Pretty sure my fwd trans shit the bed...

[Afizzle]

So at 6000 rpm 2nd gear pull, horrible horrible noises. The steering wheel is shaking bad, so I immediately pull over. If the car rolls at all, be it in nuetral or in gear, it is met with a huge clanking noise and a great resistance that will completely stop the car...


Motor is fine it revs freely, antilag builds boost. Clutch works fine, goes in every gear.

When I jacked up the car I found the away bar in an abnormal position. The pass side lower control arm is missing a nut, bolts almost out. Can't even get the sway bar to bolt back up...

Lifted the car up off the front wheels, same nasty noises. When I spin my driver side wheel the pass side wheel spins the opposite direction.. And there are noises coming from the transmission.

To get it home, I pulled the pass side axle and that allowed it to roll and be towed.

Did I junk it?

 

[pauleyman]

How about one thread instead of three. Drain the fluid and have a look.

 

[DSM1G90]

Sounds like he spun an input shaft bearing from having the high revs in a low gear.

 

[pauleyman]

Tranny bearing don't "spin" like a engine bearing would. Sustained high RPM wouldn't hurt it. I think something broke but with the OPs description its impossible to know what. My guess is front diff or part of the final drive. A look at the fluid will probably tell us that yes something is broken. After that it's teardown time.

 

[Afizzle]

F tearing it down, I'm replacing it with another known good trans.. Maybe if I get bored or something but I don't have a location to tear down a trans .

 

[pauleyman]

Known good......doesnt mean squat to me unless its freshly rebuilt or at least torn down and inspected.

 

[Afizzle]

Okay? Lol? I bought a known good short block with 100k original miles and it's been boosting strong for 10k miles until this.

I guess you're that guy that gets ripped off but if it's me, spending my money, I'm going to spend it on a transmission that I KNOW to be good. As in coming off a running/driving car that shifts and operates normally.. Aka known good.

It's not rocket science I think something just crawled up your ass.

 

[pauleyman]

Sir, after 25 years of wrenching on these ive just seen more than most. Just because it was in a running car and shifts doesnt mean its "good". This is EXACTLY the reason dsms have a reputation for being unreliable. They are just old. I cant count the number of times somebody brought a trans to me thst was "good" right up until it broke and the first thing I point out to the owner is the 20 to 30 thou play in the input shaft. All I'm saying is just because it shifts and drives does NOT mean its all good.

 

[darknezz7]

This is why I put my cars up in the air every week and inspect components.

You said the sway bar link was off and a bolt out on the control arm. The wheel was probably just binding up.
Or is this same guy that was told to put it up in the air and see if it still made noise, with the axle out if it did it would definitely be in the trans.

I'd get a new axle and get your suspension in check before your floppy wheel ruins another trans.

 

[DSM1G90]

Have to ask one: I've seen posts of trannys needing rebuilt, yet mine is original (25yrs old) and have 197K on the tranny with no problems- shifts smooth, no grinding from 1st to 2nd and use MT-90 in the case.

Guess I'm ignorant in this area.

thx -DSM

 

[Afizzle]

^ guess you got lucky or just aren't making the power needed to break one. I've had nothing but redline in this trans and had fresh mt85 with maybe 250 miles since it was changed.

Honestly I'm at a loss with the sway bar links. They're about an inch from bolting up to the strut forks, and the LCA on the pass side was missing the nut. I just had everything out including the trans like 2 weeks ago while I changed flywheels and did a wire tuck.. Everything was fine and normal. Everything bolted back up right. I've been working on these cars for years and have owned over 5 turbo models. Guess I'm saying I'm not the newest guy on te DSM block.

Oh and the sway bar links were not found unbolted. I unbolted them and had to fight with both of them to get them out of the strut fork. What I'm saying is I cannot get them to go BACK in. The wheels were never wobbly.

Yes I did get the front wheels up in the air. I didn't even have to put it in gear. I turned the driver side wheel and terrible noises were coming out of the trans and the pass wheel would spin the OPPOSITE way.. Crazy.

I'm getting ready to pick up a freshly rebuilt fwd trans with a quafe for 700$.

 

[pauleyman]

Its supposed to spin the opposite way. Its an open differential.

 

[Afizzle]

Just seemed backwards to me. Well atleast it was doing that correctly, but when spinning the wheels there were awful noises coming from the trans.

I just don't get how the sway bar is Fd off, the LCA came unbolted, and the trans shitting itself are all unrelated.

The best I could describe the feeling was binding. Something def binding up to keep the car from moving forward. Super weird to think trans because it still goes in and out of gear so smoothly

 

[pauleyman]

The problems are likely not related. The trans may still shift because the shifting happens somewhere way outside the diff. You will never know unless you take it apart. Did you at least drain the fluid?

 

[hypergenesis]

How about you go and take it off and take a look at it before jumping to conclusions and buying a used tranny, also I would be skeptical about that transmission unless they have receipts, a freshly built tranny with lsd goes for more than 700$, the LSD alone almost costs that much.

 

[Afizzle]

Just thought id give you guys an update!

So I bought my trans and it did have receipts for everything. It's in the car and shifts like butter! The LSD really helps a lot from a dig and 40 roll.

When I got my old trans out of the car, I would get a lot of racket inside the diff area when turning the input shaft. It still goes in and out of gear smooth but something has binded itself up in there. I'm not tearing it apart; not worth my time. I drained the oil but didn't care to run a magnet through it... I'm sure there was metal in it.

Anyways, car is back at 110% and runs like a damn raped ape!

Don't be so quick to shoot down a "used" tranny. Sure, there are guys out there that get ripped off but as long as you're not a dumbass and can find a reliable part from a reliable person for a good deal, take the chance.