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Got My Next Project Car

By Bikeman982, September 5, 2007

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Bikeman982

From www.craigslist.com for $700. Needs work.

Does run, but maybe bad transmission or axle or ??

I will check it out tomorrow.

Bikeman982

It seems like the transmission is bad.

The car just makes a clicking noise when put in "reverse" or "Drive".

It does not go anywhere. It even rolls when in "Park".

I do have another transmission in my yard, but it may not be good.

I broke the shaft that holds the "neutral/Park" switch on.

Does anyone know if that shaft can be replaced, or if I need to get another tranny?

Bikeman982

The car was registered today and it needs a "smog test" to complete the registration.

Apparantly the previous owner was mistaken when he said it had been smogged.

Last time it was smogged (according to DMV) was last April.

Today I took off the back bumper covering and banged out the corner, that was dented in.

I also cleaned the stained back seats and put them back in.

I removed the left front fender (that required removal of front bumper, headlights, corner lights, etc.)

I vacuumed and cleaned the doors and the inside trim.

Tomorrow is more work on the car.

Bikeman982

Today I cleaned the front passenger seat and also started putting the front back together.

I painted the front left fender, since it was not the original and it was paintless.

I tried to find the cars matching color (3K9 - light beige poly), but autoparts places didn't have it.

I think the dealer would be the only one to have matching paint, but what would it cost?

I also replaced a missing left corner light - I still need the connector.

More work to be done tomorrow.

If my wife takes her new car to work on Monday, it will leave the garage available for me to start taking out the transmission.

I prefer to work in the garage, since it is flat, not the driveway, which is on a slope.

More to follow.

Bikeman982

Today I cleaned the front seats and put them back in.

I also started to work on the reason why this car does not drive.

The engine starts and runs, but the car does not move when put in gear.

In "drive" or "reverse" it just makes a loud "clicking" noise.

Possibly a bad transmission.

I took off the driver's side front wheel and also the brake assembly.

I then jacked the car up and put it on jackstands.

I took out the drive axle and found a bad CV joint.

It seems like there was no clamp for the rubber boot that goes over the transmission.

The CV joint had one of the rollers with no bearings under it.

Either they fell out when I took it apart, or they were out while it was operating.

In either case, the CV joint is bad and will be replaced.

I will take off the passenger's side next and check the condition of the CV joint.

If both CV joints are bad, does that mean that the transmission is good?

How can I tell for sure, without removing it? What kind of test will be conclusive?

I did start the car up and put it in "D" to see if the passenger tire rotated, but it did not.

Bikeman982

Today I started to take out the passenger's side drive shaft today and could not get the third bolt out of the control arm.

I ended up taking off the shock/strut mounting bolts and that allowed the hub to swing away and the spline to be tapped out.

After disconnecting the clamp around the inside rubber boot, I pulled it out of the differential (transmission).

All of the rollers had no bearings (apparantly had fallen out and been ground up with the grease.

The CV joint must be replaced. That makes bad CV joints on both sides on both drive shafts.

Tomorrow I will check to see if Kragen sells them.

I will also start removing the transmission.

Anyone have a good source for CV joints??

I put the car in gear "Drive" and held the part where the drive shaft goes into the differential and it did not rotate.

That leads me to believe the differential is bad (did the same for both sides).

I will have to change the whole transmission.

Bikeman982

I walked around the corner to Kragen AutoParts and found the whole shaft - CV joints, rubber boots and clamps all included.

I purchased both sides for $140.00 which was minus the $120.00 core charge, since I gave them my old ones.

They were re-manufactured, but they looked like brand new.

Do you know a good source for a transmission?

Check out some pictures --

Here are some pictures of the transmission removal etc, also me when I was in the process, first one is a slide show, the pictures are in reverse chronological order - just the way photobucket adds them -

Bikeman982

I have the A131L transmission removed from my current project car.

The 1993 Corolla would not go when put in gear.

Both drive shafts had bad CV joints, so I thought that might have been the problem with the car driving.

When I had the transmission in the car, I put it in gear and held the place where the driveshafts go into the differential while the car was in gear and they stopped rotating. That leads me to believe that the transmission is bad.

Now that the transmission is out - I tried testing it, but was unable to use enough force to get it to rotate by hand.

