scooterber

Hi all. I'm new here and have been reading like a fiend the last couple days. My son just bought an 04 RL the other day with what appears to be a bad tranny but I'd like to hear from anyone else who might have experienced the symptoms. Basically if you put it into gear it just grinds. It's an odd whirring type of grinding noise and the car doesn't move at all. Yesterday we removed the valve body and cleaned it all out in hopes that something was plugged. No such luck.

Now when the front is elevated the car can cycle through all of the gears manually but you have to manually spin the tires to allow the tranny gears (or what ever's bad) to actually mesh. Any resistance including touching the throttle and it just does the grinding / not properly meshing gear noise.

I was hoping that someone might have some insight before we buy a tranny and start the R&R process.

Thanks,
Scott

Not_So_Fast_Eddie

I'm not an expert in tranny issues but have you checked the condition of the differential? It's a seperate unit from the tranny and has its own fluid reservoir.

scooterber

I've popped the shafts to see if they're stripped (not stripped) and drained fluid which looks good. Aside from that not too much research there. Looks like the shaft passes through the oil pan. Definitely an odd design. I'll look a little more at the diff today.

Scott

Ken1997TL

Odd but not without precedent. I think Oldsmobile did the same thing on the late 60's Toronado.

If you want a FWD vehicle with more of the engine weight placed behind the front axles that's what you have to do.

3.5RLv-tec?

iTrader: (2)

I haven't had any issues with the tranny before. You might want to replace the tranny screener and the fluid. It helped my car shift a little better. Btw, how often do we need to replace the differential fluid? I have 200k and I believe haven't replaced its before.

scooterber

When I took the valve body out and cleaned everything I cleaned the hell out of the screen as well. Didnt want to replace figuring I might be dropping a tranny in soon anyway. As for the diff, I've looked a bit closer but nothing conclusive. The noise almost sounds like its from the torque convertor area or the extension shaft. I think I'm going to have to break it apart to find the culprit unfortunately.

Scott

El-Baz

I have an '02 that just died for the same reason. We pulled the tranny last Sunday hoping it was the diff or the extension shaft that runs from the tranny to the diff, but when the output shaft of the tranny is turned, all sorts of crunching noises come out of it.
Once it was on the lift and we spun the wheels, we could tell it wasn't the diff itself, but further back towards the tranny.

It went without any warning. I was going down the highway at 55 when it heard a crunching sound and then had nothing put the whirring/grinding noise and no power.

I've sourced a used '02 tranny w/only 119K on it for $550 that I'm picking up tomorrow and installing this weekend.

Good luck. Nothing under there is cheap or easy to fix.

scooterber

He bought the car for $1800 and it's a beautiful car. We expected to put in a tranny but I just want to be sure before he drops another $500 to $1000 on a tranny when it's the diff. Let me know how yours go's.

Scott

El-Baz

Had to delay installing my "new" tranny until this Friday. The torque converter was pulled so I need to get new seals before installing tranny. Parts should be here... now! I need to go check for a package.

scooterber

I'm doing my kids tranny today. After checking everything out it turned out being the extension shaft in the tranny.

El-Baz

My brother & I installed my new tranny lastnight. We had trouble getting the ext shaft to engage into the diff. I took a few attempts lining everything up without the circlip on the shaft. Once we got it meshed, we pulled the ext shaft out and put the circlip on and it finally went together.

Once we were satisfied the new one was going to go in, I took a couple BFH's to the old tranny and removed the ext shaft from it. I had to really pound on it but it eventually popped out. We found that all the grease had "fossilized" and when mixed with rust and grime it turned into some sort of clay/grout/mortar like substance that completely gummed up the splines and groove for the circlip. We didn't have time to tear into the tranny to see what actually failed but the ext shaft is ground down pretty good.

The new tranny is working great. It threw some codes at first due to low fluids pressures, but we just cleared them and it's happy. I'll do a service fluid change after I drive it for a few miles and it should be good to go. The yard said it only has 119K on it and had been on their shelf for 4 years.

I didn't have time to take any pics but I'll have my brother take some of the old tranny and shaft.

scooterber

We had a hard time with the extension shaft as well but it finally went together. All in all it wasn't a bad tranny to change but there were a couple challenges. I was definitely impressed when we took a test drive. The car is a rocket and smooth as glass. My poor kid has been driving a 99 s10 pickup which is a complete turd. He's been saving up for a while to get a nice car. Had his heart set on an infinity when this RL came up. I think he's thrilled that it all worked out like it did and now he has a gem that cost him less than $3K. Truthfully, I'm a little jealous.

As for the extension shaft, the area in the tranny that the shaft meshes with was stripped smooth but the splines on the shaft were fine. I'm a little surprised that the gears aren't a little more stout considering the torque.

Thanks for the suggestions and replies all. El-Baz, Enjoy your resurrected baby.

Scott

El-Baz

I drove it to work yesterday and it worked fine. This one seems to shift smoother and with less hunting on grades (could be wishful thinking).

Yeah, after driving my 4x4 or HX Civic for a couple weeks, it's really nice to back in the RL.

El-Baz

Pics of the Mudder Tranny...

MarcDavidoff

Just saw this post.. Had to add in that my folks 02 RL had the same exact issue. The grease also turned to a red dust and the trans gear stripped. I would also think the extension shaft would be made to at least sacrifice itself over the gears in the trans but I guess not