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2G Weird problem, car doesn't want to move as if driveline or brakes binding

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Talyn

10+ Year Contributor
443
19
Jun 10, 2012
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
I have a really bizarre problem, this did happen after changing my driveline fluids on the drive home. Everything was fine at first, perfectly normal, then about halfway home the first odd thing I noticed was I had more boost than normal, at a low rpm, with light throttle (was cruising on the highway) Then it started to feel like something was slowing the car down to the point it didn't want to go. The engine is perfectly fine, still running perfectly normal.

But either something in my driveline is binding, or the brakes are, I pulled off and had it towed.
What really baffles me is I'm not sure which it is. Because I'm almost certain that all the drain/fill plugs were tightened, and that the correct fluids were used. That being said, it did seem like there was some shavings in the tcase, and it seemed like it was low when we drained it. The other weird thing though, is the brake pedal is really stiff, almost as if its already depressed most of the way, it's as stiff as it would be if you slammed on it for an emergency stop, but it's like that without even touching it.
I have no idea what to make of all this...if anyone has experienced a similar issue, please chime in on what it wound up being.
 
I'm going to say its either your brakes have locked up or your tcase has siezed. To test the brakes, jack up the whole car, put it in neutral, no ebrake, grab each tire and spin by hand, they should spin fairly easy, Even with the tcase siezed the tires should spin an inch or two. If the brake(s) are siezed ,the tire(s ) for that siezed brake,should not budge. If there is movement in each wheel but not enough to spin them completely, unbolt and remove the tcase and respin the tires.
 
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dsmkauai, if the brake(s) or tcase are siezed,he may not be able test if the car pulls left or right, unless it did it when it was drivable.
 
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It didn't pull to one side, if the brakes are seized it isn't just 1, in which case it would be the ebrake or master cylinder or something, although if it was the ebrake the most common suspect would be if it was stuck on, in which case it would have been like that when i first got in and started driving. I still haven't had a chance to look at it, because it's not drivable more than a few feet and where it's currently at there is no where flat enough to put it on jackstands-really sucks.
 
So I finally got to work diagnosing this, have the front wheels up off the ground, they turned but not full rotation, also of note, the driveshaft was moving. Now if I understand viscous couplings correctly, Shouldn't I be able to rotate a single wheel completely, wouldn't it require a more substantial speed differential to lock up than me turning the wheel slowly by hand? The other weird thing though, I went to make sure it was in neutral, clutch pedal went straight to the floor with barely any pressure on it and stayed there. I checked the fluid and low and behold the reservoir is empty. I did have an unknown fluid leaking from the car when this all started, after discovering this I am pretty sure it is clutch fluid. I am not sure how all of this fits together yet though?
How might I verify if the tcase is bad or not? I already have the bolts out of it, and downpipe unbolted, and I'll have to pull it if there is a clutch issue anyways.
Oh, and I did also loosen a brake bleeder valve, I didn't get a shot of brake fluid coming out, plus the wheel/s turned freely, albeit in a very limited range of motion.
The mystery deepens. I'll keep messing with it, but in the meanwhile if the additional info suggests something specific I'll take any suggestions.
It's odd to me that the car seemed like the driveline was binding, yet I also lost all my clutch fluid. Equally strange, at that time the clutch still felt normal. I would think loss of clutch fluid would cause the clutch to slip and the engine to rev up, whereas it pretty much did the opposite, there was definitely some kind of drag putting a large load on the engine to where after stopping it didn't even want to move, but wasn't free revving either like typically experienced with a slipping clutch.

For now I think I'll pull the tcase off and see if the clutch or flywheel grenaded or something crazy, see if the wheels turn free without tcase in, and figure out how all that fluid got loose.
 
It appears that the slave cylinder is leaking/bad. I found no other leaks, but there is fluid on the slave cylinder and the boot on it's pushrod. The boot seems to have a cut/tear in it, but I assume this boot isn't what actually seals the slave cylinder, and that it's not supposed to have fluid in it, as I assume it is just a dust cover to keep the pushrod clean.
Could this be the cause of my symptoms or no? Seems unlikely to me as I still suspect this would cause the opposite of my symptom, unless the clutch was stuck partially engaged or some weirdness?
I'm holding off on the tcase for now as it's a bear to get back up there without a lift.
So I guess I'll leave it is as pending input from someone more versed in drivetrain, and or installation of new slave cylinder and fluid/bleed. And if no further input I'll probably bolt the tcase back in and see if it drives normal again.
Good news is, if it's just a slave cylinder it will be a lot cheaper and easier. And I have a new clutch and flywheel ready too if it winds up being those 2. Clutch in it isn't quite holding the power, and I suspect it is low as well, but then again that could just be from the slave cylinder.
 
The clutch problem wouldnt cause the car to not be able to push or move, you might have multiple problems going on, I would not put that T-case back up in there without checking it out.
 
