DirtSHO
Member
The other day I was out visiting my cousins about 40 mins away from where I live. Trip up was no problem and the car was behaving quite normally. Spent a few hours there then decided to head on back home. Started the car and everything still normal. Drove normal for about 20 mins thru red light traffic on the main blvd. Now I'm waiting, idling at a red light. Light turns green. I take my foot off the brake, hit the gas in a normal not-too-brisk take off when all of a sudden I hear a SNAP! (or your average something breaking sound). Car comes coasting to a stop. I get it over to the side in N and put it in P. Try to get moving again trying all the gears. At first, in the forward drive gears I can't get moving at all and the tranny is making sort of a free spinning buzzsaw sound. I have reverse for about a few feet before that starts making the same sound. I turn the car off and pray it was something frooty like some low fluid and I can limp it back. Check the fluid and it's fine, but add a tiny bit more just in case. Still nothing.
Finally get it towed home and try it the next day. Now the tranny is making an even worse buzzsaw sound - something more like a wood chipper. "Holy Balls!" I'm thinking to myself. Looks like it's gonna need work. I'm about call up the shop in the next few days after I gather up some loot to pay for it so my question is: any idea what went wrong/broke? I usually just like to have a ballpark idea of what needs to be fixed when I bring it to a shop. I try to work on things myself but I have no idea when it comes to transmissions. The guy I'm bringing it to is trustworthy and I've been to him before but I like to give him some sort of heads up.
Hopefully a little brief history can help you guys clear things up:
The car is a 94 ATX with about 119k miles on the clock and was my daily driver up until about a month ago. Very reliable (to me anyways).
According to the person I purchased it from the trans was rebuilt once before but there are no receipts and the date/mileage it was done is unknown.
I'm never really too ******* the car. About once a week I used to gun it rolling down a long stretch. About once or twice a month a brisk takeoff from a light.
Tranny fluid level checked about twice a month and always kept near full. Never really lost/burnt any fluid. However, when checking the dipstick it was really hard to determine accurate level because the blank side of the stick had a small bead of fluid running nearly 3/4ths of the way to the top, but the side with the markings had a distinquishable bead that read near full most of the time. Don't know if that's normal for the SHO because none of my other cars had that occur.
I noticed no real significant signs that something was about to go. No significantly odd noises or behaviors coming from the tranny prior to the SHOboom. Once in a blue moon there'd be a hanging shift (maybe 3 times in 4 years), after which I would always check fluid and top off if need be.
Nothing else I can think of at the moment. So again what do I need? Entire rebuild? Something small? Could it be a differential or something else qweer? Thanks in advance for the help.
Finally get it towed home and try it the next day. Now the tranny is making an even worse buzzsaw sound - something more like a wood chipper. "Holy Balls!" I'm thinking to myself. Looks like it's gonna need work. I'm about call up the shop in the next few days after I gather up some loot to pay for it so my question is: any idea what went wrong/broke? I usually just like to have a ballpark idea of what needs to be fixed when I bring it to a shop. I try to work on things myself but I have no idea when it comes to transmissions. The guy I'm bringing it to is trustworthy and I've been to him before but I like to give him some sort of heads up.
Hopefully a little brief history can help you guys clear things up:
The car is a 94 ATX with about 119k miles on the clock and was my daily driver up until about a month ago. Very reliable (to me anyways).
According to the person I purchased it from the trans was rebuilt once before but there are no receipts and the date/mileage it was done is unknown.
I'm never really too ******* the car. About once a week I used to gun it rolling down a long stretch. About once or twice a month a brisk takeoff from a light.
Tranny fluid level checked about twice a month and always kept near full. Never really lost/burnt any fluid. However, when checking the dipstick it was really hard to determine accurate level because the blank side of the stick had a small bead of fluid running nearly 3/4ths of the way to the top, but the side with the markings had a distinquishable bead that read near full most of the time. Don't know if that's normal for the SHO because none of my other cars had that occur.
I noticed no real significant signs that something was about to go. No significantly odd noises or behaviors coming from the tranny prior to the SHOboom. Once in a blue moon there'd be a hanging shift (maybe 3 times in 4 years), after which I would always check fluid and top off if need be.
Nothing else I can think of at the moment. So again what do I need? Entire rebuild? Something small? Could it be a differential or something else qweer? Thanks in advance for the help.
could be whipping around in there. Maybe the planets.. just can't really tell by description of sound alone man. Just build her really stout if that is what is needed!
