Kombi gear box noise?

Hey everyone.
I've got a strange noise that comes from the gearbox in my kombi. It's a grinding/ moan type of noise that I can hear at all times when the vans running and driving but goes away when I push the clutch pedal down. What could this be? It doesn't affect how the van drives, it's just annoying. I was thinking Throw out bearing but I thought that would only give noise when I'm using the clutch?
Thanks,
Alex.

I'm not an expert, but I would guess that it might be the input shaft bearing or some other bearings inside the gearbox. If the noise is present in neutral but goes away when you put your foot on the clutch, that means the noise is coming from the gearbox internals when they are spinning. My guess is input shaft bearing. The only way to really know for sure is to take the gearbox out and pull it apart for a full rebuild.

Does your car have a subaru engine?

Some adapter plates misalign the input shaft with the centre of the donor engine.
It can cause as you describe.

It can be so bad that the pilot bearing will wind itself out of the FW, even when having the correct interference fit.

There is a ball bearing at the forward end of the gearbox,
and a needle bearing at the rear end of the mainshaft.

Both of these require at least some disassembly to replace.

The only other bearing is in the back of the crank/or FW,
and of course your throw out bearing.

does it have any oil

yeah that will help.

Thanks for the replies guys.
I changed the gearbox oil last weekend thinking that it might change the noise but it didnt make any real difference.
The van has a 2l vw motor, so no adapter plate problems.
I was hoping the problem wouldnt need a box rebuild but its looking like it will. Ive noticed that moving the gear stick about when driving in gear can make the noise better or worse.

I think I haave the same prob. Mine is a 2.1 auto. I checker my gear oil and it was low. Having filled it the noise is still there. I havnt ruled out cvs but I think diff side of auto is u/s