Transmission/transaxel/synchronizer/linkage? Please help!
 

1987 944 NA

Drove fine for about 3 miles. After accelerating through an intersection and shifting into 2nd gear, I heard something that sounded like I was grinding the gears like a newb. Drove fine till the next light. 1st gear was fine, then when I let the clutch out in 2nd, heard a loud grind and clunk (much louder noise where it sounded lije something may have broke or snapped). Threw the clutch in, and coasted around a corner to a side street to check under the car.

Didn't see anything hanging or any leaks. Was on the way to work, so parked it and had a coworker that knew more about cars than I come out and check it out.

Started it up, threw it in first, let the clutch out reeeeal slow. As soon as the tires made close to 1 revolution, the car just stopped and clunked (felt like it caught on something) and pushed the car backwards. Almost like it hit a curb and the momentum pushed it back. Tried it again real slow, clunk, but it kept going a bit more, then clunk, stop and pushed back again.

Tried to put it in reverse, and nothing would catch. Stick moves cleanly into all gears and reverse.

Threw it in neutral to push it somewhere, and same thing, clunk, stop, pushed back. In neutral, going in reverse was fine, no clunk or pushback. Ended up doing like a 6point uturn, and pushed it 6 blocks to my work's parking lot backwards all the way.

When we got it into a spot, I threw it in 1st to park it, and it kept moving forward a bit. It didn't seem like being in 1st gear was stopping the wheels from turning at all. Pushed it back a bit more, and it seemed like the wheels were locking, but i stuck some wood in front of all the tires just in case. Still sitting there.

Recent work: Rebuilt power steering pump seals, would squeal a bit with heater on for a while in cold weather (Wisconsin). Around 30F, nothing crazy cold. Eventually would go away. Tightened up a coolant leak going ot the radiator.

Over 4-5 months: Inner/Outer Tie rod and boot. Ball joints, wheel bearings, sway bar bushings, thermocouple, control arm, slave cylinder, water pump, brake calipers/pads, oil (all that easy stuff) etc.

I am able to bring a full set of tools, jacks, stands etc. to diagnose, but have no idea where to start or experience with it. Will be outside in 20-30F weather, but what the hell, no other choice. My daily driver.

Any help with what I can look at to diagnose it, to determine if this is something I can do myself, big or small job, or something I would have to take to an actual mechanic - is what I am looking for help with deciding! Thanks in advance to anyone that can point me in the right direction.

Bump!

I feel for you trying to fix this outside. **** I live in Phoenix and it's too cold in my garage for me to work on my car. So I'm not an expert but if you can't see anything weird broken with the rear wheels off (parking brake, ???) then I would think there's something going on inside the transaxle and it's gonna have to come out. Maybe disconnect the axles and see if that changes anything. Wish I could help more.

Check the CV joints on the axles between the transmission and the wheels. Sounds like you have a broken or damaged one. Any looseness in the axle is an indication of a broken CV joint.

Other possibility, but less likely, is a broken or loose coupler from connecting the torque tube to the transmission input shaft. There's a small round rubber cover on the housing that you can access/inspect the coupler on the housing directly in front of the transmission. And we are talking about the housing on the trans in the back of the car, not the clutch housing at the back of the engine.

Check the easy things that others have mentioned first, but it sounds like an internal linkage problem may have allowed it to become engaged in two gears at once. The solid stop and rebound, "like hitting a curb", makes me think that something is binding or jammed inside of the transmission.

Thanks guys, I'm planning on loojinf at it next week.

Anyone have links to guides or videos I could look at to get an idea of the scope of work ahead?

There are many CV joint & axle videos on Youtube:


Take your pick.