G’day.
My mk2 1.8iS makes a very slight ‘whining’ sound when pulling/accelerating. It’s not particularly loud or intrusive, and doesn’t sound ‘worrying’ (doesn’t sound like anything’s grinding/rubbing against something it shouldn’t be!) - but is it normal? The pitch of the noise follows the engine rather than the driving wheels - i.e. change up a gear and the pitch drops in line with the engine speed, and doesn’t relate to road speed. Sounds like it’s coming from around the gearbox area, or perhaps the prop shaft.
Is a little bit of noise like that considered ‘normal’? All I can think of to compare it to is an old Austin Metro that my mum owned in the mid 80’s (in which I learned to drive!), which made a broadly similar noise and never seemed to suffer for it …
i get that from the left hand seat under fairly hard acceleration…
[:)]
Have a listen under the bonnet, and see if there is any noise coming from the various belts at the front of the engine. If you think there may be something, give the offending belt a very light spray of wd 40.
If you mean while stationary, then no, there isn’t. If you mean while the engine is under load when pulling the car (which is when I become aware of the sound) - well, might be a bit difficult, unless I can find a friend who doesn’t mind being strapped to the front of the car with a stethoscope while I take it for a blast up the A55 [;)].
Someone, possibly one of my old colleagues who used to have an MX5, did tell me that a slight transmission whine at speed had been designed in deliberately by the Mazda engineers, to make it sound like an MGB. I have no idea if this is true or not 
Interesting theory, Andy! But that is exactly what it sounds like on mine … Hmm, I wonder …
I have a 2000 X 1.8 Si that makes a whine when accelerating hard in 3rd
and 4th. Quiet at all other times. I was beginning to worry as well,
wondered if it was the LSD. Hope it is the sound of an MGB.
Mine whines like a bastard when accelerating and louder still when engine braking, along with all the various other noises it makes…I’ve given up worrying now until something goes bang : )
Sorry to revive an old topic but I was looking into this today as mine does the same. Always though it was a bit odd and had me slightly worried the gearbox was on it’s last legs. I did a google search on it and found this article by Jeremy Clarkson about the MX5 that mentioned “they even recorded and
then copied the sound of the British sports car’s transmission whine” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article725965.ece how bizarre. I guess I’ll stop worrying about the slight whine in mine then and get one with enjoying it.
Found the problem, oil had not been changed on schedule. Bought the car from a local Mazda dealer who ticked that it had carried out a 72K service. After 6K miles thought I would change the oil, phoned the dealer and asked which service they had carried out, to be told a 9K basic service. So no oil changed in transmission or LSD. Now done what should have been carried out 8 months ago and no noise.
The selling dealer will be getting a letter!
Ian