AMC Eagle

[quaddriver]

Originally Posted by MadMan

Dude, I'm a transmission mechanic, and even I don't know what you're talking about lol.

Also, he already had the trans rebuilt.

yes, I had 6 more pages of reading to do, but M5OD is a mazda built, ford used 5spd with overdrive from the 80s 90s etc, SROD is also a ford et al used 3spd + od used with many gearsets and many forms everywhere - ford, jeep etc and the VW trans is the 6spd they adopted in mid 00's what has to have the input bearings replaced from the inside and is a miserable biotch to work on. point is, the first 2 manuals, inout, output bearings, seals, bushings etc, excluding hard parts like gears are only a couple hundred in parts and a few hours of your life and most people can do them on their front porch while sipping mint juleps.

[MIPS]

I hope that damn transmission never gives me another problem ever again, or in the next 80000km.

[MadMan]

Originally Posted by quaddriver

point is, the first 2 manuals, inout, output bearings, seals, bushings etc, excluding hard parts like gears are only a couple hundred in parts and a few hours of your life and most people can do them on their front porch while sipping mint juleps.

You misunderstand. I'm a legit transmission mechanic. I was trying to say that paying a proper mechanic to R&R and rebuild a manual transmission is an expensive thing nowadays. Parts may be only a couple hundred, but that's also true of automatic transmissions. It's really just a market thing, nobody rebuilds manual's anymore, so the going rate has gone way up.

Not to mention the fact that, no, MOST people could not, in fact, rebuild any transmission on their porch. At least, not if my imbecile customers are any indication of the average motorist's intelligence.

[Electronic M]

If you've been burnt on a lot of bad automatic trans look for something that uses a Ford C6 auto. They are grenade proof and generally really solid. When I got my Lincoln at 57K on the clock the trans fluid was a pinch dark and there was an occasional speck of metal on some level checks...It leaks enough that instead of changing the fluid once a year I end up putting about that much in it some years. Now at 70K of hauling that suburban weight sedan with lots of hard accelerating and hills, it still does everything it should despite people telling me near the start that I should have it rebuilt...I probably will someday, but I can't help but like how long it is lasting.

[fixmeplease]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

If you've been burnt on a lot of bad automatic trans look for something that uses a Ford C6 auto. They are grenade proof and generally really solid. When I got my Lincoln at 57K on the clock the trans fluid was a pinch dark and there was an occasional speck of metal on some level checks...It leaks enough that instead of changing the fluid once a year I end up putting about that much in it some years. Now at 70K of hauling that suburban weight sedan with lots of hard accelerating and hills, it still does everything it should despite people telling me near the start that I should have it rebuilt...I probably will someday, but I can't help but like how long it is lasting.

Yep, the C6 is almost industructible. In a car you should get 300K miles out of it with a oil change or 2. Ive ran them in trucks for many years and to show you my love of that tranny, I put one in my 1992 truck instead of its crappy 5 speed manual. That year did not come with them so I did some searching for parts to do it but worth it all. the only one I ever wore out was in a low geared 1/2 ton with over 300K. Cars have a lot less wind resistance so will last longer. The only downfall of the C6 is a little less mileage as they eat horsepower.

[MIPS]

Never authorize a tear down of a transmission or something terribly major like that. Once they've taken it apart, they've got you by the balls and can charge you anything they like (like $3500 for a simple old fashioned transmission), because it's in their shop and it's in pieces. You gotta pay them to tear it down whether or not you OK'd the repair, and if you decide to take it somewhere else, it'll be in pieces and the next mechanic will charge you more because of it, plus the towing. A trans on that is maybe a $2000 job, perhaps up to $2500, but too late now.

I didn't tow it to their shop instead of my house just for them to admire it, did I? It's almost like I wanted them to repair it because there are no other practical options. I'll do body, electrical, brakes and the engine but I don't dare disturb the dragons and unspoken black magic that lives inside the transmission of every car. I'll leave that to a professional.

Good point, Dave!

Today a Canadian dollar is worth only 77 cents here in the U.S.

So MIPS' $3500CDN is only $2,700 in US dollars.

Correct. Your USD price may seem lower but after conversion it's a different number.
I know someone who recently paid $3500USD for a Mercedes. That sounds like a great deal until you convert to $CDN, then it's $4545.05 before taxes.

[MadMan]

Originally Posted by MIPS

I don't dare disturb the dragons and unspoken black magic that lives inside the transmission of every car. I'll leave that to a professional.

Heh. And that right there is why I make a living.

Also, I didn't realize the disparity between our currencies, last time I looked, they weren't that far off. :/

[MIPS]

An engine at least uses cheap specialty tools half the time, the other half you can make do with something as simple as a long breaker bar instead of a chain wrench. Transmissions are something where cleanliness and absolute tolerances are a bit more critical. I simply do not have the space or finances to afford most of the tools a transmission requires to service them, plus you try not to regularly drop and open your transmission for service when your life isn't drag racing.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by MIPS

An engine at least uses cheap specialty tools half the time, the other half you can make do with something as simple as a long breaker bar instead of a chain wrench. Transmissions are something where cleanliness and absolute tolerances are a bit more critical. I simply do not have the space or finances to afford most of the tools a transmission requires to service them, plus you try not to regularly drop and open your transmission for service when your life isn't drag racing.

I know of some manual trans nuts who have gotten too good at replacing clutches.

[MIPS]

Well the good news came in and with the transmission torn down the initial diagnoses is not as bad as it sounds. It wasn't a catastrophic failure. It's just old.
The particles and burned fluid were just from several bands and clutches finally giving out and not due to prolonged damage on other components. The pump itself is just worn and is being replaced entirely. More major components like the torque converter and planetary are fine. The parts are already in the city so I again authorized for the full rebuild to proceed and hopefully it will be ready before Friday.

[Electronic M]

Good luck!

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

No doubt they're even better at tearing them up.

In the case of one of my friends, the damage was by inheritance...He bought one used manual performance package equipped Honda Civic with a clutch that had very little life left and a hacked in security system and other mods by the previous owners that eventually made him give up on that one and get another just like it from the same place. The second had the same clutch wear but the electrical was not messed up by previous owner mods.

[dishdude]

An oil soaked air filter usually means blow by.

[MIPS]

My thought exactly.
If I read the service docs there's a hose that directly connects the air filter housing to the top of the valve cover. Onside the air filter housing the hose terminates at a small plastic bucket with a felt pad for a filter. It seems as if air is drawn in through this point so the valve cover can breathe but that then does not explain why the valve cover still has its own PCV. Likewise there must of been a LOT of oil that was coughed up as the bucket was full, the felt was drenched and everything around it was soaked.
The problem is known and mentioned here and I performed the steps to verify the mentioned actuators were working. They were, so I can't tell what happened. I will have to verify cylinder compression when I replace the plugs but the engine sure isn't burning oil.

[Eric H]

I assume you checked the PCV valve and it's not clogged?

It could also have a bad baffle inside the valve cover letting oil into the vent hose.