Thread: It finally happened - Death of a Tranny

Last year around June or July I heard a pop in the tranny on a hot summer afternoon while it was idling. Long story on that but I just put it there so you know how long the issue has been around. It started making a faint grinding sound after that but never had any trouble shifting even under heavy acceleration. So we kept on driving it but a little less aggressively.

Tonight I installed the Brisk LGS plugs I got from IndeedSS and went out for a test drive just to make sure I hadnt messed anything up and that the plugs were going to do their job under a load. You can see my other thread in the engine section on first impressions.

Anyway, lately the car has kinda shuddered or surged slightly when coming to a stop and I knew things were getting worse with the tranny. Ive been saving money for a new one in case I had to go that route but I also have bought a used spare to rebuild and Ive been buying hard parts and kits for it to rebuild it.

Well I come to my first stop, normal light surging and I pull out on to the road. I roll into the throttle and push it to about 75% or so then get off it because Im doing about 50 at that time in a 30 mph zone. All is fine so I just decide to circle the block and come back home.

I get to the intersection and turn right and go to about 40 maybe 50% throttle and run it up to about 50 mph again since Im in a 45 mph zone now. As the speed it climbing all of a sudden the car just stops pulling and then I next heard what can only be described as what sounded like a wood chipper in my transmission. No forward movement. Fortunately I had enough speed to turn off on a side street and into a parking lot. I hit the gas to see if it will go and the thing is just awful sounding. I put it in park and the noise stops. Same in neutral. But in any of the gears and its wicked sounding and no forward movement. I notice that when I put it in drive he speedometer jumps around up to 30 - 40 or so. It also seemed that the car would roll (I was on a small incline) even with the car in park.

I put it in park and I call a tow truck (Im only about three miles from home if that much). The guy that picks me up and tows me tells me that the owners son or someone in the shop (cant remember which he said, I was kinda focused on my baby being towed and that it wasnt getting slung around or something) owns a GTP. He puts the car in the garage for me and thats where it sits now.

I guess those LGS plugs really work. The thing was putting down so much power it blew up the tranny

I certainly appreciate that my friend. Its not like it caught us suddenly. We knew that the thing would need to be replaced so Ive been saving and what have ya. We are down to no cars though because the wifes car died a late last year so she had been using the GP and I was car pooling to work. So we'll have to figure out something in that regard in getting her to work and the son to school but all of her family is here in town so I think we will be okay.

If push comes to shove I have the used tranny I can stick in there. I just dont have an engine support tool or a cherry picker to pull the whole thing out. I was hoping I would have a few more weeks so it would warm up some more and I could get more tools but thats okay.

I wanted an aluminum cradle too. I dont have my timing chain stuff yet either as I wanted to replace that while I had the tranny out. So while it happened just a tad bit sooner than I wanted, its by no means a complete surprise. I am thankful to God we have had the time we have had to get all that we have gotten to be as ready as we are.

sorry to hear that, kinda sounds like a busted diff, cause the VSS still gets some form of signal.... but good luck, and you can use all those parts now

Well, in a way, I wish it were the diff cause I could replace that and buy some time to get everything together I want. We'll see. I'll keep that in mind when I start into it and I'll pull that side first and see what up with the diff.

Well hopefully, if that is what it is, its in the pan. I think once I get home tomorrow from work I'll get under there and drop the pan and see what turns up.

Wow sorry to hear that Scotty! I agree that it may be your diff, and could also be an axle that broke but likely is the diff. If both wheels arent tied to the ground and one wheel/side of the diff can freewheel than it will do just that. In park you are holding the diff still BUT the car will still roll as you dont have two wheels holding together through the trans. On a side note HOW ABOUT THOSE BRISK PLUGS???? I havent had much time post but I got the other set of the Silver racing plugs from Lee and after I went out for a thorough beating in the cutty piston #1 gave out while I was trying for a top speed run, but didnt make it to the top of 2nd. Last year I blew a piston after redoing my intake tubing setup and porting the throttle body and the car was running dangerously lean which I didnt know until after the damage. When I tore it apart I questions a few other pistons but they didnt look bad, werent chipped anyways. I really didnt care at the time as the engines are cheap enough and all I am out is gaskets to tear the engine back apart and I had a car show to get the car back together by the following weekend. Anyways after together it never felt as strong as it did prior to losing a piston and there was always a noise around 5500 rpm in 2nd and 3rd gear that sounded like spark knock / pinging but there was never any KR on the scanner when it occured so I brushed it off as a valvetrain noise and when the noise would come on I could feel a power loss. This same thing happened last week when I was making my final run and it felt a bit worse so I backed out of the throttle then eased back into it but the damage was done, so what was i to do other than stab my foot back in the floor! lol. I must say those Silver Brisk plugs dont take too well to being crushed! I bent the electrode back out and drove the car 25 miles north of home to park it out of my way for a while until I have time to fix the engine or build it, but it will be prepped for the turbo and a custom grind cam is going in.

