Took my 92 out for a spin today.

Doing about 55 mph on Phoenix's I-17 when I heard a pop, my engine started revving and I looked down to see my speedometer peg out high then go to zero.

I pulled over to the shoulder and it turns out that my transmission "ate itself".

The engine still runs fine, as a matter of fact, I still had it idling with the A/C on while I waited for a tow truck (it was a balmy 102 today on the interstate).

Well I'll get it checked out soon and we'll find out the total damage.

 

Sounds painful. Maybe it's just the TC??

 

The tranny did make some grinding noises when I moved the shift selector from park through neutral to drive and back again.

While I am a huge 1st Gen lover, I am a a "hobby-ist" regarding anything mechanical so I'll leave the tranny work to the experts.

 

I hate it when that happens. I hope it isn't too painful.

 

Sounds like you broke the output shaft. I say that because the way it free reved and the speedo also increased with the rpm. If it were the input or intermediate then the speedo would have just kept up with the trucks speed.

 

Forgot to mention. if it is the output shaft then thats good because you dont even have to pull the trany to get to it. Just the rear section.

 

Would that explain the grinding noises when I select neutral, reverse, or drive?

 

Well yes, if the output shaft broke and you put it in gear there would be no load on the transmission (lack of output shaft) and it would spin as though the truck were moving and the grinding could be from the broken pieces grinding against each other.

 

I would check the diff. first,Have been told that the 1st gen. trucks did not have that great of rear end. Have someone sit in truck and hold brake,start truck and put in gear then look under to see if drive shaft is turning.
Drive shaft turns tranny good,drive shaft does not turn diff good.

 

OK folks here's the latest update and it's even weirder that my initial story...

I spoke to my mechanic and described to him everything that I wrote about previously in this thread. My mechanic asked me to start the motor, put it in gear and see if the speedometer does anything funny (looking for rear output shaft problems perhaps?) and call him back.

Well...

I did everything he asked except when I put the truck into Drive, I was able to drive the beast - WITH NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER!!!!

I then drove the truck to my mechanics shop where he test drove the truck without being able to reproduce any symptoms. He then recommended a very reputable transmission shop where I then took the truck.

The transmission mechanic also test drove my truck including turning the OD on and off and again COULD NOT GET THE TRUCK TO REPLICATE THE SYMPTOMS.

Now I'm starting to doubt my sanity.

I then left the truck overnight with the transmission shop where they removed the pan to look for metal shavings, or any other symptom that I was experiencing damage of any kind. The report that he gave me today was - NO PROBLEMS. There were no metal shavings in the pan, the transmission fluid looked fresh and red and the filter looked brand new! He even test drove it again to double check the tranny's function!

I asked the transmission shop owner how much I owed her and she replied "No Charge". They were sorry they could not find a definitive problem for my described symptoms, they were glad they could help and they would appreciate my future business.

I will definetly do business with this place again (if I ever need it) and I will be on the lookout for other problems (rear diff maybe? as mentioned in the previous thread).

 

Well, it ain't fixed.

I'd pull the diff cover for a look, you might have spider gears on the edge of destruction.

 

There could be a chance that something in the shifter linkage is all messed up... It popped into neutral on the interstate and bound up somehow not letting you shift it... Just another thought.
I'd also pull the rear diff cover and take a real good look at stuff in there as well