StreetSpeed

Sirs,

Had my weekend cut short at NJMP due to braking issues. To add insult to injury, at the end of my 4.5 hour journey back home, my tranny started making a whining noise, bucked a little bit, had a hard time shifting into 5th and 6th, and the High Tranny Temp light popped up on the dash. 275 degrees was the number. I slowed down and limped the last 2 miles back home.

I changed the tranny fluid with Amsoil a couple months ago and since have 3 days at Limerock, 2 half hour sessions at NJMP (yesterday) and the street miles there and back. I was hoping to see a pool of fluid under my car when I parked it today, but no such luck.

Anyone have any thoughts as to what my issues may be? Are there any air inlets that cool the tranny that could have been plugged with something? Hoping this isn't the sign of a tranny going bad - bought the car used in March for track-only duty and was worried about something catastrophic popping up eventually.

froggy47

Inspect the exhaust pipes near the tranny to make sure you don't have an exhaust leak torching the tranny. I prefer redline d4atf over amsoil. Ck the level of fluid of course. Maybe you short filled it somehow? Car must be level.

Of course you should never get that warning on a cruise home, it is not unusual on a track day, I have got it.

StreetSpeed

I leveled it as best I could, and it didn't take every drop of the 4 quarts, but it did take most of it. I wonder how low it would have to be to be too low? And agreed, the fact that it happened on the drive home is what worried me. So I will change the fluid sometime this week, try the Redline instead of the Amsoil, and I'll run the fluid through a screen as I'm changing it to make sure there are no chunks of metal coming out.

Note: Is it as important for the car to be level front to back as it is left to right? I had the front up on low profile ramps and the back on jack stands. The back may have been higher than the front, which was sort of necessary since I could barely fit under the car as it was.

froggy47

Actually I use a digital level when I do oil/tran/diff fluids to make sure I am level, maybe a couple degrees high in back.

If you put in 3.5 qt, that's full, so I don't think you short filled it.

Maybe put an inch of board under the ramps to get her up a little more in front.

I have a video on how to diy, but seems like you know what to do.

StreetSpeed

Woah. Your back end is way higher than I had mine, so I guess that's not the issue. And I would say I had all of 3.5 quarts go in. So I guess if I drain the fluid and see some metal coming out then I have a real issue?

froggy47

Yup, that's next, dump the fluid to a clean container & screen it. You should see some brassy/goldish looking stuff that is tiny (like sparkles) & goes thru a std strainer, that's normal wear.

Post up a pic of what you get if anything.

But be looking for an EXTERNAL heat problem, to me that's the key that you got a temp warning. Ck your codes for anything else.Is the exhaust stock?

Maybe something hit the exhaust & bent it towards the tran?

StreetSpeed

Cat back is stock, car has Kooks Long Tubes on her. Don't recall hitting anything hard on the way down to NJMP, but the car was loaded up so I bounced off the bump stops a couple of times, but didn't hear or feel metal on the ground. Exhaust sounds normal, so I figured if I had a leak significant enough to over heat the trans I'd probably hear something? Of course the car is noisy anyway, so maybe not.

froggy47

When you get it in the air look for a heat source or something that blocks air flow around the tran.



Also could be a false read from a bad sensor, ck the wiring to the sensor, may be if it breaks it goes full hot. Also as I said pull all the codes to look for a related matter.

C66 Racing

It could also be low fluid level due to a leak. Have you inspected the tranny for leaks? One of the guys I race with recently found that the front top center bolt that mounts the tranny was missing entirely. When he braked hard, fluid would go out the hole. When you drain it, I'd try to see how much comes out as a check that you had the proper level in it.

StreetSpeed

I would love if it was a false read, but the tranny started making really weird whining noises, grinding gears into 5th and 6th, and bucked a couple times under power. Definitely a mechanical thing going on under there and just a sensor.

I'll scan codes in a bit and report back what I find. I have a CEL on now but it's from a bum 02 sensor some where. Hopefully another one logged in there that might tell me something.

StreetSpeed

Just fired it up to consider taking it up the street to get some wine. But as soon as I started it up I heard a whole lot of rattling coming from the shifter. Put in the clutch and it goes away. In my head this makes me more hopeful that it's low on fluid since I figure less fluid, more gear exposed, equals more volume? I was gonna drive it the 14 miles to my shop and work on it this weekend, but I think it best to just put it my driveway, bring my tools home and work on it here. Is there any place for fluid to leak from besides the drain and fill plugs?

froggy47

Should be seals on both ends, but I have not taken one apart.

This may have something to do with clutch also.

When you shut it off, can you run the shifter thru the gears? Clutch in and out (but engine off)?

If the gears & syncros are ok I think you should be able to do that without much resistance.

Also you need to ck for a bent shifter & do shifter alignment before you open the tran.

StreetSpeed

I can indeed run through the gears with no problems when the car is off. But I have no intention of actually cracking the tranny open and seeing what's doing in there! If fresh fluid doesn't solve the issue then the car will be going to someone who actually knows what they're doing.

froggy47

Unless you find the fluid level low (leaked out) I don;t think that'll do anything re: temp warning.

Keep us posted.

FasterIsBetter

IMHO, switch to Red Line ATF. Alternatively, you can try the Mobil 1 ATF.

YMMV, but the Red Line AFT really worked for me on tracks from NJMP to Pocono long course to Watkins Glen to Lime Rock and a whole bunch of autocrossing.

p.s. I had AR headers, free flow CATS, x-pipe, on my '04, and the tranny never overheated, even under the most severe racing on the hottest days. Street and highway driving should not be an issue.

FasterIsBetter

p.s. When you drain the tranny fluid, make sure you do it through a sieve or screen mesh. You want to see if any little pieces of sychos show up in the fluid. Just a thought.

StreetSpeed

Just drained the Amsoil and put in Redline. Attached is a picture of the amount of fluid that came out of the gearbox. Not quite a full galllon. Maybe closer to only 3 quarts? I know it won't take much more than 3.75 quarts, so perhaps I was a little low? I was hoping to see far less come out but maybe if someone chimes in and says .75 quarts is far too low then perhaps that's a good thing. The "rattling" that seemed to be coming from my shifter went away after about 30 seconds and a couple of revs, so I thought that was a generally good sign.


However, the thing that took me way by surprise is when I had the rear wheels jacked off the ground, the rear wheels are spinning in neutral. (video link at bottom). Am I an idiot or should the wheels not be spinning if there is no gear selected? Made me think I had some sort of clutch issue but I've never had a hint of slippage so I assumed everything was A-OK in the clutch department. I can stop the wheels spinning by hand. Anyone care to enlighten me if this is normal or abnormal? Also as I went back out and shot that video the rattling had definitely returned.



http://s68.photobucket.com/user/Stre...9_326.mp4.html

rbl

Spin is normal.

Rattle = bad news.

Transmission removal time unless you see something really loose under there. I would drive it first and see what it feels like, shift, etc..

StreetSpeed

Gotcha. I'll get it off the stands this afternoon and see what it feels like. As mentioned previously, shifting seems fine with engine off with both clutch in and out.

C66 Racing

Spinning in neutral really doesn't have anything to do with the clutch as unless you have your foot depressing the clutch pedal - the clutch is fully engaged. The spinning is due to internal friction inside the tranny.

3 qts is low, but hard to say how much of an impact that would have. Normal should be about 3.5-3.75 qts.