Well based on the information I have given, any particular suggestions on how to proceed? Dang Brisk Plugs. As soon as I get the thing running again Im going to hunt down Lee, LOL

I have a couple questions Dave.

1. Lets assume its the diff. Can I pull the diff and the output shaft together? Or do I need to leave the output shaft in there?

2. If the diff is the bad part, what steps should I take to get any shrapnel out of the tranny? Or is all of it going to be in the pan?

3. What other damage should I expect if the diff is bad and can I correct any of it with the tranny in the car?

I assume that I can pull the diff out of the car without having to drop the tranny and all that, correct. I already have the diff pulled from the spare tranny (how ironic is that, its the only thing Ive pulled off the spare tranny), but I pulled the output shaft with it and I dont know if thats an okay thing or a bad thing.

What am I looking for in the diff to confirm its bad or is it going to be pretty obvious?

I'll check that out James. Though I has well completed the turn and was already up to the speed limit. I'll know more by later this evening or perhaps tomorrow morning once I can get in there and take a look at whats going on.

Ah I found the carnage thread... Heck no I'm not going to run the Brisk plugs...there is some bad juju associated with them. Eveytime I picked one up it burned my hand. fwiw the Nology silver racing plugs look exactly the same as the Brisk at a way better price I just finished gapping them last night.

Sorry to hear about the trans taking a crap. That sucks man. Hope mine keeps holding on. Going to change tranny fluid and filter this weekend and keep pushing my luck by driving it 100 miles a day.

I think you are probably, in the long run, easier on the tranny driving it on the highway so much. Less time doing hard acceleration if you are a spirited driver and such.

I guess people can say what they like, but Im impressed with a tranny that can develop symptoms of something wrong and still drive for 6 months. And I did a few WOT runs last year as well because I was under the impression it was solely a pump issue.

Ive had transmission trouble before on two previous vehicles, including the last Grand Prix I owned (thats a story in itself) and each time there was no time between symptoms and failure. In fact it took me several weeks to become convinced that the symptoms I had June/July of last year was actually a transmission issue because of that. I had never known an automatic transmission to exhibit symptoms it was in trouble and it not fail near immediately.

Originally Posted by SyntheticShield

I think you are probably, in the long run, easier on the tranny driving it on the highway so much. Less time doing hard acceleration if you are a spirited driver and such.

I guess people can say what they like, but Im impressed with a tranny that can develop symptoms of something wrong and still drive for 6 months. And I did a few WOT runs last year as well because I was under the impression it was solely a pump issue.

Ive had transmission trouble before on two previous vehicles, including the last Grand Prix I owned (thats a story in itself) and each time there was no time between symptoms and failure. In fact it took me several weeks to become convinced that the symptoms I had June/July of last year was actually a transmission issue because of that. I had never known an automatic transmission to exhibit symptoms it was in trouble and it not fail near immediately.

Just curious what tranny fluid and how often you changed it? And did you run a cooler?

I ran Amsoil ATF, I ran a GMPP cooler and Ive got maybe 50k on the fluid now. Ive kept close tabs on it though over that time. Still fairly bright red, no burnt smell.

I have actually been planning probably for the last month to grab a sample and send it in for analysis and see if that revealed anything about what may have been starting to fail in the tranny. At which time I was going to drop the pan and change out the filter and the fluid in the pan with regular ATF until I got the new tranny in and I would put it back on Amsoil ATF.

Given the events of last night I wish I had really placed more priority in getting that done. Ive not really abused the car at all. I am spirited at times, Ive only been to the track one time with it and after the symptoms developed last year I was a little more cognitive of how I was driving the car to try and get all the time out of it I could. And I only planned to make it until such time it warmed back up.

I might yet pull out a sample of the fluid and send it in just to see how it held up overall, but if it is the differential that let go, then there is probably quite a bit of metal in the pan Im sure.

When I got home today I went out and jacked up the passenger side of the car and tried spinning the wheel. I can definitely spin it, it acts like it wants to catch but it doesnt and just a little extra pressure keeps it spinning.

So, am I correct to assume that this means the diff is bad? I wasnt able to do the other test James recommended because Im the only one here right now, the wife has to work late.

The next question is this; if the diff is bad, is it better to go ahead and pull the tranny and rebuild it, or will I be okay with just replacing the diff and changing the fluid, filter and all that?

I was going to put the car up on stands and drop the pan, but I lowered the floor jack and when I thought to go ahead and put it up on jack stand, the floor jack broke. The little lever that holds the jack handle split open. So I need to get a new floor jack now, but I needed another set of jack stands anyway so thats not a biggie.

Anyway, looking for any input that may be had. Its getting chilly out there but Im going to try and get a ride to the parts store and pick up a new jack and jack stands and at least try and find out whats in the pan.