peanut

Today I had a grinding noise exactly like a wheel bearing. It was most noticable going round right bends and almost absent on left bends.
I thought it would last to get me home (60 miles) but suddenly without warning the car lost all drive and I coasted to a stop

. When selecting gears I can hear a slight rasping noise from the rear but feels like the transmission is seperated although the gear linkage seems connected ok
Towed home to a local garage and will have to wait until tomorrow to find out whats wrong

Anyone any ideas ? could it be the rubber doughnut in the middle of the clutch ?

porschefig

IIRC when the rubber centered clutch goes out there is still metal to metal contact that allows the clutch to continue operation for miles and miles

is the linkage connected at both ends?

peanut

I've no idea I'm afraid. (well actually it did feel like it was shifting the gears because itdid move forward and back ever so slightly)It broke down in the middle of a snow blizzard in the dark in the middle of nowhere 3 deg below. I wasn't about to crawl underneath to check the trannie but you can't see much anyway as you know.

So if the clutch keeps going it has to be one of the UVs which would explain why it sounded like a wheel bearing on bends.
Well at least thats a whole lot cheaper than a clutch job

ErichCS

What about the transaxle ring and pinion? How many miles/km do you have on the car? I don't know a lot about the ring/pinion, but its possible if its not the wheels bearing or CV related problems...

Good luck and keep us posted!
-Erich

peanut

Mmmmm don't know much about this part The car has been whining hard on overun for a long time now Especially if I use the gearbox to brake. There was a lot of backlash somewhere in the tansmission for months now.
It was booked in the garage for tomorrow ! hows that for bad luck

Where can I go to get some technical articles on 944 trannies and related problems?

porschefig

ahh.....DONT USE the engine/tranny to break on these cars!!!!!!!!!!!!!

porschefig

oooo....not to scare you...it's just hard on the cars....
(it's not like some terminal problem we've kept secret from you)
,,,brakes are WAY cheaper then engines/clutches/trannies
be nice to your baby :-)

MartinT

Could it be a CV/axle problem. If one side goes, depending what differential you have, you won't get a one wheel drive car, you'll get a no wheel drive car.

peanut

I agree but its not practical to put the clutch in every single time you deaccelerate you'd knock the clutch and brakes out in weeks

At the moment I drive 150- 275 miles every week day in my car to work. thats 1000 + per week! These cars are engineered to take that mileage with ease and reliability I don't know what you paid for your car but mine cost £36,000 when new and you don't get weak transmission for that sort of money. These cars are in my experience one of the most reliable `super cars' on the road


. This car is a one owner car (me) since nearly new and I have done 145,000 miles on the same engine g/box transmission suspension and steering without a single breakdown in 15 years.

That is a testament to the way I drive and look after my cars.

Please don't presume to lecture older more experienced drivers about their driving techniques unless you have the same level of experience. Us old gits don't take too kindly to being told how we should drive by young whippersnappers like you lol

peanut

I did consider this but I don't think there is any rubber in the axles cvjs whereas there is in the clutch disk.
If a CVJ had gone I would have expected a lot of noise when engaging a gear and trying to drive as the axle thrashed about and the noise of a CV joint failing would be very dramatic . This was completly quiet I was driving along at 65mph in 4th and suddenly it was as if it was slipped into neutral !

I suppose the linkage is suspect but there was a slight forward /reverse movement when first and reverse was engaged. Also
There was a slight smell of burning rubber ?

My money is on the clutch at the moment

tifosiman

This sounds like the pinion bearing grenaded. Mine was whining for awhile, then one day it sounded like the transmission was full of marbles. Mechanic cracked it open and said it was so bad the case was damaged and it was un-rebuildable.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that it is only a CV. If it is, you may want to consider having your trans cracked open anyway and have the pinion bearing replaced. My mech told me (after the fact) that when I was experiencing the whining noise, I could have just had the bearing replaced and avoided the large bill that I ended up with...

Good luck!

Dales944

The preceding transmission backlash, the burning rubber smell, the slight rasping noise, and the "instant neutral" sounds like the clutch to me.
I'd guess your rubber hub separated (at least partially) some months ago and you've been driving on the metal cogs for a while. That's what happened to my car at about 130K. I had transmission backlash that I kept hoping was a tranny mount. Then, I was cruising along and got the "no go" status. The metal that the cogs engage popped off (I think it was spot welded on).

Of course, that's just my guess.

Let us know what the diagnosis is, and best of luck to you.

Dale.

peanut

Ouch this sounds expensive tifosiman

I am still waiting to hear from the garage. Apparently they are snowed under with work atm and can't get it up on a ramp.

The pinion bearing is what the garage suspected but I'm still kinda leaning towards Dale's suggestion of the clutch because of the lack of noise and smell of rubber.

I have got a horrible idea you are both correct and that maybe the pinion bearing is worn out but the clutch failed first!...

I'll definitly get the whole transmission checked out whilst the cars in the workshop as I intend to keep the car until one of us dies lol (I'm kinda attached after all these years.)

Thanks very much everyone for your suggestions and especially for your goodluck and warm wishes . I'll keep in touch

tifosiman

Yes, Best Wishes to you on this, keep us informed.

A little OT.....

Peanut, I'm wondering if you can do me a favor. I see that you have an 86 944. I am looking for someone to take a good photo of what the tow point underneath the euro rear bumper on a non-turbo car looks like (the part where you screw the tow eye into on the right side). Do you think you could do that for me?

I put a non-turbo euro bumper on my car and am trying to figure out what that point looks like. The Turbo/S2 bumpers have a little square notch in the black trim piece that pops out and the eye screws into, but mine does not have that as it is from a non-turbo car.

This is the area I need a good underneath shot of:



Thanks!

peanut

thats no problem tifosiman
I had to locate and screw the tow eye in the front last night in the dark with a snowstorm blowing It turned out to be under a black rubber trim piece Thank god I had a crosshead screwdriver on me to remove the trim
I hope to go to the garage later this afternoon and I'll take my camera with me and take a picture for you.