Hello, this is my first post here on the forums. Hoping someone can give me a lending hand.

So I recently purchased an Acura 1.6 EL (d16y8 5 speed manual). When I first got the car everything seemed to be in order, however one day while in a drive through I noticed when I depressed the clutch pedal there was a change In tone coming from the engine bay. I later played around with the car in my drive way and realized the car only makes the whirling bearing noise while in nuetral, with the clutch fully engaged (foot off clutch pedal). After doing some digging and knowing what to look for I am convinced it's the input shaft bearing on its way out. I never noticed the noise when I bought the car but now that I have owned it for a few weeks i can hear the noise from within the cabin when ever the car is stopped at a light or just idling.

My question is, since the noise is very faint and barely noticeable, how long do I have before the bearing grenades Itself? I can't detect any noise while driving what so ever, only stopped and I am listening for it.
Instead of replacing the tranny I plan on eventually just swapping a good transmission from the wreckers or sourcing a rebuilt one.
I am more after a time line as to how long I have, the car is my DD and I have limited work space so the car can't be sitting on jacks for days on end.

One last dumb question. Would a thicker transmission oil buy me some time? Lucas transmission supplement perhaps?

 

It could last years or minutes, there is no way to tell. Do not use a thicker fluid, it will shorten the lifespan of the transmission rather than extend it.

 

Its somewhat common on the D transmissions. My advice is to drain your transmission and refill with Honda MTF. It can run noisy for months and months (sometimes years if its minor and ya keep changing fluid.) And yes like Aquafina said, don't use anything thicker. that Synchromesh is roughly a 75w-90 fluid. Our hondas use Honda MTF which is a 10w-30 fluid with some stuff added to it (its WAY thinner than a lot of generic gearbox fluids)