Thread: Transmisson Grinding...loss of gears but comes back

Complaint: Transmission grinding sound under Deceleration. Eventually lost all gears. Can shut the car off and let cool for about 2 minutes, restart and regain gears, however, shortly after, car loses gearing again and grinding sound comes back. When I restart the car after it has been sitting, if I raise the rpm you can hear the noise best. Idle in gear is quiter.

Cause: ? unknown....could have been due to low oil level after changing axel, but loss of oil was approx 1 qt. checked dipstick and was still showing fluid after replacement of axel. Could this be a torque converter problem?

Any help or thoughts would be appreciated.

Hi Jae, sorry to hear you are having trans problems again. The noise on decel could be the final drive (differential) and the planet gears are getting chewed up. The lose of movement is often caused by a lot of debris in the fluid and the filter becomes restrictive to the point that it causes low pressure and it will quit moving. When you shut the engine off and wait a short while everything will settle back down and then when you start it up it will work ok again for a short time. I would drop the pan and see how it looks inside. If it is full of metal then you know what to do next

Dave,
Yes, there was a lot of metal in the pan and filter. I found it today. I'm not sure if it is the diff or the input carrier.

I am going to De-mod the entire car. I have everything posted up on clubgp at the moment. I may move it over here as well, but I don't want to jump around and get into who was first in line battles.

I found a ring that looked blue in color in the pan and filter. It may have been the locking ring to the planetary gears pins in the diff. The whole thing will have to come apart to see how bad it is and to clean the valvebody and such.

That sux to hear man, I know you have put a ton of time into the car. There are only two blue snap rings/spiral lock rings in the transmission. There is a small one that holds the sprag assembly together if you have an early type and then a larger one that is on the end of the diff to retain the pins for the planet gears. If that popped off it would have caused instant carnage as the pins would have tried to walk out and then the thrust washers would fall right into a spinning geartrain and get chewed up. The ring gear is probably trashed as will be the diff. If you are putting it back together and need any parts to get you going let me know, we have plenty of good used hardparts.

Thanks bro. I really appreciate it and everything that you have helped me with. I have a great respect for you knowledge and it has helped me considerably throughout the years.

Really ashame that it happened cruising at 60mph on the highway in 4th.