Summer vacation starts with Getrag input shaft seal leak

Boscolingus · Post by **Boscolingus** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:40 pm

with Master Jedi wave..... "these are not the gear ratios your looking for"......

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:41 pm

Found a Fiero Getrag at the junkyard today. $90 including a shift cable and the shifter assembly, as well as a factory slave cyl. 50% off sale FTW! Also... its been rebuilt! I see anaerobic sealant squeezed out of the case sides, as well as some sealant around a new detent housing cover. I just hope they did it right. It will go in next week and I'll find out.

I still plan on rebuilding my other Getrag since I want the Quad 4 ratios, but I'll give this a try. Maybe I'll like the longer 2nd even if the 1-2 shift isn't quite as good.

The transmission was covered in 1/8" of gooey crap that took 6 buckets of soapy water and the sacrifice of 3 rags and a brush to remove. I have no idea how it got like that. The transmission mount brackets were also completely destroyed but the transmission case looks fine. Dunno what the story on the car was.

Boscolingus · Post by **Boscolingus** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 2:55 pm

probably ripped CV boots but more likely it had a bad distributor o-ring. In my years I have only seen 1 snapped trans bracket sao who knows what brought this on.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:08 pm

Arggggh. The whirring noise is still there, the TOB still rattles, and it still shifts bad. WTF. Maybe I should just drive it until something breaks.

The shift problem is probably just cables; I have an aftermarket select cable from WCF and it is adjustable at both ends so it's probably not set up right..
TOB, who knows.. maybe SPEC's pressure plate fingers are uneven.
I have no idea about the whirring noise now. It sounds like its coming from the transmission side of the motor but I just replaced the transmission!

Boscolingus · Post by **Boscolingus** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:40 pm

I thought I read that there was a bunch of issues with all of SPEC/Fiero setups?

Is the noise constant both on and off the clutch pedal?

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 11:51 pm

The clattering noise must be uneven pressure plate fingers on the throwout bearing. That noise goes away with the clutch pedal pressed in. Certainly a SPEC problem.

The "whirring" noise was invariant with the clutch engagement, but it seems to have gone away now that I took off the timing belt covers and reinstalled them. The car is so damn loud though.. so I dont know for sure. If the noise is still there its quieter. I think the cogs were rubbing on one of the covers because I found some marks, I'm just not sure if that was from a long time ago or not.

Shifting better now that the trans has warmed up. I'm not running synchromesh right now so that is probably making it worse. I also found out that this transmision has NOT been rebuilt.. they probably just replaced the diff carrier bearings or something. 3rd gear whines/scrapes on decel much louder than the other gears, and grinds going in. joy.

On another note, I think I like these gear ratios (Fiero GETRAG) better. The 1-to-2 shift is not as bad as I thought it would be. The 2-to-3 shift is MUCH better than the trans that I have. I think I will rebuild the Cavalier trans that I have instead of using the Quad 4 ratios. The longer 2nd will be better suited to the greater amount of torque I will have once I'm turbocharged as well.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:48 pm

Now I'm really fucking pissed. This clattering noise is so loud that you can hear it down the street. It goes away when the clutch pedal is depressed, though it still clatters for a fraction of a second every once in awhile even with the pedal down.
Broken pressure plate finger? Messed up clutch disc spring? I don't know... but now I have to take out my transmission for the THIRD FUCKING TIME this summer.
I'm going to stay away from tearing the car apart again for at least a week because I'm sick of it at the moment. Is there ANYTHING this could be besides the clutch disc or pressure plate?
The tests I have done so far are:
-Press in clutch pedal. Sound goes away.
-Remove slave cylinder and pull back clutch release arm all the way. No change in sound.
-Push clutch release arm in until the throwout bearing contacts the pressure plate (I can feel it start to vibrate). No change in sound.
The sound is only there below 1500 RPM or so. It doesn't change with engine temperature. The engine oil looks fine, so it's not catastrophic thrust bearing failure.. the transmission fluid looks fine too.. The sound only started after I installed the SPEC Stage III.

The Dark Side of Will · Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:05 pm

Series8217 wrote:Is there ANYTHING this could be besides the clutch disc or pressure plate?
The tests I have done so far are:
-Press in clutch pedal. Sound goes away.
-Remove slave cylinder and pull back clutch release arm all the way. No change in sound.
-Push clutch release arm in until the throwout bearing contacts the pressure plate (I can feel it start to vibrate). No change in sound.
The sound is only there below 1500 RPM or so.

Input shaft bearing?
Picked up a stethoscope yet?

