Dead gearbox?

pete_gpx · Post by **pete_gpx** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:46 pm

It's right about now that I'm thankful I have another FTO on the way.

I was driving today, coming out of a slow round-about and gave the throttle a good pounding, making the auto switch gears down to first, then I changed over to tip-tronic and slammed it into 2nd at about 7600 RPM (yes, being an idiot on an empty road just for the hell of it.)

As soon as I changed it into second, the car stopped accelerating and my revs dropped right down, leaving me free revving when I pressed the accelerator, as the car was obviously not in gear. I tried switching up and down gears, to no effect, and popping it into neutral then drive again did nothing at all. Luckily, this round-about was about 3 blocks away from my house and I had enough momentum to coast home and almost up my driveway (which was a struggle to push the FTO up by myself.)

I turned the car on when I had it parked and discovered there is a whining noise coming from the engine bay, which seems to be down near the gearbox, although I could be imagining it as it's hard to tell. The car starts and revs just fine, although the noise increases in volume, speed and pitch when the engine is revved. When moving the gear selector to reverse or drive, the revs are completely unaffected and the car is definitely not engaging gears.

Question time;
Is the gearbox dead, or is it just the torque converter, or even (fingers crossed), something a little more simple? The gearbox has done about 230 000km, as it was not replaced when my engine was, although the torque converter only has about 150 000km on it. The box was serviced about 11 months ago (about 14 000km), with a full flush, filter and oil replacement.

Any help or feedback would help me out heaps. Thanks guys.

Post by **vipfto** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:22 pm

check error codes and check if any linkage to box is broken

Sugar · Post by **Sugar** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 9:34 pm

when my tip died i had a whining noise, that would get louder with the revs,
used to rev by itsself then had no more drive i just turned the car on and off again, and it would go for another k or so, then do the same thing.

then it started to make loud crunching noises, so i just replaced the whole box, with a second handy from d stocks, however when they took it out, it was just the torque converter that had busted.

justbecause · Post by **justbecause** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:35 pm

if you have no error codes the box should be ok...

do this???

you might need a second person

Put in the Hand Brakes very very TIGHT

Raise the two front wheels off the ground to reduce the car weight of the box

Lift the hood

start the engine...

put it in reverse

and rev slowly

see if the wheel jump or attempt to move

do the same for Auto and Tip mode...

you can try increase throttle if the wheels move slightly could be the torque pop depend how bad maybe you popped it right off..

also check the dip stick, see if the tranny oil color changed... should be redish

smell it for any burnt smell....

pete_gpx · Post by **pete_gpx** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:17 pm

Mate, thanks heaps for that. I'll be doing this on Tuesday. I'll post back with my results.