2004 tacoma manual tran. noise

[jdtuck]

Hey guys,
Does anyone have any experience with this. 2004 tacoma 5 speed, 4 cly, 4-wheel drive. Has 90,000 presently. about 7,500 mile ago the tran. started making a noise like a bearing running "odd"(close to a throw out bearing going bad) I looked around and saw several post from other places that mentioned this and all that was said was "they just kept running it". The noise goes away when you depress the clutch. No hard shifting but it is a little louder. ANY ideas...comments?

Thanks
John

[mechanic]

There are several things it could be.  1.) Make sure that the throwout bearing is moving completely clear of the pressure plate when the clutch is released.  2.)  It could be a pilot bearing in the flywheel, it could be a main shaft bearing in the transmission.  Regardless of what it is, if its bearing noise, it will not fix itself, and will only get worse.  Unless you have a good friend in the junk yard business, its cheaper to repair before it eats up gears and housing.  3.)  Are you sure its transmission and not differential?  Drive train noise is hard to trace sometimes.  Even a universal joint can make a lot of noise.   Fix it before it comes unglued.....

[jdtuck]

The reason I believe it is in the tranny I only notice it sitting still at a idle.
ALL advice or experience would be greatly appreciated.


John

[mechanic]

You still might be fortunate....it might just be the pilot bearing.  There is a bearing in the flywheel on the engine, that the nose of the transmission main shaft goes in.  Often it will give the noise you mention.  If you continue to run it until it comes apart, it could damage the transmission shaft and housing. 

Better fix it or have it fixed.  No way around it.  It could cost a small fortune if it ruins the housing and gears in the transmission or transfer case..