2001 S2K, daily driver with 170K miles... All of a sudden I started getting a whining sound from what I think is the differential/tranny area... Essentially it starts when accelerating and I hear it beginning at about 25 mph.. It seems to get louder and increase in pitch as speed increases. Happens in all gears. I've seen some posts mentioning bearings inside the differential. This problem familiar to anybody? Really hope to find a reasonable solution... The overall differential on the S2000 changed since my '01 model so a full differential assembly runs over $3K. Really hoping I can find a parts solution. Any thoughts appreciated...

 

A new diff does not cost that much. Before you spend money on replacing it you should change the diff fluid to see if it alleviates the diff whine.

 

Well those are the prices I'm seeing on various Honda parts sites for a 'full differential assembly'. For more recent versions it's less than $1K but doubt that will work with my '01. You really think just replacing the fluid is a fix or just delaying the inevitable?

 

A bottle of diff fluid costs maybe 10 bucks. You willing to pay thousands only to find out all it needed was new fluid?
You don't say how long that fluid has been in the car. Has it been changed regularly?
All years of rear diffs for this car is interchangeable. The only thing that is different is the flange that connects the rear of the propshaft to the front of the diff. There are ways to get around this. Also, a cheaper option would be to get a diff out of a wrecked S2000.
Start thinking out of the box or be prepared to pay dealer retail.

 

A bottle of diff fluid costs maybe 10 bucks. You willing to pay thousands only to find out all it needed was new fluid?
You don't say how long that fluid has been in the car. Has it been changed regularly?
All years of rear diffs for this car is interchangeable. The only thing that is different is the flange that connects the rear of the propshaft to the front of the diff. There are ways to get around this. Also, a cheaper option would be to get a diff out of a wrecked S2000.
Start thinking out of the box or be prepared to pay dealer retail.
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I agree, try fresh gear oil to see if things get better, you can PM me if not. good luck

 

As stated, start with the simplest solution. Change out the diff fluid and see if that helps. If not, then you can start diagnosing the various parts (a vid of the noise might help too).

 

Bump this up. I have the same issue. ..were you able to find a remedy to thr problem?

 

It seems to like this is very very likely to be your issue:

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/409...k+transmission