I went on a little overnight trip with my sister to the mountains of North Carolina; she wanted to check out a daylilly farm and then we went to the tallest peak in the eastern USA The morning we left (July 2), I started my car, backed it up a bit, and then pulled it down closer to the shed. No issue at all. When we returned Monday evening, I started the car to go run some errands and she no go. She no go in reverse, she no go in over-drive, she no go in third, she no go in second, she no go in first. She no go at all. The car has over 204.000 miles on the odometer so I knew I was nearing the end of the life of the clutches. However, the transmission has not slipped so was waiting until I noticed slipping before doing a rebuilt. However, she is dead and there are a few things that can caused this, bad torque converter, broken or stripped input shaft, or broken gear or drive chain. To know the exact cause will mean removal and then tearing down. Removing transaxles is not always easy; usually pulling engine and trans as a unit out the top, or dropping engine and trans as a unit out the bottom. However, the sub-frame on this vehicle can be split and I am hoping that will allow me to just drop the trans out the bottom. The engine will have to be supported from the top. I am not new to transaxle overhaul, having done my sister's Honda and my old Ford Taurus. However, I am going to just swapp in a low mileage used transmission. I found one in Oregon that is claimed to come from a car that only had a little over 26K miles; it should be on its way to me. I had to pay $50 extra on the shipping to have a lift-gate truck. These trans are not light; I had thought about trying to wrestle it off the truck but then read these trans can weight close to 200 lbs/91 kgs. I would just end up hurting myself; so I had to go ahead and pay the $50 for the lift-gate truck. I am a little nervous doing a used swap but I don't have a spare car to drive. I had intended to get Mum's old '83 LeSabre road ready at some point. It needs some work and I have no idea about the trans in that car, only having move it a few feet at a time in reverse and drive (low). I am confident that I could do the overhaul but I would probably spend $500.00 in rebuilding A reman is around $1580.00 on ebay. I don't have the money to buy a replacement vehicle because I would need to get a newer car; no use in buying the same high mileage car I have now that will need repairs. So I have decided to go used and swap the transaxle. Not an easy job and I will be doing it alone. So far I have managed to drain the trans and get the driver's side wheel assembly apart; that was needed in order to get the drive axle out of the car. It was still difficult to remove the axle and I almost thought I would have to remove the hub as well; I will see how easy it is to get the axle back in and whether or not I end up removing the hub. The struts were getting soft on the front of the car and I have done most of the work in replacing the struts so maybe I should bite the bullet and replace the struts as well; in for a pence, in for a pound. I also found the tie rod end had a split dust boot and the joint is worn; so replacing the tie rod ends is in order plus then an alignment; I don't trust myself to do a proper toe-end adjustment and I can not afford to wear out the tyres prematurely. Since the trans will be out, a new rear oil seal for the engine will be installed as well; the only way to do a rear engine oil seal is to pull the engine or pull the trans, so a little preventive maintenance. So that is where I stand now. I have not done any wood processing. I thought I had some help lined up; the guy claimed he was experience with the use of a chainsaw. However, I think he was more talk than anything.
Just got home from helping a buddy replace the starter in his truck in the parking lot at work. One of our process engineering guys took the lead on the swap, I drove the owner of the truck to Advance for the new starter and then to the beer store (that was the payment for the "mechanic's labour)... At this point in the repair, I was the resident photographer (as usual... )
You have a lot more gumption than I do. I'll do all the small repairs; starter, alt, struts, oil change, etc. But a motor or tranny change over? Nope I'm done with the heavy stuff.
You and I were thinking the same thing- I thought it was going to be a thread about some weird dude that couldn't go into the ladies' room...
I grew up with this stuff. Dad worked on cars, both the family vehicles and others. I started out young handing spanners to Dad, and learning how to know the sizes. When I got older, I was up on the engine helping to remove things, or under the car helping. The first automatic tranny I helped rebuild was out of Mum's '65 Mustang. Sadly that car is long gone; I would love to have it now. I also helped him rebuild the engine in my sister's Mustang. He came home from work and I had removed the heads; I didn't know you waited until you pulled the engine to removed the heads; hey, I was still learning.
Sounds like if computer stuff doesn't make ends meet comfortably, you could put in some part time effort at a local shop....no?
These transaxles can be bears to remove. I am in luck with this vehicle because the sub-frame can be split. Otherwise it is pull or drop the engine/trans as a unit. I am already up against an obstacle. There is a bolt that is more or less hidden, I know where it is located by watching vids on the net but it is not going to be easy to reach. I wish I had an inspection camera but I am not going to buy one. I will figure out a way to see the bolt or feel for the bolt.
I work on my own cars not so much for the fun of it; have you worked on late model cars; but because it is the way I can afford to keep them going. This is an old car with lots of miles. If you can trade cars every so many years, five to ten, do so because you don't have to worry so much over repairs. On some vehicles you have to take apart half the vehicle to just change the oil filter; OK, maybe an exaggeration but not by much.
Just like making a living at computer stuff, I believe you could find the speed.... it's not difficult to learn how to trim the unnecessary overthinking.
Yes, I tried looking today with a mirror without luck, that is of course the first thing I did try. Mirrors can not bend, inspection cameras have a snake that can bend around objects; which is why they are so nice for such things. I have a smaller mirror that I am going to try tomorrow to see if I can locate it. Of course that does not help when you are trying to get the socket on several extensions bar up and over and around. Remember folks that at the factory, the engine and trans is assembled on the sub-frame and then put in the car. One guy on one car said he had to remove the power steering pump in order to snake the socket on extension bars through the access in the fender well. No, working on these cars is anything but fun.
