manual tranny gear oil with flakes!
 

yikes, just changed the gear oil in my manual transmission, and lots of gold metallic flakes were in the bottom of the drain pan. it had been a while since ive changed it, but i didnt expect that amount of flakeage.

im pretty sure my throwout bearing is on its way out due to the fact that it whines in neutral, but when i put the clutch in the whine goes away.

anything else that could have caused these flakes? im assuming a clutch kit is in order, as kiroshou had recommended to me. ive still got this vibration coming from the front drivetrain, and it gets worse the faster i go (pretty rough at 60mph).

The throwout bearing is external to the transmission (it lives in the bell housing) so would not get anything in the gear oil if it wore out. If the flakes were non-magnetic, might be bits of the synchro rings.

crap. that makes sense, due to the clutch is not in the transmission...im trying to become more diy....

the synchro's can be pretty expensive as far as labor goes if i get someone to replace them correct? parts are pretty cheap, but ripping out the tranny and replacing them...might as well buy a used tranny if i can get a cheap one right? damn damn damn.

As long as it shifts fine, keep running it.

X2 on what 4Crawler said. Syncros are inside of the transmission and I don't know if they make a syncro kit. A lot of other car manufactuers do make one. I don't think that they are hard to replace, even though I have never done it. You do have to open up the transmission to replace them.
Are the shavings brass looking or steel looking?
Brass = syncros
Steel = gears
(usually)

brass.

I am almost positive the Syncros are iron. Anyways--I dont think it is the servos--Dollars to Dimes your tranny is going out!!

Diagnosis--Noise goes away when you press in the clutch--hence the tranny input stops spinning so no noise.

If it where the Throw-out bearing the tranny would make noise when you depress the clutch.

Put it in neutral next to a brick wall and take your foot off the clutch. If you hear a pronounced whirring noise--start planning on replacing the tranny. Faint whirring is normal.

Oh yeah--open the windows so you can hear it.

If it were me, I would call around to see how much it would cost for you to take the tranny out and pay someone to put a syncro kit in. But I wouldn't do it until it won't go into gear at all. I also wouldn't force it to go into gear either and make sure you depress the clutch completely every time you shift, thus making sure that the engine is completely disconnected from the transmission. If you don't then you will start wearing off metal of the gears and that is expensive to fix.
Does your clutch seem sticky?

The whine is "normal" - mine has always done that. I freaked out and asked 3 different shop foreman at 3 Toyota dealers and they all said it was completely fine. I have owned two manual 4Runners; my 96 and a 00 and both did it. They also both whined in first gear.

Anyway, it's totally rare for these manual trannys to go out. They are very strong. And, in the rare event I needed one, I would just buy a used one and swap it in. Call around and see how much good benchwork is on manual tranny's; it's WAY expensive. Like $700 - $1000 at the dealer - and that's if you can find one who will do it. I've seen used 5VZFE-mated trannys with <80K miles for $300. That's what I'm talking about.

thanks for all the input.

it doesnt really have difficulty shifting, so i think it's a little early to be too concerned. i drive it pretty "gingerly" so i guess ill continue to do that. it was just the first time i had changed the gear oil myself, and the flakes concerned me. that coupled with the whining ive been experiencing were a little unnerving.