[T3] Moaning in and out of gear

[Daniel Nohejl]

So I’ve either recently developed or only recently became attuned to an irritating moaning noise coming from the back of the car under the engine lid or thereabouts. It’s a relatively low pitched moaning wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh sound that appears at the following points whether accelerating or decelerating. Because of the speeds it occurs at, driving in traffic has become really annoying:

12-15mph in 1st
20-23mph in 2nd
30-35mph in 3rd

It sounds for the life of me like wheel bearings but there are two things ruling them out. I’m confused b/c it seems that #1 would indicate the transmission and #2 indicates the motor, possibly the fan?

1. if the sound is occurring and I immediately shift into neutral, the sound goes away

2. i can reproduce the sound in neutral by revving the motor to a certain rpm

Here’s what it sounds like b/w 20 and 23 in 2nd. You need to either be close to your computer speakers or wearing headphones. It might be hard to pick up the sound at first, but once you do, it’s unmistakeable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq6p3Tqm9i4 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq6p3Tqm9i4>

And here’s a really brief clip with the trans in 3rd….you can hear it disappear as we accelerate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIo2mSKabLk <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIo2mSKabLk>

Ahead of a big cross country trip starting next week, I’m a bit nervous and having been burned so many times, I fear something grave is wrong. I’ll go poking around and whatnot, but I wonder if this sound rings any bells. 
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