Clutch or Tranny going bad??

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reeder123
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Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:56 am
My tercel:: 1984 tercel 4wd sr5
Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Clutch or Tranny going bad??

Post by reeder123 »

Ran into a little trouble with Rodney the other day. I always have a hard time explaining issues I have with the 'ol terc so hopefully you gurus can decipher what I'm trying to describe. I was out for a drive a week or two ago, there were some steep hills to climb and I had to do a lot of down-shifting to have power to get up these hills, on the way back I started to notice a funny burning smell and had a hard time shifting (as if I didn't have the clutch all the way down when shifting, but I did.) I assumed that this smell meant that I had over-worked the clutch and was "burning it out" I had gotten past the summit and had a lot of downhill road ahead of me so I let it coast most of the way, once I got to the bottom it started shifting just fine, but now there's a noise that only happens when I'm in 2nd and 3rd gear (3rd gear being the loudest.) The only way I can describe the noise is that it's similar to the noise most manual tranny vehicles make when driving in reverse. I haven't had to drive it much since then but eventually am going to need to get it checked out. I'm assuming (and hoping) it's the clutch going out, but with the noise only happening in 2nd and 3rd I'm thinking it could possibly be the transmission. Or both? Anyways, if any of this is making sense and any of you think you might have an idea as to what's going on please chime in. If it's the clutch going out then I feel pretty confident in purchasing a new one and installing it (with the help of a good mechanic friend of mine) but if it's the transmission I may just have to part ways with Rodney. Thanks in advance for your help!
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Petros
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Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Clutch or Tranny going bad??

Post by Petros »

Have you checked your trans gear oil level? YOu may have lost some on the steep hills (marginal seals leak worse when on uneven ground), if the level is low you might top it up. The trans gets noisy when it is low on oil. The smell might have been the lost oil burning off the exhaust pipe or other warm undercarriage parts.

The clutch usually only smells when it is slipping, not afterwords. But it does sound like you might need a clutch as well, try the clutch test: stand on the brakes with your heel, rev engine up to about 3000 rpm, put it in gear and let out the clutch slowly. It should stall the engine, if you can keep it running by giving it more gas the clutch is shot. Do not do this test often, and do it in an open area with nothing in front of your car.

If you can still drive it, not likely the trans is permanently damaged.

Good luck.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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dlb
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Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
Location: bc, canada

Re: Clutch or Tranny going bad??

Post by dlb »

replacing a tranny is only about as bad as doing a clutch--for the clutch, you have to remove the engine or trans, and for the tranny, you have to remove it, so it's about the same labour. if you can get a good price on a good trans it's about the same cost.

sounds like a clutch to me because of the burning smell which would be caused by the clutch slipping and the "as if I didn't have the clutch all the way down when shifting, but I did" comment. do a clutch test. here's how petros does it:

"Simple clutch test: rev the engine to 3000 rpm with toe, stand on the brakes with heel and put it in first and let out the clutch, it should stall the engine. IF the engine just bogs down, you need a clutch. Note: do not do this test very often, it is hard on the clutch, trans and drive train; also make sure there is nothing in front of the car to run into."

also check your trans oil level. take the front driver side wheel off and just behind where the driver side CV enters the trans is a big bolt, 24 mm or something. thoroughly clean all the dirt from around it and remove it--it's very short so be careful not to strip it. they're usually done up tight so use a big breaker bar with a cheater pipe but again, be careful not to strip it. once it's off, stick your finger in and feel for oil. it should be just below the hole. either top it up as necessary or drain and refill the gear oil with fresh stuff (assuming you haven't already done a trans flush/refill already).
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