Not your typical transmission problem

[TexasSwift]

Greetings,
If you don't care to read the "you've got to be kidding" part of this post, please scroll down to The Problem below.
You've got to be kidding:
After poking around looking at car stuff during lunch on Wednesday, I did a Craigslist search for "SVX" and got a hit. A '92 with 110k miles with new wheel bearing, front rotors and cold A/C. I talked to the guy and it seems that he had the transmission rebuilt, someone else had been using it and said the transmission had started slipping. He had no more money, the transmission shop was out of business and so he wanted the car gone.
I helped him with that problem by giving him his full asking price of $500 American. From the time he posted on CL until I had the title was 10-1/2 hours.
The car is beautiful. never been wrecked, a Texas car so no rust anywhere. It must have been garage kept because the sun has not cracked the dash or leather, the clear coat looks like new. The motor starts and purrs like it should, all electronics seem to work including the antenna.
The only wear and tear are one driver's seat seam stitching is coming loose, the CD player doesn't work, but the radio and cassette do and both corners of the front bumper have been scraped like the driver didn't know where they where and brushed a wall or post.

The Problem
I can not tell if the transmission is slipping or not because when you drive it it sound like a rock crusher is under the car. It is like bad CV joints times 10.
I could feel the transmission shifting into second but there was no way to go more than 20 mph without fear of terminal damage.
I drove onto a trailer to get it home and crawled under and checked the axles at the transmission. There was so much play that I thought that the splines had disengaged. The roll pins were in place so that is not the case. The differential axle shaft bearings must be completely gone.
Has anyone else had this type problem and do you think my assessment of the problem is right? Does the differential have its own lube? Maybe they forgot to re-fill it and ran it while dry?

The car is still a steal at the price. It is just not the usual problem of overheated and then slipping transmission. Let me know your ideas.

Thanks,
Keith
I guess now that I have buoght one myself I will be posting more, instead of just spectating.

[subarufamily]

sounds like the front diff is gone check the drain and if you find metal in the fluid the diff is bad that is what it sounds like to me when i had the same problem

[b3lha]

Yeah, different lube. The transmission dipstick is on the drivers side, the fluid should be red without any burnt smell. The front diff dipstick is on the passenger side, the fluid should be thick and golden.

$500 US is a bargain. Any part you ever replace will most likely cost more than that.

[CorSVXette]

I didn't know there was a dip stick for the front diff fluidI have to go and look now

[odepaj]

[Offtopic]
Where is Waller Texas? There's a bunch of us here in San Antonio and 1-2 in Austin.

Welcome to the forums and hopfully waller isnt to far from here!


Dustin

[/Offtopic]

[TexasSwift]

Originally Posted by subarufamily

sounds like the front diff is gone check the drain and if you find metal in the fluid the diff is bad that is what it sounds like to me when i had the same problem

What was the fix? Replace diff, rebuild trans? What damage could the diff have caused to the transmission case?
Also, Waller is on the NW outskirts of the Houston area. SA is a day trip, so maybe we will be able to get together.
Thanks,
Keith

[TN_fwdsvx]

He is here on the forum. He may be able to point you to parts needed to rebuild the diff. Hard to buy just the diff since salvage yards want to sell the transmission with it.

[TexasSwift]

Thanks for the tip