I hate you T5!

First off I would like to say that I get it. I totally understand and whole heartedly believe now that the Borg-Warner T5 5-Speed trans was made by Satan himself.

Driving down the interstate, going 75+ and it decides to kill the inputshaft, causing the car to stop. NOW. Well almost now, it locked up the rear tires causing it to slide, that causing me to slam on the brakes, causing the front tires to lock up, and me in a 4 wheel slide down I75 in the left lane with no control of the car.

I came to a stop in the median next to a turn-around where the state highway patrol like to sit and sleep, and pretend to be watching for speeders. On this rare occasion there was a Patrolman there, running radar, or laser, or whatever, and saw the whole thing. After the car came to stop, in the grass, not more then 20' from him, he rushed to see if I was ok. I was, but I was pissed, scared, and I think I pee'd a little.

I was questioned as to what happened. I didn't know at this time, so I talked to the Officer while I tried to diagnose the issue. The car started Normally, shifted into all the gears while stopped, but as soon as I let off the clutch it died. Would not move. Put the car in Neutral, and I could push it a little, but was limited because of the grass. Puttng the car in gear provided me with no movement what so ever.

I tried letting the clutch out a little harder this time, and there was a very loud clunk from the trans. And then the car moved forward and then there was another clunk and the car stopped, dead. I restarted, it to hear a little man with a large hammer banging his ass off inside my trans. When I push in the clutch, it goes away. Let it out in Neutral, he comes back. Put it in gear, let out on the clutch, travels 20' and the stops with a very loud clunk.

I had the car towed home, I am in the process of pulling the trans out now. diff feels good, u-joints are good. My new tires are shot, flat spotted to hell and back. I picked up a few V8 T5's today after this whole ordeal and I am going to try to get something put back together. I hope I can get this thing back together this weekend. I have to work Monday morning.

Charlie
 
I can't say I blame you for peeing a little bit. I might have had some brown matter as well. Scary stuff man. Glad you are ok, good luck with the tranny repair.
 
Wow, I'm curious to see how a t5 breaks so it locks the rear tires. Usually when they go, its like you just have 3-4 neutrals. Locking it up is a new one to me.

Glad you made it out okay.
 
I had a 02 gt that this happened to and happened at about the same speed. Not only did it destroy the trans it also broke the motor and trans mounts and warped or bent the drive shaft. I dont know if all that happened to your car but it might be worth your time to check. Good luck but it seems you have luck on your side since you didnt hit anything when it locked up.
 
I broke my T5 the same way. I was powershifting from 2nd-3rd and it all locked up on me. Pushing the clutch in quickly saved me from smacking a wall/guardrail. The TKO I have doesn't shift as well as it used to, but it stood up to 700 ft-lbs of torque at the wheels :) Sounds like it's time to upgrade.

Chris
 
Glad you and your car made it! I enjoyed this same thing once in an older Datsun Z. Nearly crapped my pants. Unfortunately mine ended up in the middle of the road. The tires were locked up and couldn't be pushed so the cops pushed it out of traffic with the bumper of the cop car. LOL

Ahh T5's aren't the most bullet proof tranny in the world but they're good for what they are. I've got two good ones. One of which has 126k miles on it "and with the original clutch".
 
wow, that is a really scary piss in your pants story, dude. glad you were lucky and made it out of that without hurting yourself or anyone else. did the cop give you a hard time about it?
 
No he didnt, I explained what happened and he was cool about it. Gave me a warning for failure to maintain resonable control.

Update.
I pulled the trans out to find that third fear sheared all the teeth off the cluster and the mainshaft. The teeth then went through the entire trans (not that it is a large trans by any means) and lodged between th gears in 5th in the rear of the trans. That caused the car to screech to a halt. I am not sure why 3rd shredded, but it did. I also trashed the rest of the trans. so the case is the only good thing left.

I traded the 3650 for Z-spec trans. I pulled the inputshaft to make sure I wasn't being led astray. I also pulled the case apart and visually checked the gears out. everything looked ok, so I put it back together and installed it in my car. It has never shifted so smoothly before, and my vicked vibration at highway speeds is now gone also. Plus having the taller 1st gear is nice!
 
That horrible vibration was your clue to have something checked out, especially now that you've replaced your trans, you said she's smooth sailing.

I know when I had just chipped a few third gear teeth, the trans sounded like rocks in a rock tumbler.