Blown Transmission

[Calloflunacy]

So, I recently had a clutch installed at a shop on my 96 Eagle Talon TSI, it was an ACT high pressure clutch kit. I have been driving the car very carefully so I can break in the clutch as it is a full face organic. I drove the car for around 800 miles or so, before the vehicle hesitated and then a sound like a colt 45 going off underneath my car came out and my car skidded to a halt in the middle of the freeway. I was unable to move the car when it was in neutral with the brake off, and eventually someone towed my car out of the road and only the front tires were spinning, the rear tires were locked up. afterwards I got the car home had to tow it 33 miles on a flatbed tow truck back to my father's shop, where it is now up on jack stands with the tires all off the ground. When I turn the front right tire, the front left tire spins the opposite direction, and when I turn the rear right tire the rear left tire spins the opposite direction. if I spin both the front tires the same direction with the car in neutral they turn and only the front tires turn, and the rear tires will not turn the same direction at all. Also I cannot turn the center drive shaft no matter how hard I try, if I put the car in gear, only the front right tire turns and a horrible sound comes out of the transaxle. After further inspection I noticed that there was a bolt, which I assume to be a drain plug on the bottom of the transaxle about eight or so inches in front of where the center drive shaft connects into the transaxle, it has some fluid around it and was dripping very slowly, also there is fluid along the body of the transaxle behind it. When I reached up to touch it, it was not torqued down and is only finger tight. I would also like to mention that I am very ignorant about transmissions, as I have little experience with working on that part of the car, which is why I took it to a shop in the first place.

I am assuming the transmission fluid leaked out of the vehicle and caused the gears to overheat and fail. I have not removed the drain plug because if that is the case, I don't want to touch anything so the shop that did the clutch and refilled my transmission fluid can see it. I realize it seems hard that I would miss a leak for that long, but I park the car in flat open field in the grass, I live out in the boonies so I can't tell if it has been leaking or not. My question is, what is going to have to be most likely replaced, and is that loose bolt the cause of the damage to the vehicle.

 

[luckynumber5]

Yikes, depending on what leaked it could be a few things. You will probably need to get a shop to look at it if you are not comfortable working on transmission issues. Could be anything from a seized transfer case to a seized transmission.

 

[Calloflunacy]

From what the car seems to be doing, I am thinking the whole transmission is probably gone at this point. There is no visable hole through the transmission, but if the gears or whatever is on the inside blew, would the housing of the transmission be any good or do I need to replace the entire thing?

 

[luckynumber5]

No telling until you pull it apart, I have heard of transmission that stripped a lot of teeth off of gears being rebuilt and lasting, but again you wont know for sure until you find the problem. Best of luck

 

[97-gst]

The housing may be good but you prob cant tell on the awd because it doesnt have a dust cover. Here's what it looked like on 2 of my gst transmissons when the gears broke

 

[Calloflunacy]

Well I got the car back up to the shop, and when the mechanic pulled out the drainplug, the only thing that came out was metal chunks. Fortunately this was only common to the Center Differential, the actual transaxle was unharmed, and the rear differential is working fine as well. The main bearing in the center differential completely siezed up due to no oil, and they are in the process of getting me a new differential. Thanks for the information and help