PROBLEM: Transmission or Clutch - Ideas?

[criticman]

Okay, so as I posted a week or so ago, my car was experiencing a loud noise and vibration underneath the console area.

Well, people suggested transmission mounts or something rubbing on the driveshaft.

I took the car to a shop yesterday to be checked out - it made the noise during the mechanic test drive (more so than normal, so he got a good idea of what it was).

We put it up on a lift, he and I checked it out. No evidence of anything rubbing anywhere underneath. There was no evidence of abnormal wear to the transmission mounts (visual check and attempts to jar the tranny).

The mechanic (recommended to me by several people, been in business for a long time, no complaints filed thru the BBB in the past 3 yrs, etc) said he had no idea what it could be. He said if he had to take a guess, it is either the transmission (internal) or the clutch.

So, all of you tranny experts...what could it be? Loud vibration, only when in gear, in all gears, gets louder as you reach higher RPMs in each gear.

If this helps, the throwout bearing on the clutch is probably going based on the high pitched noise the setup is making.

Any help would be REALLY appreciated!

 

[4dStang]

Can you jack it up and have someone spin the rear wheels and you slide under to get a closer point of origin of the sound? Hard to troubleshoot a noise on a forum.

I would check the drive shaft bolts and make sure everything was tight underneath. At this point I can only tell you to throw parts at it.

Chris

 

[criticman]

Can you jack it up and have someone spin the rear wheels and you slide under to get a closer point of origin of the sound? Hard to troubleshoot a noise on a forum.

I would check the drive shaft bolts and make sure everything was tight underneath. At this point I can only tell you to throw parts at it.

Chris

We jacked up the rear while on the lift...it wouldn't reproduce vibrations, probably because the car wasn't under load.

All of my tools are 200 miles away at home (I'm @ college), so I think I'll make a trip to Advance tomorrow to get some basics to see if I can't get under and check things out myself.

 

[4dStang]

Maybe pull the console out and look at the shifter and mount, remove it, and look inside. Also, change that tranny fluid first. It may be low, and under stress, then maybe the gears will start to whine. Not from experience, just guessing. Other wise, you may have a bad bearing in the trans. Rare but could happen. That sux!


Let us know.


Chris

 

[Prochrgd1]

I had a similar problem over the summer which progressively got worse over time. Turned out to be my pilot bearing was shot & eventually worked its way out. The input shaft was vibrating in the hole where the pilot bearing used to be causing a nasty vibration up through my shifter handle. I originally thought my trans was on the way out.

 

[86T-Top]

I also had this problem. It was too my pilot bearing or lack of one. It was a real nasty vibration by the end, felt like the car was going to fall apart up around 4K RPMs.

Mario

 

[crazypete]

Have him toss it on the emissions tester stand. That has a dynolike contraption that will let you load the drivetrain running the engine in place.

I completely agree that this is gear whine. Mine made that noise when the input shaft retainer broke.

Any way you look at it, you'll have to drop the tranmission sooner or later so you should do it sooner to make it under controlled circumstances rather than later after being towed home because the trans blew up.

A recommendation though to isolate if the problem is inside or out:

Get some lucas oil stabalizer. This will make for harder shifts while its in and make it grind gears unless you granny shift and maybe rpm match BUT the oil will cling to your gears (I think this gums up the synchros temporarily).

If the whining goes away, gets much quieter or changes tone, rpm range, then you know it's inside the case. Else, it is outside: the pilot bearing.

Afterward, you can drain the case and put some cheap fluid back in, run for a few miles, drain then put the good stuff in to get rid of the lucas.

Good luck!