Tranny dead?

[therris]

88 lx 5 spd manual 132000 miles

So today I was at a red light. Put it in first, let off the clutch, and POP. No go. Engine runs, stick shifts, but no catchy in the tranny. For some reason when I would have it in gear and would hit the gas the speedo would bounce, but nothing. I tried to push it but I could barely budge it. Buddy came and towed me home. Got home and fluid was pouring out from the tranny case.

Never experienced this before but I'm assuming the trannys dead. New trannys online are about $300 that I've found, and I can get another Festiva for a little more than that. Looking like I might do that. Any ideas?

[skeeters_keeper]

Sounds to me like your diff popped and cracked the case... can you tell where the trany fluid was coming from?

Sortof ironically I pulled apart two aspire trany's over the weekend, they both had VERY badly pitted/chipped spider gears in the diff... seems like this may be a weak point in the trany's.
I would suggest getting another trany, and then pulling the bad one apart to see what went, if you did crack the case its probobly not worth trying to re-build, but some parts may still be salvegable.

[gorgonheimer]

im in houston and i have a tranny that the fourth is out on. maybe you can put them together. if you want you can have it. just come and get it

[Pu241]

Is that a radar dish sticking out of the back of the blue festy?...lol

im in houston and i have a tranny that the fourth is out on. maybe you can put them together. if you want you can have it. just come and get it

Now that is what this site is about!:cheers:

Nate has a point too!

Can we get new spider gears?
I think we can still get syncros but probably only with a full tranny rebuild kit!
Anyone know otherwise?

[wrestler3025]

You drive shaft could have popped out as well. That happened to me once and it had me worried as well. Maybe you couldn't budge it because you still had it in gear and in the heat of the moment, forgot to put it in neutral because you were distraught. The big question is: where is the tranny leaking from?

[solatare]

had this happen to me a couple times, always the c-clip on the axle breaking and the axle working out of the diff, id hear a pop, no go, fluid everywhere, after the 3rd time i used a better quality c-clip that was a little bigger to the outside, with those i had to use a large prybar to get the axles out.

[therris]

Not sure where it's leaking yet. My stick moved freely in and out of gear position, but I'm not sure if it was shifting gears. I know I was in neutral when I tried to push it. I had a mechanic try to help me out and he thought the same thing until he tried to push it and it didn't budge.

I don't think an axle popped out as the fluid was pouring from right next to the drain plug. I don't think the axles would drain from there.

My experience with trannys is nil. I've done the cv axles but thats as close to the tranny as I got.

I don't know. There's a 91 festy near here for sale I may get to replace it. We'll see.

[skeeters_keeper]

From what i've seen when the case cracks it usually cracks near the plug... you wouldn't have happen to have been doing a 6k clutch dump would you? most folks who crack their case have a BP or something!

some pics or more info would help a bit as well.

[therris]

Not familiar with clutch dump, and I don't have a BP, just the OG 1.3.

I'll have to take a look at it this weekend, so I'll take some pics then. Thanks for all your helps.

[therris]

Alright, got under it today and took some pics.







Looks like the passenger side cv axle is popped out of the housing. The driver side was still seated pretty well so I didn't post the pics of it. I'm not sure what this tells me. Does the cv axle just pop out sometimes, or is this just a symptom of a bigger problem?

Shifting wasn't too big a problem when I was looking at it today, but 3rd gear was kinda stiff.

Don't know what to do with her at this point. I bought an 81 Mazda RX7 today cause I needed something, and it was $700.



Any ideas on the Festy tranny?

[wrestler3025]

You drive shaft could have popped out as well. That happened to me once and it had me worried as well. Maybe you couldn't budge it because you still had it in gear and in the heat of the moment, forgot to put it in neutral because you were distraught. The big question is: where is the tranny leaking from?

Well it appears it was exactly what I suggested!! You could have saved yourself $700 if you would have looked under the car thoroughly before today. There's no question what you should do with her now. Take the cv axle with you to a local Advance or Autozone (for the core charge)and purchase another for $59.99. They have lifetime warranties, and if they ever go bad just bring your receipt with you and the bad axle and they will replace it for free. Pop the new axle in and you're good to go(after adding ATF). The yellow CR on the old axle indicates that it's a salvage yard piece, and there's no telling how many times the axle was in and out of the old car. That's probably what caused the worn retaining ring. Yes axles do periodically pop out...like I AND solitare posted on the 9th. Did you read our posts???

[therris]

Yes, I read the posts. But even if the cv axle did just pop out, that wouldn't explain why I can't push the car. I've been far from the heat of the moment and tried a few times to push it and can't. I think it's deeper than just the cv axle popping out.

I'll see if that is it though, but if that is the case, why would I need a new one? I would think I can just pop in the old one and if that remedies it, put a new one at the top of the to do list.

[IL4Festiva]

i have a brand new 5spd and clutch sitting in a festiva that i don't know if i should bother fixing.. only put 5k kms on the transmission, shifts very smooth.

[skeeters_keeper]

Since you can't push it, that does make me wonder what is going on. Even if you had it in gear you should be able to push it find (no LSD).

I would try popping the old one in and seeing what happens when you try to drive it. If it drives, replace the axle, if not... see from there. when you have it running now, and put it in gear, and let the clutch out... does it stall or can you let the clutch out in gear and it will still idle? if it stalls, something is seized up in the trany. if not, your probobly OK (though I still don't know why you wouldn't be able to push it.

[therris]

I'll check and see tonight. When I do put it in gear and hit the gas, it doesn't stall but we'll see tonight. Thanks.