Transmission problems maybe?

crazyskiier3989crazyskiier3989 Band Wagon
in Engine & Drivetrain
Hey, looking for some knowledge thats better than mine.
My 1989 Wagon decided to die on me. Here's the sequence of events. I was driving and stopped. when i went to go again i put it into first gear and started to go. About halfway through a left hand turn from this stop sign. There is this popping noise and it gets kicked out of first so i go for second and nothing. I'm not sure what is going on.
A few bits of info that might help. I can now put it into gear without needing the clutch, When it is in gear and i rev the engine, the speedometer moves, which leads me to believe that the gears are engaged. So somehow power isn't getting to the drive shafts.
A couple friends think it might be the diff that is broken. Any sort of help would be awesome.

Comments

  • SikocivicSikocivic Wagonist
    Sounds very much like a broken diff. Good thing is they are not as hard to replace as you might think. You do have to remove the tranny and open the case but if you have a Helms manual its not a bad job.
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Yeh sorry dude sounds like something is definitely broken otherwise the speedo wouldn't move when your'e stopped.

    Let me know if you need any online help opening up that transmission, I've rebuilt 3.
  • 91_wago91_wago Wagonist
    have you looked underneath the car yet? the axle could have poped out of the transmission especially since you were taking a turn.
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Good call on checking the axle, but I had one pop out once and it didn't make it hard to shift through the gears.
  • crazyskiier3989crazyskiier3989 Band Wagon
    When I looked underneath and from above axles were still in the transmission. it doesn't look like they moved outwards at all. They do wiggle when the car is just at idle, which i though was really weird. How much would it cost to replace the diff?
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Just parts or parts and labor? I've got a spare wagon diff with new bearings on it if you end up needing one.
  • crazyskiier3989crazyskiier3989 Band Wagon
    just parts. I like to do it myself, because it's fun and interesting.
  • crazyskiier3989crazyskiier3989 Band Wagon
    i also tried to pop the shafts back in, but there was only a tiny bit of wiggle, which was there when i put them in. but i tried anyway to no avail. I've been pretty sure from the get go that it is the transmission, so i might have to get started on that i determining exactly what is wrong.
  • Eagle BeagleEagle Beagle familEE
    stop poking that thing man...

    They say, and I have to agree...
    and maybe some clutch too...
    But that's noticable when you
    wrench that thing ...

    So let it be and dunno...
    What's next?

    Order parts/numbers
    Junkyardhunt, classifieds...



    :mrgreen:
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Drain the oil out of the transmission. See if pieces of metal come out. If not, pull your axles out and look into the holes on the tranny with a flashlight and see if you can see any broken gears/splines. You won't be able to see much, so just look at the two splines that the axle splines groove with. You can also put your fingers in and see if you can feel anything broken. That's probably your best bet at this point.

    If you need to take the transmission apart you might as well put in new bearings while you're in there, at least the input shaft bearing (known to go out).
  • SiWagonSiWagon Council Member
    Did you try just jacking up the frt.(w/jack stands) & running it through the gears to see if the wheels turn?
  • Eagle BeagleEagle Beagle familEE
    Is it a daily....
  • crazyskiier3989crazyskiier3989 Band Wagon
    Yah i jacked the front end up and nothing happens. When i find the time, hopefully tomorrow, I'll try draining the tranny fluid and having a peak.

    Yah's been my one and only daily for about 4 years now. i'd really hate to see it go, it's been such a great car, i just want to keep it going
  • Eagle BeagleEagle Beagle familEE
    get yoselfish another meaning of transportation fo a while...

    and some patience too...




    :mrgreen:
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    You don't have to see it go! It just sounds like a transmission problem. Worse case scenario you need to replace a lot of the insides of the transmission, I have all those parts. Or get another D-series cable transmission to replace it. DX, EX, LX, Si it doesn't matter which one you get as long as its a cable clutch from a d series engine. Unless your car is from 1988 then you have to get a trans from a 1988 I'm pretty sure.
  • FejFej Wagonist
    crazyskiier3989 wrote:
    i also tried to pop the shafts back in, but there was only a tiny bit of wiggle, which was there when i put them in. but i tried anyway to no avail. I've been pretty sure from the get go that it is the transmission, so i might have to get started on that i determining exactly what is wrong.

    When did you want me to bring the jack, jack stands and tools over?
  • crazyskiier3989crazyskiier3989 Band Wagon
    I feel kinda of lame that it's taken me so long to get around to it. need to find sometime when i wasn't busy with school though. I finally got the passenger side axle off and was able to drain the transmission fluid. Here are some pictures of what I could see through the hole for the axle.
    943.jpg
    that's more work area, it's pouring rain right now
    944.jpg
    i got the axle off with a little bit of work and some time
    945.jpg
    thats where the axle goes and when i feel the problem begins, you can see that cog that takes up a bit of where the axle goes
    946.jpg
    947.jpg
    948.jpg
    Those last three are just some close ups, i could get my finger in there and move that cog around no problem. I don't really know anything about transmissions, but to me i don't think there should be a cog just freely floating in the transmission. So if that is a cog that deals with the differential, then something is busted. But when i drained all the oil i didn't notice any metal chunks coming out.
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    bad news.... your shit is BROKE!
  • ogwagonogwagon Wagonist
    When you can move that gear around with your finger like that, It means that at least a couple of teeth are broken on the differential side gears(aka:spider gears). You can fix this by just opening that transmission case and replace the differential entirely with a known good one or just replace the whole trans with a known good one since you can pick these up for relatively cheap. This is actually not that difficult too do if you have a factory service manual and decent set of hand tools.
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