I just swapped in a junkyard transmission. All is quiet when the clutch pedal pressed in but there's a noticeable amount of noise when the clutch pedal is released. It happens whether or not I am in gear or neutral. It doesn't change with vehicle speed. It reminds me of the clutch basket rattle I had on my Honda 599 motorcycle when the clutch is released, but I've never noticed it on a car.

Otherwise the transmission seems to shift well.

I assume I have a marginal bearing inside the transmission? Is this a correct statement?

93 Accord, H2U5 transmission (stock 5-speed). Thanks!

 

Sounds like your input shaft bearing is bad. Its a common issue for hondas. I like to replace both the inboard and outboard input shaft bearings to be on the safe side.

 

I assumed it might be. That's a bummer.

How long do I have until it grenades?

 

I drove about 20k with only a small raise in the noise before, but the noise was not very loud when it started.

It depends on how loud it is.

There are a few howto's if you want to change them yourself. It's not real hard, compared to rebuilding a tranny. The noisy inboard one which sits inside the clutch housing you just need to pop out. I just turn the case over and tap it out with a 1/4 extension. You will need another input shaft seal since it gets banged up at the time. The one on the other side of the mainshaft you just lift off. You then just tap the first one in a circular motion or you can freeze the bearing and heat up the area that it will slide into with a heat gun or torch and the bearing will just fall in.