I have an alfa romeo [147 2007](tel:147 2007), lately the manual gear got so hard, and i also noticed some oil on the ground where i park the car, and today i noticed when i accelerate the engine is making a strange noise like its pulling air into the engine, a very strange noise. I checked the engine oil and the water all good. What could be the issue? The gear oil? Could it cause such a noise in the engine? Thank you
Does the noise change in pitch or volume as you accelerate? Is this a petrol or diesel engine?
This is primarily a US forum and the 147 wasn’t exported to the US. We may still be able to help you, but it is unlikely that anyone will be familiar with your car. Continue the conversation though.
The noise goes out when I accelerate on a certain level or higher, when im going slow it doesnt make the noise, and harder I accelerate louder the noise becomes.
The car is diesel.
If it were me, since you have a new gear box noise and saw new oil leak under the car, but the engine oil and coolant are full, I would check the gearbox fluid level and for leaks, could have blown out a front input shaft bearing… Just one of many many many possibility’s…
Best to take the vehicle to a mechanic… might even want to tow it…
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And this leak could cause such a noise in the engine?
Do you mean it is hard to shift gears?
I am not a mechanic. Seems you may have two different problems. One, the gearbox and/or clutch, two, the air intake for your vehicle.
Is your vehicle showing a check engine light?
If an air intake or turbocharger problem I would expect a check engine light.
Yeah i have a problem shifting the gear. I dont know if the sound is connected to the problem of the gear…
This may be a false flag. The noise probably coming from tranny, but seems like it’s coming from engine.
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Noises can travel, the engine and transmission/gearbox are normally together, I am guessing yours are…
If the oil (fluid) leak just started about the same time the gearbox got hard to shift and the “engine” started making noise, are you sure it is not the gearbox making the noise?? a low on fluid (oil) gearbox will/can make noise…(as mentioned above)…
So if that is the case, then the gearbox started leaking, the fluid got low causing it to be hard to shift gears and make noise at the same time…
You can also have a clutch worn out or out of mechanical adjustment or low on hydraulic fluid (depending) causing the hard shifting also…
With the engine running, is it hard to shift into 1st or reverse??
Is it hard to shift through all the gears with the engine off (not running)??
We will help the best we can, but it will be basics not specifics to your Alfa Romeo 147 as we don’t have them in the states as already mentioned, plus there might be a language barrier and we not understanding each other…
Still recommend taking it to a mechanic that works on Alfa Romeo’s…
I really appreciate your help guys.
Im trying to figure out if im gonna be able to fix the issue myself.
I checked the gear oil, mainly it was under the minimum, but there were a little bit of oil on the minimum sign and the maximum, i guess they were residues of the oil.
About the shifting the gear, your question when the car is off, i can switch the gear easily with 0 issues when the car is turned off. Its all good, only when its turned on. So whats the issue?
About shifting the gear, its hard to shift it between all of them, but mainly the first and the second, and reverse, reverse is the hardest, then the first then the second then the rest.
About the noise i really cant understand where it comes from ill try to make a video and upload it.
This is the link of the video, excuse me if thats not allowed.
At the 10th second when i shifted the gear you can hear how to noise changed when I accelerated, its even stranger when the car is running on the street.
The gear oil level
That sounds like you are loosing hydraulic pressure to the clutch slave cylinder and it is not depressing the clutch pressure plate all the way releasing the clutch disc from the pressure plate and flywheel… the fluid on the ground could be brake fluid, check you clutch master cylinder reservoir, it is either mounted to the clutch master, or remotely mounted, or shares the brake master cylinder reservoir…
Of course you could have multiple issues and the gearbox shifting could just be the clutch master cylinder bypassing and no fluid leaking, it is beat to always replace the clutch slave when replacing the clutch master if external slave, if internal slave then replace the clutch as a kit…
Yes videos are ok to post, just hard to hear the noise most of the time…
Hard to see, just make sure it is between the Max/Min lines…
I checked clutch master cylinder reservoir, the liquid is there and its way above the minimum.
I guess the leak is from there im gonna upload a video.
You know the gear oil is way below minimum so why haven’t you at least filled that? Who knows, that just may be the problem.
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Common causes for that symptom w/a manual trans & hydraulic actuated clutch
- clutch master cylinder failure
- clutch hydraulic circuit has air bubbles
- clutch actuator system failure
- trans input shaft/flywheel bearing/bushing failure
So it is separate from the brake master cylinder reservoir?? you have 2 different reservoirs??
From the video, it does look like the slave cylinder is leaking some, at least it is wet at the end of it… If it is leaking, it is loosing some of the pressure required to fully depress the throw-out (release) bearing enough to disengage the clutch making it hard to shift into a gear… I just had this happen to one of my cars, except mine was bypassing…
Its the same one of the brakes.
So if the leak is in the slave cylinder it could cause such a noise and the gear not to shift?
As I said in post number 13, you could have multiple problems, the noise could be from a low on fluid gearbox or an engine noise… Start with the basics, if the gearbox is low on fluid, top it off with the correct fluid…
If the slave cylinder is leaking and loosing pressure then it will be the same as you NOT depressing the clutch pedal all the way down and trying to put the gearbox in a gear…
It will also making a grinding noise while trying to put the gearbox in a gear…
Again back to basics, replace the clutch master cylinder And the clutch slave cylinder, top off the gearbox fluid level and see what is better and if anything is still wrong…
Tip, if the slave is leaking and it shares the same reservoir as the brakes, and the leak gets to bad, it can affect your brakes also, so take care of it ASAP…
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