I took off the cover for the differential and everything there looked fine.

Has anyone ever dissassembled a transmission? I think that is my next step to examine it.

I expect to find a stripped gear or two. I am not sure - I have never seen the inside of a tranny.

Are there places that can test a transmission - even when it is not in the car??

Anyone ever taken one apart??

Bike, did you hold both sides of the output of the differential at the same time...or one at a time?

Transmissions are fairly simple to take apart but I never tried to put one back together There can be some pretty large retaining rings in there also.

............When I had the transmission in the car, I put it in gear and held the place where the driveshafts go into the differential while the car was in gear and they stopped rotating. That leads me to believe that the transmission is bad.

Bikeman982

Bike, did you hold both sides of the output of the differential at the same time...or one at a time?

Transmissions are fairly simple to take apart but I never tried to put one back together There can be some pretty large retaining rings in there also.

............When I had the transmission in the car, I put it in gear and held the place where the driveshafts go into the differential while the car was in gear and they stopped rotating. That leads me to believe that the transmission is bad.

I only held one side - that was not the way to do it.

 

Now I know I should have held both sides!!

After looking at the motion of the shafts in the differential, I see that one side can stop while the other side rotates.

It would be what happens when the car is in a turn.

It has me wondering if the transmission is really bad, or not.

Both CV joints were bad - maybe the tranny is good?

I called a local transmission repair place and asked them how I would tell if the transmission was bad or not.

The owner said he would look at the magnets in the pan. What does that show?

I took the pan off and the magnets had some sludge on them, but nothing that looked bad.

He also said he would charge $250 just to take it apart and put it back together (if it was good).

To rebuild it, he wanted $700.00. That is almost the same as my ordered transmission.

I have spent $774 to get another transmission (a used one with low miles).

It is being picked up tomorrow and delivered on Thursday.

If the original is really good - did I waste my money?

What do I do with the old transmission??? What if it is bad?? What if it is good?? How do I know (for sure)??

Should I put the old transmission in with the new drive shafts and CV joints and see how it is?

Should I just change the tranny anyway, since I have the old one out and another one coming (good for 6 months).

I think it is too late to cancel the order for another tranny, so either way I pay for it.

If I received it and tried to sell it, I would get nowhere near what I paid for it.

What would you do??

You should look at the magnet to see the amount of metal... The metal on the magnet comes from the wearing of the internal parts of the transmission. If you see large chunks of metal you probably have a shot transmission…

As a suggestion., you might want to pay for a day or even a month subscription to the Toyota TIS system. From there you can download the Auto Transmission Service Manual… I grabbed the one for my 2002 3 speed (labeled ATM Unit Repair A131L A132L)…

From that manual.. It says this about the magnet:

EXAMINE PARTICLES IN PAN

Remove the three magnets and use it to collect any steel

chips. Look carefully at the chips and particles in the oil

pan and on the magnet to anticipate what type of wear

you will find in the transaxle.

Steel (magnetic)..... bearing, gear and plate wear

Brass (non-magnetic)..... bushing wear

If I were in your shoes.. Depending on the amount of work, I would try the old transmission back in with the CV joints…

If it works, and you cannot return or cancel the new transmission, you now have a spare transmission… For your Next project car… find one in the local area that is listed with a bad transmission… you should be able to pick it up for real cheap and slap in you new transmission and sell it to recoup the $700.

If the old transmission doesn't work… Use the new one and attempt to repair the old one …

I'd look at it this way - something had to happen to shred the CV joints that badly to begin with. If the original owner kept driving with the car in that bad of shape - even the stoutest of transmissions will die shortly afterward.

JeffG has a good plan - doesn't hurt to try it on the old tranny, if it works - great, if it doesn't - no big deal, you have the tranny already there. I'm pretty sure that Cherry-Auto will take the tranny back, but you will have to eat the shipping freight cost back to them. Depending on how soon you are looking to offload the - I'd just go ahead and install the tranny you just bought (assuming it comes when they say it will be there) and be done with it. You can use the original one as a guinea pig for rebuilding purposes - I find it kind of fun rebuilding transmissions, though most of the ones I've done were standards.

Bikeman982

I would like to know for certain if the old transmission was good or bad.

If it is good, I would put it back in the car with the remanufactured driveshafts.

