Said It Here

Why does my manual car make a squealing noise when shifting gears?

A manual transmission can make a squealing or clunking noise while shifting through gears, even when the engine is turned off. This makes it difficult to pinpoint the mechanical cause, leaving drivers uncertain about whether worn engine mounts or other components need replacement.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Lubricate the shifter bushings under the shifter boot with lithium grease
  2. 2
    Have a service check performed
  3. 3
    easing right off the accelerator and smoothly coming up with the clutch
  4. 4
    replacing the dog bone mount
  5. 5
    checking the mount under the battery tray

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/MechanicAdvice2 people · September 2026

It's got a squeeling noise that it's doing when shifting through (any) gears, regardless if the engine is on or off.source ↗

I got a booking for a service check in a few days but I was wondering if anybody encountered this issue beforesource ↗

Anxious-Time6173 · r/MechanicAdvice · 2 upvotes

I'm trying to fix a clunk on my son's polo 1.2tsi manual 2016. 90k milessource ↗

Clunk/knock when up shifting.source ↗

I've put an new dog bone in it - the old one was very soft. This has helped, bit not fixed it..source ↗

l_rowlers · r/MechanicAdvice · 1 upvotes

So, I've changed the mount and it seems to have helped, but not solved the issue. No idea what else it could be.source ↗

l_rowlers · r/MechanicAdvice · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised