tranny (?) noise

[Phil Rose]

A while ago I described a kind of very faint noise (almost a scraping
or grinding sound) from the vicinity of tranny--below the shifter. It
is heard *only* while coasting (off-throttle) or--perhaps
intermittantly in high gear at constant speed on level roads (or
downhill). It's never heard when the tranny is under load from any
acceleration or road grade. The noise also will disappear with
application of the clutch. No one has been able to pinpoint its
origin, but some say it's a common noise with our cars (?)  I'm
almost certain it's not due to any external scraping on a heat
shield, etc. The tranny mounts have never been replaced, AFAIK, but
the shift-lever shows no significant movement at all upon abrupt
application of throttle, so I don't think the tranny mounts are at
fault.

Just recently I've noticed that I can make the noise vanish
completely while I'm pulling straight up on the shift lever (with
moderate force). Does this provide anyone with a clue as to the cause
of this noise?

Phil
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Phil Rose				Rochester, NY
'91 200q	(130 Kmiles, Lago blue)
'91 200q   (57 Kmiles, Tornado red)
	mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net