Hello, my 2005 manual civic with 94k on it is making a pretty loud growling noise.

When in nuetral with clutch out it makes this growling noise and when i push clutch in it goes away.

when starting out in first gear once rpms hit shifting range it lets out a secondary growl and then in second gear the same thing.

when down shifting it does the growl in 2nd and first gear regardless whether clutch is in or not.

The clutch or any other drive train has never been worked on.
Please help. I dont want to go through process of changing the clutch and it be something else.
thanks
larry

 

It sounds like you have a bad input shaft bearing in the transmission. They are a weak link in the D-series transmissions though they usually don't fail with so few miles. Maybe the fluid has leaked out and let it run dry.

 

can an average mechanic do it...

 

You should check the fluid level now. That requires unscrewing the fill plug; there is no dipstick.

If it's the typical problem with the big bearing on the end of the shaft, that is something any mechanic could do. Take the transmission out of the car, open up the case, and the bearing is right there on the end and can be changed without having to take all the parts inside the transmission apart.

Or just remove transmission and replace with a used one.