Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle Tranny... Kaput?

OK, first I been having this kind of problem - approximately for the last 2 weeks or something. The car would all of a sudden kinda lose its drving ability, would rev but hardly move at all - despite all my acceleration attempts. It would go on like this for a second or two, and then everything would go back to normal - just by itself. The problem persisted though, and so again - let's say you're at a traffic light, you go to take off, and your car revs but barely moves, or doesnt move at all, but then it will if you let off the gas then try again.

Today I was drving back home and when I was going up the hill it happened again, but this time the engine shut itself off plus some reallly bad asse noise scared a crap out of me, like real bad metal grinding noise, like some metal parts or gear teeth were crashing. After I turned the engine on again I drove on another 5 or 8 miles w/o a problem.

One of the basics - bad sounding crashing metalic noise - point out to a tranny, doesn't it now? What's your ideas? What's everyone's experience with rebuilt CD4E (Zetec), and what's the damage I should expect here? Should I forget driving my car b4 I save some 2 or 3 grand for a rebuilt job?

Any input appreciated.

torque converter from the sounds of it...but that grinding sounds alot like a broken diff. easiest way to differentiate between the 2 is to simply drain the fluid out. if the fluid has metal shavings in it, you know its either A( the tranny gears shearing, or B(the Diff Gears Shearing, either way its not a good sign.

now i dont know much about auto transaxles, but i have rebuilt a few auto transmissions. and i have known torque convs. to make grinding or popping noises on occasion.

and alot i have read has said upwards fo 3K for a rebuild.

you have a PM.

You know RG, I forgot to mention the points made to you by Stryker in that last PM I sent you.

I do feel that your root problem is hydraulic issue's, caused by a worn valve body, but the grinding sound could very well have been from the TC. Your lose of power could have been caused by the TC slipping and since this have been going on for awhile now, it finally blew on you.

mine does the same thing. definetely a foward clutch disk( i think thats what its called) im having my trans rebuilt this week over the same thing, my trans has only 30,000 miles on it and it has accomplished in braking the same thing as last time. the clicking sounds you described could be pieces of metal that have broken off of your foward clutch disk and their just kinda floating around getting in the way of other gears and they just kinda interact and produce some interesting noises. i could be wrong but thats is what my teacher in my Engine Rebuild class told me and i really do respect what he says as he has been very knowledgable in the past. plus what he has to say about it definetely descrbies everything my car does. oh and on a side note, if u disengage your over/drive with that little button on your shifter(auto) it should shift perfect as does mine.

Thanks for your replies. Can't disengage the OD button b/c the O/D was disengaged permanently on my car - about 2 weeks b4 the symptoms started to show up I installed a new shift knob and decided to get rid of the button, so I just cut the wires and isolated 'em with a tape.

So, starting from $3,000? Daym.

Well, that's what I found - about 30 miles from my place:

NJ Rebuilt Transmission

Just e-mailed them and that's what I got:

Hello, Complete job is $1,500.00. Remove, rebuild and install transmission. It takes 3 or 4 day to complete. Call me, my name is John

Call For Details Toll Free 866 994-1620

ThankYou,

John

TomsRiverTransmissions.com

http://www.tomsrivertransmissions.com

Ain't that a bit suspicious? I mean, the cost is lower than everything I saw before. Any ideas?

That's about right. A rebuild would be much more than that, because you would pay labor for not only the R&R of the tranny, but rebuild as well. You would be looking at something just over $2000 going with a rebuild.

they are swapping in an already rebuilt tranny, and taking your and rebuilding it to do the same with again, you will not get your original tranny back, if that matters then tell him to rebuild the one you have and not switch them

Gotcha. Now, why should it matter to me whether they put an already rebuilt tranny or put mine? I realize that in this case, I wouldn't probably be able to put in some better parts as Raybestos High Energy Clutches or Sonnex valves, but hey...