whining noise

so , a while back I had a whining noise which sounded like it was coming from the front of my Gti . I replaced a front wheel bearing which was definitely knackered, the noise however still remains , I have asked a couple of garages to check the wheel bearings on the front and the say they are fine ! So any ideas ? I have swapped the wheels one at a time with my spare ,, still no difference. If I switch the car off when driving the noise still remains .it does seem speed related, starts about 20mph ,but seems ok at 70+(quieter)
thanks
Len

 

Does it go when you dip the clutch??

What make are your tyres??

 

noise remains with car switched off free wheeling as such. no difference if dipping clutch, noise remains,Tyres are 2 Dunlop ,2 Falken.
haven't checked gearbox oil but no leaks and as the noise is there with gearbox disengaged sort of ruled that out .

 

I've had a similar noise on mine. Twice.

Once turned out to be the bearing in the cambelt tensioner and the second time, I ruled out the gearbox as it was still there with the clutch dipped. Some small pieces of the diff made a bid for freedom through the gearbox casing in the end lol

I'd say check the gearbox oil. Not just the level but also the colour. The tell tale sign on mine was that the oil had a silvery metallic shine to it. I couldn't figure out what it was at the time but soon realised that it was aluminium dust in the oil from the gears machining into the case.

It might be neither of these things. Worth checking though :-)

 

Sorry, is the noise only when moving or stationary as well??

 

noise is only on the move after about 20mph

 

Difficult to pin point mate, sorry. The tyres you have a decent makes, to rule out tyre noise I would swap back to front and see if it follows to rear, I know you used the spare but that's only removing one of the tyres, you need to take both off to rule it out.

 

I had a whine on my 020, mainly in 2nd/3rd.

The gearbox let go after some heavy abuse,

 

but I have switched car off and ran out of gear so this would count out gearbox ?

 

have swapped tyres back to front . no difference

 

When the wheels are moving, even if the car is in neutral, things in the box still turn

 

ahhh , maybe that's where the problem is . I think I will take it to another garage , I give up ! Maybe its the box, no crunching or other problems with it though, but sounds logical, thanks

 

Could you lift the wheels off the ground and run it upto 20mph while stationary?

Bit unsafe but may help.