weird transmission noises
 

ok, i feel stupid for asking, but where and how do I check my transmission fluid? my tranny has started to make some really funky noises and I have no idea how to check it. its a manual 3 speed.

Jason

Remove the plug in the side of the trans. housing. Fluid should be to the bottom of hole.

If it's low you have a leak and it must be very visable while you're under the car. Fix it too..

when i first got my mustang the transmission was making funny noises too...the mechanic swore it was coming from the rear end ( crazy guy) neways if adding fluid dont help the noise and the noise is a deep growling sound its probably one of ur bearings...thats what ened up being wrong with mine

actually my transmission is making several different noises, one of them i am positive is coming directly from inside the tranny, and the other coming from somewhere farther forward towards my engine. they both sound like grinding noises but i'm not sure what could be grinding. i'll try adding more fluid. i took my car to a transmission shop and the guy drove it around the block, without evening looking at anything and just driving it he started to list a bunch of things that were wrong, unfortunately i don't remember what he said. he said my transmission was dying and that it would be expensive to repair. i told him that i planned on replacing the tranny with something better anyway so he just said to replace it. when i drive the car though i don't notice any performance or operation problems other than the noise. i am clueless so far.

Jason

Do u have any problems shifting it?

not any more than i did when i bought the car three years ago.

I may of missed it, but does it do it at certian RPM'S, speed? Under a load? When letting off the gas?

It only does it at idle occasionally, and when i rev from idle to about 2,000 rpm's. If i rev higher than 2000, the noises usually stop. other times it doesn't do it at all. i also noticed that when the engine has been running for a while and is warm, the noises tend to be less frequent.

does it make the sound in neutral from idle to 2000 rpms or in gear? or both

both

mine did that a month before the tramsmission pump gear snapped in three pieces. Just a thought.

This is a manual tranny though, right.

Rev

Yes, it is a manual.


Here's an idea to try out. Put it in neutral, when u hear the noise, lightly put your foot on the clutch pedal. If it stops, it's probaly just your throwout bearing. Or if it gets louder. Try that, and let me know.

could possibly be your syncronizers that could be going bad, just another possiblity

well obviously this will not be an easy problem to diagnose, so let me take this another direction. I have been planning to replace this transmission anyway because it sucks, and i have been debating on what type of transmission to replace it with. this will be mostly a street car, it has the 289 right now but i want to start building a 347 stroker soon. I'm also putting a ford 9'' in soon after the tranny with 3.73 gears i think. are there any suggestions or recommendations about what transmission i should go with? how about the gear ratio in the diff, 3.73 seems to be popular and a safe bet, but i would appreciate any comments given.

Thanks,
Jason

Well, I'd still look at the throwuot bearing first. Could save u a lot of money.

well i found the problem. I was just driving down the street near where i live and i came to a stop sign, i took off the line and pushed in the clutch to shift into 2nd gear and suddenly the clutch popped and dropped to the floor. i pulled over and let the engine die. now whether the clutch pedal is on the floor or pulled back to normal position the transmission stays engagedl, so i can't even push it somewhere. does this mean that the clutch just blew out, or is it something else? i also don't know what the throwout bearing does.
anyway, i have this sinking feeling that i'm screwed...:( :confused: :mad:

If your clutch blew out, then your pedal would come up all the way. I can bet money that all it was, is your clutch cable broke. Just get under your car and look for a cable from your peddle to your tranny. If this isn't broken, then that means u have more work ahead of yourself. Now u probaly neeed to take off your tranny and bellhouseing to get to your clutch assembly. You'll see a arm, that goes over your shaft. On the middle of it is the Throwout bearing. I can list this from good to bad for work for u.

Good: Cable

Crap: Your throwout bearing is blow apart, new u need a new one.

Son of a bi***: your arm for your clutch is snapped in half. Or broken on the other side.

&%$#@*&%*!(^%$: Your clutch pressure plate( the one that goes over your clutch, and has a bunch of finger looking things on it) has broken plates(fingers) or is snapped somewhere.


I'd still bet money on the cable.

and a safe bet it would be. i checked under the car and i found something very interesting. out of the four main bolts that bolt my engine to my engine mounts, the two on the torque side (driver's side) are missing. This meant that every time i hit the gas my engine on the driver's side would lift up and it has caused part of the clutch assembly to come apart. i would consider this good, because all i need to fix it is the two missing bolts for the engine mounts and the connecting pin that connects the two disconnected parts on my clutch assembly. this comes to me as a huge relief, i thought i was going to have to hunker down for the long haul of repairs. :D it still doesn't explain the strange noises though...:confused:

can anybody tell me what the size of these bolts are and what i need to torque them to? also, i need to jack up my engine in order to reattach the clutch cable, what is the safest way to do this? i'm not sure if i should take off the other two bolts before i do it, or whether thats totally necessary. any suggestions or ideas are welcome.

Thanks
Jason