Hey guys, I have a B6 A4 1.8T 5spd Quattro APR Stage 1+ 150km or about 90k miles.
This has been going on for a little while and seems to become more noticeable when everything is warmed up.

It's a strange whining/whirring noise coming from somewhere in the drivetrain when I drive. It is not dependent on gear, engine speed or clutch being pressed, just on road speed. It's always there but gets louder when I got above 50kmh and seems to peak at about 80ish or 50mph and stays the same above that. In addition to the noise, if I'm cruising and I pop it into neutral, when I move the stick left or right in the H it seems to amplify the sound but more of a whirring/hissing noise, until I pop it into gear, then that louder version goes away and its just back to the quieter normal whir.

There seems to be a small temperature range between -5C and 5C outdoor when it becomes quiet until it warms up some, because I took it in to two shops and both said they didn't hear anything, but I'm not crazy, it's there, I might take it in one day when it's already warm and just the tell the mechanic to hop in.

Before it started doing it, I changed the tranny fluid to AmsOil GL4, and a couple weeks ago I changed that to MT90 to see if anything changed and thats a big negative, still the same.

If anyone has any sort of ideas please share, I like to do everything myself on the car so it'd be great to have a really good idea before I take it in again for confirmation.

Thanks guys

 

Have change a few front diff pinion bearings for noises such as this in the manuals.

 

Interesting, what exactly does a pinion bearing do?
Sounds like it could be a fun job.

Thank you for the answer, this miht be something I might have to take it to the dealer for to diagnose, I suspect its a rare occurance and need someone who really knows these cars to figure it out

 

Sorry, not fully up to speed on the inner workings of the Quattro system yet, but it sounds like it could be a differential that's low on oil, assuming that either of the differentials have oil separate from the transmission. Maybe someone that know's more about the system than I, (that'd be just about anyone) might chime in.

 

The fron diff and tranny are together I believe and I filled the tranny properly. The other thing is I don't get how moving the shifter would result in noise but I'm like, not completely familar with the insides

 

I am having the exact same thing happen... any update?

 

I too am experiencing the exact same problem with my 6spd tranny, I also hear a whinning noise when driving and when I move the gear shifter either left or right it makes a different whinning noise in addition to the already present noise, I have been told that it is a bad pinion gear, I have been driving the car for almost a year this way, the noise does not seem to have gotten any worse...yet!

If any one with this same problem has had theirs repaired please let me know approx. cost involved.