My Transmission has complete loss of power!

[Jasoneo5]

Hey all,

Recently my Transmission w/ 160k miles on it does NOTHING once it is warmed up. I will be driving down the road approx. 5-10 mins after it is turned on and driven, and then I get complete loss of power and it winds up making a loud scraping/grinding noise (and says I am going a lot faster than I am). I even loose my "Park" gear. I had to have the car towed.
Again, this only seems to happen once the car is warmed up a bit. Any suggestions on what to do, or what could be the problem? I do have another transmission at home, but I want to avoid the costs of replacing it by all means.

Thanks for the help again!

-Jason Elcan

 

[Lextreme II]

you have a Lextreme TC and I am sure it not the problem. If you loose park, than its not looking good.

 

[Miles B]

Sounds like you've lost some of the clutches or something? I'd say look around the junk yards...

 

[Nick M]

Is it overfull? Being overfull will cause the fluid (of any auto) to cavitate. I mean way overfull. You could just have burnt fluid, and the cold fluid has better properties of adhesion. Changing the fluid probably wouldnt help if it is burnt bad, as that is just a symptom of a worn out trans.

 

[Pro]

sounds like someone's been doing reverse-drive-reverse-drive burnouts again...

 

[cseufert]

Ive experienced a very similar thing, with a negleted A340E transmission in a Cressida after around 240,000km.

Anyhow, in the end, it was a combination of chewed out Oil pump, and clogged valve body. This was caused from the previous owner not touching the transmission. We changed the filter, flushed the trans with T-IV, and got another 400km, before it had clogged the filter again. What was happening, is there was not enough pressure to select gears properly, which was causing abnormal clutch wear, which a large proportion of was clogging the filter, and subsequently being sucked though the filter, into the pump, making it wear much faster than it should, then leaving sediment in the valve body.

When you accellerate, you easily rev to over 3000rpm without moving, correct? and while doing this you hear rattly, crunchy (metal on metal) sounds? And when the car is idling you get a screaming sound coming from the trans (bit like dry ball bearning sounds?), this is the oil pump starving.

We still dont know why the car would drive ok'ish when cold, but as soon as she warmed up, it was useless. and sometimes it would try and drive forward in Neutral, Reverse & Park.

I would suggest looking for a 2nd hand gearbox, we got a quote for $2200 to get the 4 speed rebuilt.

 

[Nick M]

I saw an A340E with over 300,000 miles before and the fluid had never been changed. I think the only thing holding it together was all the tarnish and gum.