ffokazak

Hey guys, was driving my 86 NA and came to a stop light. Decided to get moving quickly, dropped the clutch and had some sort of break...

Rough, gnarly grinding ( Like you dropped that missing 13MM wrench into the garbage disposal ... Not good) when in gear. I haven't had theca on a hoist yet, thought I would ask if this is something that is clearly diagnosable without dropping the transaxle.

When not in gear the tranny shifts fine, and the clutch when depressed prevents that gnarly grinding sound. Once let out, the car tries to move, and the grinding is engaged.

Which leads me to believe it is the pinion gear,

The question is... I have a parts car that is an 83, which was in a fire. The trans in the parts car does not shift.... Can I take the suspected gear out of the old parts car, to fix this issue, or is it better to swap in a whole new transaxle and move on...

Thanks in advance.

931guru

Yep, broken ring and pinion. When the carnage occurred, it also damaged the transmission case. Not repairable.

Find a nice used one, change the fluid, move on with your life.

ffokazak

Appreciate that. It is what I expected.

Early cars, Turbos, do all transaxles fit the 86 NA? Any special cases I should know about?

Thanks

Too bad my parts car tranny seems locked up... Would have been nice to swap that one in.

walfreyydo

Dont jump to that conclusion yet...

Youll first want to inspect your axles as breaking an axle is more common, less costly and can mimic the feeling of a blown the transmission due to the sounds and lack of movement of the car. Looking under the rear of the car it should be plain to see if you broke a cage on one of the joints as you will either see the axle hanging or the boot all wrapped up around the axle shaft. Physically grabbing and moving the axles around might also be needed if the damaged axle isnt obvious. There should be very little play in a good axle.

If the axles check out, second thing you should do is raise the rear of the car and pull the cover on the trans diff, first draining and inspecting the fluid for metal. The ring and pinion is clearly visible when removing the cover and there is also a magnet on the inside of the cover that should contain plenty of metal bits, assuming the trans is blown. Removing the cover will require removal of the passenger side axle (you can remove the bolts on the inner joint and de-couple it from the stub coming out of the trans, then removing the allen bolt holding the stub in) before you can remove the cover bolts themselves and pull off the cover.

If there is no metal and no clear damage to the ring and pinion then the last thing you can check is the driveshaft to trans input shaft coupler, easily seen through the inspection port on the trans bellhousing.

ffokazak

So very helpful...

A quick glance on the ground is leading me towards perhaps an axle...

One boot is off where it should be and there is a ton of play in the shaft...

Well that would be a preferred fix that is for sure...

Thanks again, very helpful

Chalt

Let us know what it was. We're invested now.

ffokazak

After jacking up one side of the car, and spinning the suspected axle wheel... Yea I think it is an Axle.

way easier than a trans...

I am looking at the OEM axle I have that I replaced pro actively to re install and get my car back on the road... Cleaning it and re greasing it to get moving again.

I will update with what comes of it,

ffokazak

Yep. Brand new driveshaft, blown up was the cause.

Took two ends of my old OEM's and made one good one, each had one worn out side.

Glad that it wasn't the tranny, obviously.

Glad to have it back on the road, thanks for all the help!

Nowanker

Thanks for the update, and congratulations on the less expensive repair!

Jfrahm

There is some thought that a bad trans mount can cause this problem. The transmission moving around pulling or pushing the joint too far. Might be worth checking.

walfreyydo

I agree with the above. This was my issue that lead to premature destruction of one of my axles. Trans was moving/swaying back and forth with just hand pressure. I did the urethane mod, and its been great.

ffokazak

Ok so the test for this is just rock back and forth, see for any play?

I blew up the second CV shortly after. In like 4th gear, not really driving hard or anything...

Put OE back in ( I got from eBay, for like 70$) and drove it 200 miles yesterday no issues.

Will get it on the hoist and check the play in the tranny for sure.

Thanks guys

walfreyydo

If the trans easily sways back and forth or moves with hand pressure, I would suggest the DIY urethane mod. Lots of threads on this if you search. Trans should not move much if at all. When mine was bad it would easily swing back and forth.

ffokazak

Curious to see how mine is !

Thanks for this ill check