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Once again I'm posting this here since Sonetts and 95/96s have the same engines/trannies for the V4s (is it just me, or does it seem the Sonett board and the vintage SAAB board should be merged?)
I think when I swapped this tranny in 12 years ago - I may have drained the tranny and forgot to put the Redline in after install... I guess?? Or maybe it leaked out very slowly? (Although, I see no signs of leakage at all)
Heres the status of my 'clutch and transmission biopsy' and a couple of checks:
I removed the engine and transmission today, separated the two, and then removed the top cover of the tranny. The gears look to be in quite good shape - no worn teeth, chipped teeth, etc... But as I spun the input shaft (using the clutch plate placed on the input shaft) I noticed no tranny fluid coming up at all. I removed the drain plug and not a drop of tranny fluid came out. I added one quart of redline MTL, pouring the bottle liberally over the gears, selectors, etc...
* Test 1: I had my wife spin the input shaft while I watched the layshaft and gears. While in neutral and the layshaft spinning, the drive gears actually spin a little bit.... not much, but its enough to spin the universal joint (albeit slowly). Also, if I slowly try to select reverse - I get the grinding noise (which is to be expected if the gears are turning - since the is no syncho for reverse)... If I apply a little very light pressure (using a finger) to the gears they stop spinning (along with the universal), but the layshaft still spins (as expected).
Question 1: Why would this be happening? Is it normal for the gears to spin a bit in neutral? I could certainly understand if the lack of tranny fluid caused something to bind on the primary shaft/gears, but I'm not knowledgeable enough about transmissions to understand what/where to look. (That wont stop me from tearing it apart more if you folks have some suggestions for things to try(!) assuming the gears spinning a bit while in nuetral is normal) -- but on to test/problem #2:
* Test 2: I placed the freewheel in "locked out" position (selector pulled towards the 'firewall'). I again watch the gears while my wife turns the input shaft via clutch plate - but now she looks at me and says "nope! - cant turn it at all!"... Hmmm... what? I dont get it. If the tranny is in nuetral, we should be able to spin the primary with the freewheel locked out, right?? If I put the freewheel selector about in the 'middle position' everything spins fine - and no grinding noise. If I push the freewheel selector all the way forward (away from the firewall) I hear a slight whirring/grinding noise while my wife spins the primary shaft. (It doesn't sound good.)
Question #2: I plan on separating the bellhouse from the tranny box tomorrow to see if I can figure out what condition the freewheel mechanism is in... Other than some basic knowledge and some photos, I'm not quite sure what to look for. Any ideas on why the freewheel would be behaving like this? Maybe its toast? I'd certainly like to keep it 'alive' if possible (and re-install the freewheel selector) - but if I cant I plan on nuetering it using the lock-out sleeve. Given the symptoms, I'm assuming the freewheel selector teeth are pretty much *gone* and I'll be going with the lockout collar/sleeve. I'll post photos tomorrow of what I see - but in the meantime, are there any 'gotchas', tips, insights, suggestions, etc on what I should be prepared to look for - or thigns *not* to do when I separate the gearbox from the bellhousing?? (I dont plan on removeing the rear cover - that sounds a bit too risky).
Thanks in advance again for any help / suggestions!
-Chris
posted by 68.221.10...
, Sat, 8 Nov 2008 19:34:37, Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:01:31, Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:28:02
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