Shaun41178(2) · Post by **Shaun41178(2)** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:07 pm

My guess would be a clutch spring.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:15 pm

The Dark Side of Will wrote:
Series8217 wrote:Is there ANYTHING this could be besides the clutch disc or pressure plate?
The tests I have done so far are:
-Press in clutch pedal. Sound goes away.
-Remove slave cylinder and pull back clutch release arm all the way. No change in sound.
-Push clutch release arm in until the throwout bearing contacts the pressure plate (I can feel it start to vibrate). No change in sound.
The sound is only there below 1500 RPM or so.
Input shaft bearing?

Oh yeah, other test I did:
-Change transmission. No change in sound. (this was before it got so bad that I thought it was anything besides the throwout bearing)

Picked up a stethoscope yet?

No, but I have one around somewhere I'm sure. I know its coming from the bellhousing though..

Shaun41178(2) wrote:My guess would be a clutch spring.

That's what I'm hoping, since that's something that can be fixed easily.. but it doesn't give me much faith in Spec's materials and workmanship.

The Dark Side of Will · Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:32 am

Nice... and I just ordered a SPEC stage III...

Standard · Post by **Standard** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:55 am

You know, my bro has a rattling noise with his getrag that just won't go away, and he has a SPEC clutch also. I'll mention this to him. I think he's replaced the TOB and clutch fork with no change.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:37 pm

A LOT of people have complained about rattling noises with the Spec 3 and said it was the throwout bearing.. but I don't know how many of them actually replaced the TOB to see if the noise would go away.

Red · Post by **Red** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:11 am

I have a Spec II and had the same "rattle". I replaced the TOB and no change... the noise is still there.

This is a known-good Getrag transmission with very low miles on it, so I suspect there's something about the Spec pressure plate or clutch. The noise isn't that bad... it's a bit annoying and does completely go away when I step on the clutch.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:12 pm

How many miles are on it? When I pulled out my Spec Stage II with 14,000 miles on it, ALL of the springs were loose enough that I could rattle them, though the clutch didn't make any noise when it was actually in the car.

Kohburn · Post by **Kohburn** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:40 pm

Series8217 wrote:Now I'm really fucking pissed. This clattering noise is so loud that you can hear it down the street. It goes away when the clutch pedal is depressed, though it still clatters for a fraction of a second every once in awhile even with the pedal down.
Broken pressure plate finger? Messed up clutch disc spring? I don't know... but now I have to take out my transmission for the THIRD FUCKING TIME this summer.
I'm going to stay away from tearing the car apart again for at least a week because I'm sick of it at the moment. Is there ANYTHING this could be besides the clutch disc or pressure plate?
The tests I have done so far are:
-Press in clutch pedal. Sound goes away.
-Remove slave cylinder and pull back clutch release arm all the way. No change in sound.
-Push clutch release arm in until the throwout bearing contacts the pressure plate (I can feel it start to vibrate). No change in sound.
The sound is only there below 1500 RPM or so. It doesn't change with engine temperature. The engine oil looks fine, so it's not catastrophic thrust bearing failure.. the transmission fluid looks fine too.. The sound only started after I installed the SPEC Stage III.

that sounds exactly the opposite of when i had flywheel bolts back out.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:31 pm

Would be nice if it's something that simple. I did torque them with a torque wrench as well as loctite them, though.. .
So when that happened to you, the sound would appear only with the clutch disengaged? That makes sense since the clutch would have to be spinning against the flywheel to make any noise.. hmm.

Kohburn · Post by **Kohburn** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:54 am

what are the chances that the clutch houseing is hitting the inside of the belhousing?
i dunno mna but i think you'll have to pull the trans to find out

p8ntman442 · Post by **p8ntman442** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:24 pm

broken ring gear on flywheel hitting the bell housing?

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 2:56 pm

Kohburn wrote:what are the chances that the clutch houseing is hitting the inside of the belhousing?

The pressure plate is bolted all the way down, so it can't be.

i dunno mna but i think you'll have to pull the trans to find out

I know... I'm just taking a break from working on my car for awhile because I've already pulled it twice this summer.

p8ntman442 wrote:broken ring gear on flywheel hitting the bell housing?

No, I looked.. Keep in mind the sound goes away with clutch disengaged and at any RPM 1200 or greater.
It has to be something that is obvious to see because I didn't see anything wrong when I pulled the transmission last time to change the throwout bearing.
I'm pretty well convinced at this point that its something on the clutch hub, most likely a loose or broken spring.