Broke Something In My Drivetrain

[habitatguy187]

Alright, my wife drove home last night (20 miles mostly highway) because my eyes were messed up pretty bad (allergies), I noticed she was slipping the clutch pretty heavy but didn't say anything cause I want her to learn to like my car , plus there was hardly any stop and go so I didn't really mind.

So we got in my car this morning to head to church, and I noticed that the clutch felt funny, almost like it wasn't grabbing as hard as usual, I ignored it and headed on our way. On the way home from church my car was making a grinding/whining noise and tries to die everytime I pushed the clutch in. (should note that my tob has been going out, making a whining/grinding noise with the clutch disengaged, then going away once I push the clutch in)

Except for this time the noise is 3x louder than my tob and the noise goes away when I let the clutch out. If I hold the clutch in for any amount of time the grinding/whining starts, the rpms start to drop, and the car dies.

Did my tob explode? The car drives fine once it's in gear, clutch still doesn't seem to grab that hard. Is it safe to drive like this for a week or so? Help me out as I've never had a tranny apart and don't know what goes on in there.

 

[eeeewidner]

Sounds like a tob. I wouldn't drive it until a new on is installed. As of replacing it, it is a pretty involved job but not that difficult. It's very self explanatory putting it together.

 

[habitatguy187]

Found this looks promising, but this guy has an awd.

..well it wasnt my TOB after all........ Ok well this is why i THOUGHT it was the TOB.. i was driving on the highway, then came up to my off ramp, got on the ramp, down to the light and put it in nuetral.. well light turns green, i push in clutch... car dies... WTF??.. turn my music down, start her up, puch clutch in... grinding sound, then dies... WTF...try it again, but brought the RPM's up then pushed the clutch and got it in gear... grind, but i got it in gear... i babyed it to work where it sat till today........ Well below is a picture of the culprit,
the bolt that connects the trans to the block (the one that goes through the guide pin) .... Some how it broke inside the block. and without that bolt, when you push in the clutch, whats gonna happen???

Well with out that bolt, it allows the transmission to move when the clutch pedal is pushed. Now I have an AWD car... so when you move the trans away from the motor... what happens?... The transfer case moves towards the flywheel... UH OH!!!! Well this is the case with me... jammed the t-case into the flywheel.. luckfully it wasnt to bad.. the fly wheel is ok, and the transfercase has a non-harmful gouge in it...

I'm going to try to check this bolt in the morning but I'm still very open to any help I can get.

 

[toofast82]

I broke the little trans bolt by the starter a long time ago and it ended up cracking the block and trans by the slave on the other side. I had a professional welder tig it and it kept breaking and ended up having to get a new block. It was on my first dsm which was a fwd so i didn't have the tcase issue

 

[habitatguy187]

I broke the little trans bolt by the starter a long time ago and it ended up cracking the block and trans by the slave on the other side. I had a professional welder tig it and it kept breaking and ended up having to get a new block. It was on my first dsm which was a fwd so i didn't have the tcase issue

Thanks Toofast I searched this issue and came up with this thread - http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/283566-tranny-bolt-fell-out.html - It's looking pretty likely that this happened to me. We'll see tomorrow hopefully.

 

[habitatguy187]

toofast can you explain to me a little better where the bolt by the starter is? I just checked everything out and I don't see any bolts missing, and yesterday I had my wife pump the clutch a couple times while I was watching the tranny and I didn't see any movement. I'm betting it's going to need opened up.

 

[toofast82]

It's smaller than the other tranny bolts, with a 12mm head on it. Its like the size of a throttle body bolt, maybe shorter though.The bolt head actually goes through the block and threads in the tranny, so it would be on the block side. It like a little below the starter in that area. It goes through where the dowel is on that side. Hope this helps

 

[habitatguy187]

toofast I couldn't check that bolt since I don't have a jack here at my apartment yet, but all the others checked out so I figure that the tob finally gave out. I started taking the tranny out and I'm about halfway there I think, so we'll find out what really happened when I get it opened up. I'll be sure to post pics.

 

[toofast82]

toofast I couldn't check that bolt since I don't have a jack here at my apartment yet,

A jack is not needed, you may not see, but you should feel it. I put it in reaching over from the passenger side. Its not too far up from the driver side output shaft.
Check out vfaq.com under clutch swap and they have a good picture of it as well as the bolt layouts.
It may not be your issue, but you want to be sure there is a bolt in there, or it may create other, bigger, problems
Visual Frequently Answered Questions - Home Page

 

[habitatguy187]

Looks like my TOB race broke, I'll post up pics tonight, I just can't figure out why this would cause the car to die when the clutch was pushed in though

 

[habitatguy187]

A little late, but at least I posted it.