Last of the summer whine

A friend bought a 2003 Agila with 24k miles. There is a whine in 5th gear unless the car is coasting. The salesman said "it is a town car and 5th gear hasn't yet been run in". My suspicions are that 5th gear has a problem. My friend's previous car was also a 2003 plate Agila in which she did 113k miles from new before the engine lost power and became noisy. The Vauxhall dealer that sold my friend the car said: "£350 to take the engine apart and probably £2k for a new engine ... so why not buy a Network Q Agila"?

Asked on 20 June 2009 by

Answered by Honest John

Might simply need the transmission oil level topping up. But a whine is usually a worn bearing. Need not be a disaster. I had a GTI 16v with that problem, added some STP to the transmission oil, and ran it
like that until I sold it two years later.

Tags: technical issues gearboxes owning

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