Transmission reminder.

[xirdneh]

check your gear oil level, especially if you have gear oil drops on the bottom of your tranny.
when you get lower than 2 qts (4.1 required) your tranny will begin to fail. Teeth may fall off or bearing may go bad.
Down to 1 qt or less things start to melt, usually 5th gear teeth.
cause of leak is almost always the axle seals

also I just worked on a tranny that had a stripped 5th gear hub most likely from pulling a trailer while in 5th gear. Car has a beefy trailer hitch.
i have seen two other trannys with 5th damaged due to pulling trailers.

local tranny shop expert told me if you have to pull a trailer with these trannys do not use 5th gear.

[simon84]

A couple of transmission questions...

1. Why does it sometimes pop out of first? I've heard people mention that on here and my first Tercel never did that. My current one with a rebuilt transmission sometimes pops out of first. Should I be concerned or take any action?

2. The strangest thing happened last week. We got a bunch of snow (about 10cm or 4inches) which was not sloppy but of the more moist and slightly sticky kind. We usually get very dry snow. I drove away from work and put it in 4wd. I pulled in to make a quick stop and when I started out again, it kept stalling in first gear. The clutch seemed to grab with a bit of a delay when released. I then noticed that I could release the clutch while in neutral and went forward. So I drove it that way for a block and then pulled in again and took it out of 4wd. Then I could go in 1st without stalling. Then I could put it back into 4wd without any issues and I drove home 20 minutes down the highway. This seemed super strange! Was I stuck in second gear or extra low. I think it seemed like first gear when I was driving with the shift knob in neutral. I can only assume that the snow got into something and made it stick where it shouldn't. No problems since.

I'd be interested if anyone has any good advice on these things.

Thanks

Simon

[teranfirbt]

It sounds like something was missed when the transmission was rebuilt. There are a number of small lock out pins in the shift assembly that prevent multiple gears from being selected at the same time. These pins are also easy to lose if they drop out during disassembly and aren't noticed, if they were forgotten during the rebuilt you could potentially have two gears selected.
There are also spring detents that will hold the transmission in gear, if one is missing it could be causing your gear pop out issue.
The main thing that causes transmission pop out is bearing wear, specifically the ball bearing on the output shaft. If it's worn, it allows the shaft to move fore/aft in the housing, which will cause the shift sleeves to disengage from the gears.

[simon84]

Thanks for the info.
My tercel just rolled over 300K miles on a road trip to the Kootenays in BC. It's a US import so miles on the odo.
The transmission was rebuilt about 60k miles ago. It's gotten pretty bad for popping out of first gear and also did it in 3rd (once going up a pass at 3k rpm in 3rd going about 60mph).
When driving in towns, I was putting it in 4wd so I could use EL instead of first. That works but I'm thinking I need to do something with the transmission.
Wondering if it's best to get it rebuilt, properly this time, or look for a replacement. It's got the early 80's gearing. I'm wondering if it's better to get the later gearing since I run 14" tires.
Thanks for any advice on this.

[Petros]

if you can find a good condition transmission that would be a better solution, likely cost less too. of course you do not know the condition until you actually install it and drive it. I would recommend replacing all of the seals when you replace the transmission. they are available and fairly inexpensive.

if your synchrony are still serviceable, you can rebuild your trans and replace the main bearings on the main shaft, that should solve the popping out of gear (too much end play causes it to pop out of gear, usually cuased by sloppy and worn main shaft, or counter shaft bearings). unfortunately it is a big job, as much work as a complete rebuild, but you will not be able to find replacement all parts for most of the typical wear items. the larger bearings and all of the seals are available and not a problem.

if you get a good used trans, just make sure you change the gear oil on regular intervals, and keep after any leaks, and it should last a very long time.

I would adviase against chaning the final drive gear ratio. You will have to change out the rear diff as well as the front one, and there is not significant avantage from one ratio or the other. I have driven both final drive gear ratios cross country, both get about the same economy, the 3.73:1 is more quiet at hwy speeds, and does well as a typcial daily driver. the 4.1:1 pulls well from a dead stop on steep terrain (lower rist of stalling from a standing start), but the engine screams at a higher rpm at hwy speeds. With the engine in good tune, expcially with the EL gearing, it works well enough where I have decided I like the 3.73:1 better as a daily driver.

I do hope to get my 4age swap running some day, and that is a much higher rpm engine, so the 4.1:1 gearing would be a better match. But with the 3ac or 4ac engine, either works well enough that is not worth the extra work and cost it takes to switch it over, in my experience.

Of course if you can not find the matching front diff ratio, than you may consider it, but you can also swap out the old front diff assembly as well, or locate the rear diff assembly to swap out together as a matched set.

[LowBuckCanuck]

The only time I've had my transmission pop out of first is when I hit a deceptively large pothole on a forestry road.

It shifted into neutral from the actual mass of the shifter pulling downwards from the sudden jolt. It has happened twice now, and it always freaks me out. And I feel bad for the car.

As far as I can tell, there isn't any damage being done (yet). Any one else have this happen?