it should be enjoyed. A few minutes of Jacks time would go a long way to getting that started...

Thanks again guys and if anyone wants to get a look at the inside of a dsm tranny or 4g63t let me know when you'd like to come over and lend a hand.

wash, wash, rebuild... the life of a dsm enthusiast...