transmission failure?

[david c.]

I'm new to the watercooled side of things so let me know what you all think happened:

Today, I got in the car, got to the of my street and all of the sudden the shifter and clutch pedal feel turned weird. The shifter feels like a stick in a bucket of mud. I could still use the clutch pedal to put the car into and out of some gear but it was impossible to tell what gear the car was in. I managed to creep home in what felt like third. Then I parked it.

Fire away.

EDIT: all it needed was to have the shifter mechanism cleaned and greased.

[SoCal Driver]

Linkage on top of the transmission. Best access is from the drivers side over the rear of the axle. Base of the shifter has come loose from the top of the torque tube. Coupler between the shift rod going back to the trans and the rod driving that linkage over the top of the trans. Look through the inspection port at the front of the trans drivers side while someone moves the linkage about.

Could be a clutch failure to. Either the center section of the disk has thrown something in between the plates or the slave/master cylinders are not fully functioning letting the clutch drag a bit. Would be a puddle of brake fluid under the starter. Pull back the carpets around the firewall penetration for the clutch push rod. If the clutch master is leaking it will be running down inside and soaking into the carpet.

[david c.]

Thanks Hugh. I'm glad to hear that you don't think it's some catastrophic gearbox failure.

I've been hearing a fairly constant whacking noise in the rear that I've attributed to CV's. I put it up on a rack and played with the CV's and they seemed 'okay' but I was planning on taking them apart and cleaning everything and repacking, etc. (or asking my buddy mechanic to do that since I have no heated garage right now and I have a friend who is a good P-car enthusiast and is a mechanic with his own shop).

[SoCal Driver]

The 944 is the bastard child. Not considered a true P car.

[p-talk]

Might want to check mounts as well? Maybe an exhaust piece hitting?

Originally posted by dave cardone
Thanks Hugh. I'm glad to hear that you don't think it's some catastrophic gearbox failure.

I've been hearing a fairly constant whacking noise in the rear that I've attributed to CV's. I put it up on a rack and played with the CV's and they seemed 'okay' but I was planning on taking them apart and cleaning everything and repacking, etc. (or asking my buddy mechanic to do that since I have no heated garage right now and I have a friend who is a good P-car enthusiast and is a mechanic with his own shop).

[david c.]

I was thinking that, but the weird thing is that before the big failure last night, I could hear the whacking noise on accel and decel. It would come and go but when it was making the noise it was significant and lasted for a long time. Then, the next day, it wouldn't make the noise at all. Also, if the noise would go away as soon as I pushed in the clutch. So, I don't think it was something outside of the drivetrain hitting anything (such as part of the exhaust).

[Crumpled952]

Were you having am arguement with your wife????

[SoCal Driver]

Now that you have added another condition; "whacking noise" I will revise my first observations and state that it's most likely the trans.

[david c.]

I left that out in my original post because the car still moves under it's own power and I can move it into and out of 'some' gear but without precision and I don't know what gear. That's why I was thinking linkage, too.

Would an exploded rubber-centered clutch potentially cause this? The car has 105k miles and may well have its original clutch.

[Razorback1980]

That was the first thing to cross my mind but I'm not sure if they still put the rubber center in your year or not. Best way to tell...drain the transmission fluid...if there is metal..you know what it is...if not, then it's probably the clutch. You shouldn't have to drain it all, just a little then shine a light in it and look for metal. If not, you probably needed to change it anyway.

[david c.]

You know, the funny thing is that I just flushed the gearbox in the last two months or so and filled it with synthetic (Mobil 1) and the whacking noise manifested itself after that. The old gear lube didn't show any metal in it, either.