I purchased a my Mazda 3 about 3 weeks ago. About a week ago I noticed a high pitched whine when driving on the freeway at about 65 mph in 5th gear (~3000 rpm). I have tried putting the clutch in while in 5th driving 65mph and the whining stopped. I have also tried driving in 4th at 65mph and the whining has alo stopped. Driving at 3000 rpm in any other gear does not produce the whine.

In conclusion, I can only produce the high pitched whine at speeds of about 65mph in 5th gear. My questions are, does anyone know what this might be and has anyone else noticed this sound coming from their mazda 3?

 

The noise you're hearing is from the 2 gears that produce your 5th gear. It's usually caused by a gap larger than normal between the 2 gears. The noise is created as the driving gear contact then rubs off the other gear. And By larger I don't mean anything major.

Check with the dealership, especially if others don't have the same problem. That way it's in their system just in case something does go wrong with the tranny. But in most cases it's quite normal.

Both my Protege 5 and Nissan Maxima have the whine, but both of those are during the 2nd & 3rd of my cars.

 

My P5 has developed a whining noise too. I have a 2003 4 spd auto 10,000 miles and during 2 long trips in hot weather with the ac on I get this whining noise at about 78 mph. Sounds like it's coming from the cd player. Could there be something loose inside the radio/cd player that whines at that speed. I never notice it during regular high speed driving for short distances. I asked the dealer about this and the wimps refuse to diagnose! I called Mazda and all the egghead did was look for any recalls. I figure someone out here might be able to help me diagnose this prob. I have no problem if it means changing the radio, as the car could use a better stereo anyway. Thanks and I'll probably create my own posting for this.

 

I have a 2004 3 5s 4 speed automatic and like i've never heard the whine before no matter what speed im going; and i've gone up to 120 mph in my car.

 

Thanks very much to everyone who responded to this post. I really apprectiate it.

I purchased my Mazda3 down in San Diego. I called up the service department at my dealership and explained the problem. The service guy I talked to said that the noise was totally normal and that his Mazda3 made the exact same noise.

I then called a Santa Barbar dealership and talked to their service department. (I go to school in SB). The person I talked to said that he had never heard of the problem before and that I should bring it in.

Finally, I called my friend who is an engineer at Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. His group uses the Mazda3's engine and some of its parts for hydrogen fuel research and is relatively familiar with its setup. He called the sound "gear whine" and said that is was not exceptable and that I should take it in.

So I have an appointment with the service department tomorrow at 9:00 AM. I will post tomorrow and let everyone know what I have learned.

 

kcidmil - thanks for the very imformative post. I appreciate it.

C My P5 Go - I'll let you know what they tell me.