Help. I think the tranny died this morning. . .

Hello all, I was driving down the road today (65mph) ,and suddenly I lost all my power, and the RPMs on the tach went straight up to 6.5k RPMs. I didn't have any power i hit the gas, the tranny shfted down, but when it tried to shift into 4th (I think) the RPM's jammed right back up to 6K RPMs, and the power was again gone. When I came to a red light after getting off the highway all kinds of white smoke blew up from underneath the car. Needless to say I was upset as well as a litle embarassed. Anyway - just to confirm my crappy day, was the loss of power and the issues with no power, the tell tale signs that my tranny went to tranny heaven this afternoon???

Could it have been the brake band??
A vac. hose?
Help!

[michael]

Sorry to hear about it. What does your fluid look like, if you have any? Mabey you blew one of the soft lines while on the highway. Did you drive it home that way or leave it.

There was fluid in there, although it ws low - I put more in as i keep a galon in my trunk along with an "emergency kit" that I have put together in the event of stuff like this... The fluid wasn't burnt, just started to look off color. I am goingto call the Suby dealer up the road from work tomorrow, and make plans to drop off the car for tuesday. I hope it's a hose, or the break band, but my gut tells me otherwise. You know the feeling I'm talkin' about. so I started my hunt for another one today. (not that I can afford it just yet.) But in the search for a tranny - you can't help but look at SVX's for sale on the web.

is there merit in looking into an imprezza 5 speed conversion if this one is shot/?? anyone have any costs on what the conversion has cost them? I'm mechanically incline when it comes to cars, but i will not touch a tranny. . . no way.

[thundering02]

Trans swaps have gone from 1k to probably higher than 5k and it is recommended by all that do it so my answer is yes if its blown go for a 5 or better 6 speed conversion.

[oab_au]

Originally posted by JackieBeans
Hello all, I was driving down the road today (65mph) ,and suddenly I lost all my power, and the RPMs on the tach went straight up to 6.5k RPMs. I didn't have any power i hit the gas, the tranny shfted down, but when it tried to shift into 4th (I think) the RPM's jammed right back up to 6K RPMs, and the power was again gone. When I came to a red light after getting off the highway all kinds of white smoke blew up from underneath the car. Needless to say I was upset as well as a litle embarassed. Anyway - just to confirm my crappy day, was the loss of power and the issues with no power, the tell tale signs that my tranny went to tranny heaven this afternoon???

Could it have been the brake band??
A vac. hose?
Help!

Usually a transmission failure, does not cause white smoke to come out from underneath, the car. This is more likely to be a fluid leak, maybe from a blowen cooler line that has lost enough fluid to lose drive pressure.

Fingers crossed.

Harvey.

Dumb question? Is that possible? to lose drive pressure because of a broken seal?

[svxistentialist]

Good question. Answer is yes.

What may be wrong, the pipe taking oil to the cooler in the rad from your tranny may have split.

What this can cause is a jet of oil squirting onto the really really hot cat or exhaust pipe. It burns there causing all the smoke you saw.

When it has lost sufficient oil from the crankcase of the tranny, there will be insufficient oil in the box to give the hydraulic pressure needed for the clutches to work, so there is lack of drive.

Don't drive it much while leaking. Fix the pipe, fill it up, and it will probably drive again if you are lucky.

Joe

I live about 3/4 a mile from the suby dealer. I'm afraid to drive it that far, I may have them come and pick it up tomorrow. . . I'm so sad. . .

[Zeppelin]

My take on it is your radiator cooler is probably clogged, or near clogging. When you take it in to the dealer, make sure they clean it out! I'd also get an aftermarket filet put on before the cooler too.

When my tranny died, it was spitting out fluid which caused the smoke. The culprit was the cooler had clogged. Sounds like you may have caught it in time.

[Earthworm]

Is it only 4th gear that's affected?

it got progressively worse as i got closer to home. I haven't touched it since sunday afternoon. It could have been third, really. It was always hard for me to tell what gear she was in except OD. The tranny always shifed so much on it's own - I eventually accepted what it was doing. 200K+ miles on it - I'm sad - but not angry. I was just bad timing. you kow how that is.

I amgoing to check the fluid again first thing inthe morning, and see how full/empty she is from sunday, and go from there. Oe thing is certain though, she needs to go in for what I hope is out patient surgery.

[Earthworm]

You should be praising her for taking you this far!

No doubt. . . Unfortunately if the tranny is burned (even a little bit) I'm not in a position to replace it now. That would suck. it would literally be easier to buy a new one and just be done with it. Even though I do not want to do that.

Well - it's official. The Suby dealer just called. $3974.00 plus lovely NJ state tax to fix the tranny. It's dead. I'm bummed. All those plans. Shot to hell & back for that car. The tranny was the biggest fear I had. That hurts. I just put tires on the car for winter - can you believe that? Oh well, I may be letting what is left of the car go. I think I am going to have to. Keep me in mind for parts, or if anyone could be looking for a parts SVX let me know, I'll give it consideration.

[Earthworm]

Don't part it!

Sell it to someone who fill either fix it or put in a 5 spd.

You could also put in an alternate 4EAT with 4.11 or 4.44 gears for less.