Carina 1st Gear Whine And Noisey Reverse

[Benjie]

Hi everyone

Im new here, i wonder if anyone can help me out...

I have a 97 Carina E (46k miles) with a whine in 1st gear and slightly in second gear. Its not very loud and can only be heard with the radio and fan off. It doesnt effect the way the car drives. I guess it could be described as sounding a bit like a scalextric car :) My girlfriend says its like a gp kart. Reverse gear is slighty more difficult that the rest to select and is also quite noisy and grindy. The rest of the gears are a bit notchy but nothing unusual, they dont pop out and all of them can be selected.

I had a similar thing with a Citroen AX and it turned out to be the input shaft bearings, although the symptoms were similar they were much more extreme on the citroen.

Its due for a service in 1000 miles, the clutch is near the top so i think thats nearing the end of its life. Is this just a case of 'they all do that mate' or do i need to fret?

Many thanks