Manual Transmission Failed Options

[tomazws]

When I got home today, I wanted to reverse park into my stall. I was successfully put into R, but when I slowly release the clutch, the gears grind. Instantly, I stomped on the clutch. Put the gear back into neutral, shifted it back into R, slowly release the clutch, and it grind again. I stepped on the clutch again, put it back into N, and let go of the clutch.

Since I was kinda freaked about going reverse, I wanted to see if I could go forward. Clutch in, gear to 1st, slipped right in with no problem. Slowly I let go of the clutch like I always do, car started shaking! I don't think the engine was chocking since RPM was still hanging at around 1K RPM. Tried several times, clutch was only let go a tiny bit, but something in the engine bay shake like crazy. Eventually, I started smelling the fly wheel burnt cuz I've been just sitting there playing with the clutch. Since I wasn't able to make the car go at 1~1.5K RPM, with no one around to help, I simply just gas it to around 2K, slowly let go of clutch, car slowly go with engine bay shaking like crazy. Gassed it to 2.5K, car really started moving a bit faster, immediately I steered into a parking stall, and yeah.

I don't think I can make it back to the street.


May I ask, all y'all 6gc fellows out there, am I due for a transmission replacement? Or is it just some simple fixes?

[lagos]

Sounds like its time to replace the clutch.

[tomazws]

Sounds like its time to replace the clutch.

"Clutch" as in that plate between the pressure plate and the fly wheel?

[DEATH]

Yes but you need to replace the pressure plate and throw out bearing as well as resurface the flywheel too.

[tomazws]

Should I rip my wheels, axel, down pipe, and drop the tranny? I'd prolly have to rent a transmission jack....

[airfron]

Sounds like the clutch to me too

do you feel confident doing that much work yourself? if not you should definitely take the car to a transmission repair shop and let them do it. and while they are replacing the clutch,pressure plate, and throw out bearing as well as getting the flywheel resurfaced, the rear main seal on the engine should be looked at too since you don't get in there often and the car is 11 years old. something else to look at are the inner axle shaft seals on the transmission might, they need to be replaced as well.

It's kind of a pain dropping the tranny out by yourself. i just dropped it down on my chest with one arm and using the other to wiggle the thing off the crankshaft, it only weighs about 75lbs. i wouldnt reccomend that technique either . It took me about 1hr 45 min to pull the whole thing out. Took a lot longer to go back in though.

Personally i would of rather paid someone to do it or had someone at least help but i had no other option. I had to replace the whole transmission due to the popout i kept getting in 5th gear. So replacing the clutch was kind of a bonus for me.

If you are mechanically inclined and have some good help from friends or family i'd suggest that you do it yourself, otherwise take it to someone who does it for a living.

[tomazws]

Hopefully it's just the clutch, and none of those gears and syns and stuff are bad. I've been calling around shops and to be honest, I have zero confidence in'em...

I've called most shops around the area, most of them get rebuilts from this one company which's selling for $450 w/ 90 day warranty.

For swap,
One shop charges me $250, one for $350, one for $275, $380, etc.
Aamco's are charging me $425.

For diagnostic, most of them are charging me ranging from $50~$75, which is credited towards the price for fixing it.

As for rebuilding or fixing the thing... man I can't freaking imagine how much they'll rip me.

[GriffGirl]

Usually replacing it will run you way less than having it rebuilt. I'm not so sure there is a "fixing" - transmissions, I think, either have to be rebuilt or they don't because they work fine. When my (automatic) transmission went out on my 4Runner a few years ago, I was looking at $1750 to get it rebuilt and installed. CRAZY. I wound up finding a place that sold them new, OEM, wholesale. They sold me one for $1k and I put it in myself. (THAT sucked - if you think our transmission is sucky, try replacing one for a 4Runner. Seriously that thing is HUGE!)

It was a TOTAL PITA to do the work, but considering I had NO idea how to do it and knew virtually nothing about cars, it went pretty smoothly and I got it done in a weekend. I'm sure you can do it if you're mechanically inclined.

[airfron]

take into account the cost of supplies and make your decision on which place will deal with you the best if there is still a problem. I think $350 sounds about right for changing out the clutch and stuffs. $425 is steep but Aamco is a big company and generally they do good work as far as i've seen. My clutch cost me the same price as having someone else install the cheap autozone one but i love the way it feels.

Your synchros shouldn't be bad if there werent problems with shifting before you had the problems with getting it into gear at all. A way to check if you've ground anything up in the tranny is to change your fluid and see if there are any metal shavings/chunks/etc.. there's a how to on here somewhere for it. If you have a shop manual for your car it might have a section for helping you troubleshoot the problem as well. If you have any questions I'll try my best to help you out.

[enderswift]

"considering I had NO idea how to do it and knew virtually nothing about cars, it went pretty smoothly and I got it done in a weekend"

griffgrl your a god

[tomazws]

Just want to give you guys an update on what happened, maybe in the future someone might encounter the same problem they'll know where to look at.

We found out 2 of my 4 engine mounts are cracked. That should be what's causing the engine to shake like hell under stress. I have already ordered 4 mounts (might as well order'em all) from 1st Toyota Parts.com. Hopefully they'll come soon.

Oh btw, if I drive "gas saving" style everyday, is this (http://home.comcast.net/~kirkosaurus2/MR2_...ne_inserts.html) something good to beef up the mounts? Or are they completely unnecessary for daily driving?

[GriffGirl]

It seems like some members on here have those too... maybe search them on here? IIRC they don't suck. That's awesome that it's just your motor mounts and not your whole transmission. Yay!

[DEATH]

No - they most definetly do not suck. As a matter of fact they are the opposite of suck [And I've had TRD back in the very old days - 4th gen - for comparison].
But are they soemthing good for DD gas saver driving - no. They will not help you at all there.