I would try to return, or maybe put up for sale the newer transmission,

or keep it for another car that needs a transmission.

The transmission removal/installation procedure is not an easy one and doing it without certainty of installing a good part is not wise.

If time is money - I can't afford to put the old one in, then take it out and replace it, if it is actually bad.

I am sure the newer tranny will be delivered in a day (two at the most) and putting that one in will be a higher chance of success.

Then I can sell the car and get on to another.

I don't intend to rebuild a tranny (unless it is actually bad). I don't have that much experience with them (none),

except removal and installation.

More to follow.

Bikeman982

In case you have never seen what they look like - here are some pictures -

notice the splines on the ends, the rubber boots (and clamps) that go over them and the part that goes into the differential -

The shorter one goes on the driver's side and the longer one goes on the passenger's side.

Bikeman982

It is from a 1993 Corolla with a 1.6L 4A-FE engine.

The car would not drive when in gear, just made a "clicking" noise.

I took the transmission out of the car, thinking it was bad and needing replacement.

How can I tell for certainty if it is good or not??

Bikeman982

The car is a 1993 Corolla with a 1.6L 4A-FE engine. The transmission has been removed and the engine is being supported by a short 4X4 piece of wood.

I would probably start by draining both the transaxle and differential into some containers, past filters first, and see if there are any decently sized chunks in there. If there any chunks (big enough to see with naked eye) then I would say it is toast.

Hard to tell if it is bad or not until you get it back on the car, with some axles, to do some quick power tests. Only way to tell at this point is to open it up. You might be able to tell if the differential is OK - just try spinning on of the axle stub - the other side should turn the opposite direction (shouldn't care that the transmission parking pawl is set - at least I can do it on my Corolla). If spinning the one doesn't automatically turn the other - then the tranny is toast.

  • 1,424 posts
I would probably start by draining both the transaxle . . .

You used the term transaxle, nice to meet someone who knows the difference.

I hear people talk about how they need a new transmission all the time, and when I ask what kind of car they are driving, they invariably tell me they drive something front wheel drive that has a transaxle.

Bikeman982

The tranny arrived (my friend delivered from his Midas store) tonight (thursday).

Tomorrow is installation day!!

On first impression - looks exactly what I need, totally dry and very clean.

Includes dipstick, tubes to radiator, all sensors and contacts and fittings needed.

I will take some pictures before I start the installation process.

P.S. Still not sure what to do with the old one (or whether it is good or bad).

I have drained the fluids and found no pieces of metal at all - just fluid.

I took off the differential cover and did a careful inspection - looks fine.

Checked the filter and the magnets inside the pan - nothing but a little sludge on magnets , filter clean.

I don't feel confident enough to take it apart further. I will put it back together and call it "good".

I will look for another project car needing a tranny and try it out there.

I would probably start by draining both the transaxle . . .

You used the term transaxle, nice to meet someone who knows the difference.

I hear people talk about how they need a new transmission all the time, and when I ask what kind of car they are driving, they invariably tell me they drive something front wheel drive that has a transaxle.

Thanks, I know what you mean - I try and do the same thing with "wheels", instead of the ubiquitous "rims" - but even I get lazy sometimes. Gets much worse on forums that generally cater to the street racing scene or customization scene - which is too bad, as they really influence the aftermarket direction -sometimes the posts there don't make any sense at all. I keep trying, but it doesn't always get through, oh well.

 

 

Bikeman982

Pictures of both old and newer tranny - The first four are the remanufactured tranny pictures - the last four are the old tranny -

you wont find broken gears, you'd find worn clutches or burnt clutches.

other than obvious holes in the case or large fluid leaks, looking at the outside of transmission is like looking at the bottom of your foot to see if you have brain cancer.

Bikeman982

you wont find broken gears, you'd find worn clutches or burnt clutches.
I didn't take it all apart, but to my layman's eye (and nose), it seemed like it was good.

 

I am fairly certain that the problem with the car was actually both CV joints bad and not the tranny.

Here are some pictures - first four are the replacement tranny - second four are the old tranny -

Bikeman982

I did swap the "Neutral/Park" switch because the connector was different.

They are the A131L transaxle for the 3-speed automatic - no overdrive.

Hard to find and very expensive for me.

I will be selling my old one, or looking for another car to put it in.

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