High guys. I need to embark on my new mission of overhauling this tranny. I wanted some opinions on what may be wrong. Basically, if I hit the accelorator hard in any gear, it makes all kinds of noise, and it is difficult ot put into all gears. I hear a bunch of clattering when I leave it in neutral with the engine running. It will go, and work ok shifting if I do it slow, and do push on the gas too hard. I am guessing the synchros are toast in it. I found a supplier that sells the kit for the T-10 portion for about $169. Have any of you broke up in this turkey? Is there anything I need to know about?

It is on an '86 Coupe

 

Sounds like you toasted the synchros finally or ripped a few teeth off of a gear or two in there. I ripped 2 teeth off of the main cluster gear assembly at 166k miles in mine.

1st gear (2.88:1) is the big weakpoint in these trannies. Years of full throttle with all that torque in first can snap the teeth.

 

I bought the car for my fiancee. She was out driving it, had it in 2nd (o) doing about 60mph. She hit the (o) without realizing what she was doing, and said that it came down into second really hard. She probably ripped the teeth out of it like you suggested...big sigh!!!! The car only has 86,000 miles...it is in fairly good condition; well, it was :( I hear a lot of clatter in the transmission...it probably is broken teeth....eeeeerrrrrrrrrrr!

 

The tranny can be removed in about 3 hours if you move pretty quickly. That is on the ground with jackstands. If you had lift access probably even quicker. Once you get it out you can take the side cover off and inspect nearly all of the gears at least for physically missing chunks.

Also the drain plug (lower one) is magnetic on the passenger side. If you remove it you might get lucky (ok maybe lucky isn't the right word) and find at least something that would make sense attached to it.

 

How hard is the bell housing to remove. Are the bolts fairly tucked away in the firewall?

 

Depends. If you remove it and the tranny in one piece it is a pain. If you remove the tranny and then the bellhousing it is much simpler. The 1st option is best done with a couple of 2' extensions on a wratchet and go over the tranny from the back with them.

 

The toughest part of the whole thing is getting the c-beam out that connects the tranny to the differential. Lets see how much I remember....

1. Get car on jackstands at a comfortable height.
2. Remove entire exhaust
3. Place jack or stand with wide piece of wood under the oilpan to support the engine.
3 1/2. Remove the distributor cap just in case the engine tilts too much later so it doesn't crack on the firewall.
4. Unbolt the c-beam (I think 16mm and 18mm needed) and move it towards the passenger side as much as you can.
5. Unbolt u-joint strap bolts and remove the driveshaft. (5/16" needed)
6. Disconnect the overdrive cooler lines from the transmission (13mm line wrench I think)
7. Disconnect the electrical connections to the transmission.
8. Place a jack with a peice of wood about 1'x1' under the transmission or a transmission jack.
9. Remove the c-beam.
10. Unbolt the 4 bolts on the tranny to the bellhousing. You can either use a 19mm on the outside edge, or I THINK a T-55 torx bit on the inside. Might have to check that size though.
11. Back the transmission out of the pilot bearing as far as you can before lowering the jack.

The tailshaft of the overdrive will probably make contact with the underbody so you will probably have to start lowering the jack before the input shaft is completely out of the throwout bearing.

 

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I REALLY appreciate your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will let you know how it goes.

 

Oooops.... I forgot to tell you to remove the shifter linkage from the side of the tranny too, but you'd see that anyways. Those have clips on them and also I think they are 9/16" nuts. Make a note of how they looked before you remove the linkage so you can put it back exactly the same way.

You may find the overdrive cooler lines nearly impossible to get off. They are aluminum so be careful the ends can strip easily. I ended up having to cut one of mine and reconnecting it with a pressure fitting since the end was frozen to the transmission and wouldn't unscrew.

You'll also need something like a crowbar and a decent sledge hammer to knock the c-beam around. Might want some ear protection if you hit it with the hammer, it rings like hell down there.

 

...Good Luck!... :thumbs:



[Modified by Rich B., 6:37 AM 3/8/2003]

 

I contacted the supplier about the rebuild kit. I guess it doesn't have any of the hard gears for the tranny. They don't stock them either. Do you know of a place to buy these parts? Hopefully, I won't need them.

I talked to my fiancee again. I guess the problems started right after she dropped it out of overdrive into 2nd doing about 65. There was a whine in second before she did this so I imagine she totally killed that gear.

 

Any borg warner supplier should be able to sell them to you. I would get it apart before buying anything though.

 

:iagree: :iagree: :yesnod:

 

Thanks guys, I am embarking on this project once I get my opti installed in my '97 T/A. It is sitting in my garage on jack stands...not much fun. I am waiting for the part on order. My thermostat gasket blew and cooked it :(