anvar420

ok, so I was going to work today and the car started making a grinding, kinda windup sound when I downshift into 4th getting off of the freeway, this continues into 3rd, and I dont even try 2nd. When I start to drive at the end of the ramp onto the street, the car is again making this noise, and an occasional bang (ricochet?) noise all through 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and also reverse (as I found out leaving work) I was able to stay in 4th till I got to work (no noise in fourth, maybe very faint whistle, screech) Leaving work, still the same symptoms, getting onto the freeway (limping slowly really, trying not to hurt it by accelerating hard at all) I make it through 1, 2, 3, 4, and when I shift into 5th a noise and then nothing, no acceleration at all, back into 4th and off at the next exit. I coast down the hill off the freeway, and onto a side street pull over, and find I have no reverse also. how bad is this? I know it is bad, but how much to have fixed, and how much for parts to fix myself? what all is needed? I have a mechanically inclined friend who has tools, including a rack to pull the engine if need be... he will help as he can but I will mainly do it myself (I am also decently mechanical, just havent had much need in the past)

thanks for any and all input, I REALLY need some help and prayers here,

John

1985_RX-7

I think your tranny is Fucked... or your clutch and stuff.

jays83gsl

Okay, are you saying that NO gears work at all? As in, you can't shift into gear?

anvar420

no, 1st and 2nd I can get too, but I am scared to try 3rd due to grinding banging noises but I am pretty sure that 1-4 work. I do not have 5th or reverse tho...

TurboSE

Tranny is Gone! Sorry Dude........................
That Sux

anvar420

why, if 4th and 5th made the least noise did I lose 5th?

shadylurker

i had a bearing (in the e shaft) fail and i couldnt shift cause it alwasy was spinning the tranny

Elysian

they call that the pilot bearing

skrewloose78

sounds like the same thing that happened to my 83 one time,although mine held togethet a little longer and gave plenty of warning before it went.

what happened to mine was the bearings in the countershaft went out.made a horible noise in 1-3 and 5th gear, 4th was somewhat quite because it doesnt use the countershaft(1:1 ratio). i made the drive 800 miles from houston to bama like this in 4th gear,the last 200 miles i decided to put it 5th(was running a little over 100 mph and rpms were a tad high in 4th)it lasted another 30 minutes before it completely let go. after the teardown i found that the countershaft had ate the bearings,slide foward punched the bearing cap out, snapped the section of the shaft that held 5th gear into 2 pieces, and chewed up several gears.

your tranny is most likely gone man. the "banging" and jerking you heard was most likely teeth on the gears getting sheared off, the grinding,growling, and whining was prolly the bearings. i dont think its going to be rebuildable or it wouldnt be cost effective anyways, you can go down to pull-your-part pick-a-part or whatever and get one for around 100 bucks. now whould be a good time for an upgrade see if you can find a good t2 tranny

Aviator 902S

Yeah, it sounds like your tranny has cratered or is about to. That's the bad news.

The good news is that used trannys in decent shape can be had from wrecking yards for $100 or so. If you put your car on four jack stands you can do the swap yourself in about two to three hours, it's not really that difficult. Even the Haynes manual explains the procedure adequately.

But if you have an additional 300 bucks or so available it might be wise to also swap in a new clutch and release bearing while everything is apart. (unless your current clutch has less than 30,000 un-abusive miles on it). This isn't hard either, but be sure to use a clutch install tool to align everything properly before torquing down the clutch mounting bolts.

anvar420

ok, can someone point me in the direction of info reguarding upgrading to a t2 tranny? what all/else would I have to replace if I do, versus if I just replace what I have for what I have?

nothingbutrotor

two things are possible.

1) Something with nuts in your tranny and your gears are now in a pile in the bottom of the gear box or you are rapidly breaking teeth and they are bouncing around and that could be some of the noise

or 2) You're clitch is trashed.

wait, there's one more

you're whole transmission is ****. i saw a t2 instruction thing on here somewhere, and i saw a t2 for sale used on ebay with a fresh rebuild. i will look around for that tutorial thing, and a t2 tranny.

bliffle

You can put $500 of new parts in a trans easily, even if you do it yourself. Try a trans from the JY first. Reserve that old trans for a winter workbench project.

Look around: I got a recent rebuild SE trans for $150 a couple years ago, and I got another used good one for free from a local guy.

B

anvar420

ok, but the question is what tranny will I need? if I upgrade will I need to change/upgrade anything else? or will it be a direct changeover?

TurboSE

well if u have a N/A motor and upgrade to a TII tranny...My guess is your gear ratio is gonna suck!
But it'll last 4ver and You can abuse it!!!
You need
1- 87-88 TII transmission........I havent done a S5 but i gues its about the same
2- TII starter/clutch
3-light flywhell and counterweight(for your rotors"year")
4-custom driveshaft
5-cut the shifter hole or modify the s3? remote shifter to fit the s4 TII tranny