There's a great deal of squealing from the passenger side of the car when i slow it down and change gear. It disappears not long after changing gear and speeding up again, especially in higher gears, and isn't affected by braking. It seems to have started quickly - the car hasn't been used much by me or the previous owner until today and it was fine on a test drive and this morning but appeared this evening. Could it be gearbox oil or something else?

first thing id check is the gear box oil as they are quite often not checked regulary
failing that..maybe the driveshaft?

Since I don't have a manual (I really must invest in one but why bother shelling out when I have you lovely people to help ), how do I go about checking gearbox oil? The only reason I thought it might be this was from when there was a potential problem with the Brava but that resolved itself, so I never got as far as finding out anything more.

theres a hex plug on the front of the gearbox, when you remove it the oil should be just up to the level of the bottom of the hole.
if it is lower, then it needs topping up

I'd go for sticky brake on the N/S before gearbox.

Liam

btw....

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bloomfieldliam said:

I'd go for sticky brake on the N/S before gearbox.

Liam

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she said it aint affected by breaking though

Check the stone guard on the brake disc, if they get bent in too close they can make a godawful noise.

Gearbox filler plug is a 12mm allen key, the carbon cannister is in the way

The drain plug for the transmission is 8mm allen key, and near the rear engine mount, again fiddly to get at.

If you do replace the gearbox oil, take the filler plug out first, nothing worse than draining a box and finding you cant refill it

Use 80 hyphoid gear oil, I find it easiest to fill using a transmission oil gun, looks like a giant syringe but its very much easier to use than the bottles, as it has a hose.

Hmmmm, not sure I have one that big (or that I'll be able to turn it if I buy one) but I sense a shopping trip to the DIY store coming on. I did wonder about brake related things because it started when I pulled away from some lights, but I still get it after engine braking when slowing down for corners so it's not that AFAIK, will take a look when I get chance though, but by that poin I'll only be driving the car for one more day, ho hum!

fixitagaintomorrow said:

Check the stone guard on the brake disc, if they get bent in too close they can make a godawful noise.

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I had this when my clutch was done, both of them mangled up quite a bit wasnt best impressed so running without at min dont go down too many pebble roads anyway