Hi there,
I'd guess at bearings in the tranny.  I believe they are usually good for
around 150K miles, depending on use, and I recently had my syncro tranny
rebuilt at 156K.  The 3/4 sleeve was cracked, and it was definitely time,
though the tranny was still working fine.  Keep in mind that if you get it
rebuilt now, it's a lot cheaper than waiting for catastrophic failure.  I.e.
1200-1500 now vs. 1800-2100 later.
bmc  :)
"Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel...."

> From: Angus Gordon <agordon@BRIGHT.NET>
> Reply-To: Angus Gordon <agordon@BRIGHT.NET>
> Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 09:42:06 -0500
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Transaxle noise
>
> My Carat transaxle has begun producing a growl/whine. The pitch of the
> sound is relative to the axle speed. Volume depends upon the torque
> applied. Vehicle has 183K miles, but I know nothing of it's history before
> the last 30K Redline-fed miles. Some diagnostic guesses please ?
>
> I changed the trans oil last night and the drain-plug had a fair coating of
> steel, but not really catastrophic looking (MTL had about 20K miles).
>
> Angus
>
>
>
> ================================
> Angus Gordon                       '89 Carat
> NW Ohio                            '86 Syncro
>