Checking it out how? other than a visual inspection not much i can do with the tcase, unless there is a simple test that can be done by hand, ie. if i turn one shaft the other should or shouldn't move or something like that. Tcase isn't terribly difficult to pull anyways, and the hard part is actually getting it on and off the shaft, the bolts are easy, and atm it is still on the trans, so unless someone knows a simple way for me to check it by hand, I'm going to put the new slave in, and see if things are normal again.
 
The clutch problem wouldnt cause the car to not be able to push or move, you might have multiple problems going on, I would not put that T-case back up in there without checking it out.

I agree, multiple problems. Did you check your brake booster system? I think the FSM describes some diagnostic tests on the brake pedal with engine on/engine off, etc.
 
Maybe the clutch is friction welded to itself. How doe the car feel going in and out of gears. The most testing you can do with the tcase aside from opening it up. Would be to spin the output and see if it turns smooth. And the input spins as well. Pretty simple to remove and install lift or no lift. Sounds like your tcase might be the issue. Are you sure you filled it properly? What exactly came out when you drained it, how much metal?
 
Some more/new info, after changing the slave cylinder and bleeding it, i drove the car a short distance, at least the engine didn't give me any drama after sitting a few months. Anyways, at first the car was normal again, however then it started binding/bogging/dragging again, getting progressively worse the further I tried to go, also of note, the car wouldn't even roll on a pretty steep hill, in neutral, no brake on. I parked it on a fairly steep hill, went into the store, decided to try adding fluid to tcase and trans in case it was a problem of low fluid as this started after changing the driveline fluids. So I added some fluid in the parking lot, was there for probably about an hour(bought stuff too, and had to have my mother fetch my tools to add the fluid). Got back in and it was normal again, it was also able to roll freely, and rolled out of it's sloped parking spot just fine/normally. Well about halfway back home it started binding again, I wound up having to stop in the middle of the road and sat there for probably 30m letting things cool off, it didn't go away completely but got good enough to drive the rest of the way home. I stalled out trying to downshift coming onto my hill because it's really steep, and with the car binding still I didn't think I could get up it in 2nd, stalled it out because of the binding. Well when i started it up again, it actually did roll back on the hill a little bit, and it almost seemed like that freed things up a little bit as well.
Whatever the issue is, it is clearly brought on or aggravated by driving the car some distance, which implies it is heat related.
I am truly stumped, I have never seen or heard of an issue like this before.
I think it had enough fluid, but as I said there was a little bit of metal that came out, there is probably about .6 qt in it now after adding some, I believe it is only supposed to need .3. Which should be about what it had after changing it, nothing leaking other than the slave cylinder i replaced.
My clutch feels kind of crappy, I suspected it was low when i bought the car as it engages high, it also doesn't seem to take much pressure, but then I am used to a heavy pressure plate. After the slave cylinder I believe it feels about the same as it did when I got the car, ie. before I was having these issues. Not sure if any of that is relevant, but want to include thorough information.

What I really need is to figure out a way to at least narrow down brakes or driveline, and if I figure that out and it's driveline, a way to narrow it down to trans, tcase or rear diff.
Going into gears feels normal, so I don't think the clutch friction welded.
The fact that it's brought on/made worse by driving makes me think that it has to be related to brakes or viscous coupler maybe.....
 
Actually I don't think brakes. Because the car frees up if it sits a while, and even driving it at first it will roll normally if i get off the gas and or go in neutral. And if it was a problem of brakes getting hot from dragging and cinching down, then they would have to be dragging from the getgo I think, and even if the fluid is getting hot somehow that should cause no brakes, not brakes dragging, plus the car doesn't pull to one side or the other, so if it is brakes it would have to be a component common to both sides, if not all four wheels.
 
Remove the tcase and drive shaft. Then go drive.... This will get you on strides.

I thought of this, but I believe I once asked somebody if it were possibly to do that and I think they said something to the effect of the trans would send all the power to the output shaft and the car wouldn't go anywhere in the same manor a peg leg sends all the power to the wheel with no traction.
 
Remove the tcase and drive shaft. Then go drive.... This will get you on strides.

You can't do this without a welded center diff or a viscous coupler eliminator.

My vote is a bad t-case or possibly chucked Center diff. Another issue it could be, though unlikely, is bad bearings on the gear shafts in the tranny getting bound up after some heat is is getting into them. This would almost act like trying to shift into two gears at once, and cause binding.

I'm still voting on a t-case problem tho.
 
There is a member on here selling a rebuilt one, so I'm just going to go that route. Won't hurt to replace it anyways as I plan to race the car.
 
You can't do this without a welded center diff or a viscous coupler eliminator.

My vote is a bad t-case or possibly chucked Center diff. Another issue it could be, though unlikely, is bad bearings on the gear shafts in the tranny getting bound up after some heat is is getting into them. This would almost act like trying to shift into two gears at once, and cause binding.

I'm still voting on a t-case problem tho.
True, i have a Welded C-diff..

I know this is steering away from this thread, but how does that make any sence, if the VC is at the very end of tranny, how does replacing it do anything since there is no shaft connected to it. ?
 
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