darndest thing I ever...please help (1 Viewer)

[60 toy ota]

The cruiser has an awful rattle at the transmission, it's at it's worst on idle, shutting down, and when I let go of the gas while shifting. put a wheel in the air and started the cruiser up and it was spinning just fine, albeit the noise. When I went to put it in neutral, it already was! I can put the clutch down and the wheel will stop, release clutch and I can feel it engage, still in neutral. When I put it in first, I can feel it engage more solidly but the noise is still there. Happens in 2&4 hi and 4lo. I can reach under and stop it just by grabbing the driveshaft.

I'm at a complete loss. The only thing that I can think of that would clatter and cause the transmission to partially engage in neutral but still allow me to drive through the gears would be a synchro ring that hasn't completely released. But all I know about manual transmissions is from youtube animations.

Also, it wasn't much of a gradual problem. Seemed to be fine one day and bad the next. I did recently help a girl tow her vw bug about 10 miles on flat back roads, but it seemed to drive just fine during the tow and I wouldn't say I pushed the truck any harder then if I were on a hill at highway speeds or trying to accelerate as quickly as I could. I'll try to post up a video tomorrow. Stock 4 speed, 282k

 

[mwebfj60]

Shifter loose in transmission? Spring under locking ring? Pull the boot and verify? Will it shift through all the gears including reverse? Pull the shifter out of the transmission and try to move linkage manually....

 

[60 toy ota]

Shifter loose in transmission? Spring under locking ring? Pull the boot and verify? Will it shift through all the gears including reverse? Pull the shifter out of the transmission and try to move linkage manually....

I'm sorry but you're going to have to explain yourself there. All I can answer is that I can run through the gears

 

[mwebfj60]

When you shift through the gears do you feel it actually moving and engaging the gears or is it loose and just falls in?

 

[mwebfj60]

I've never had it happen on a Toyota but I had a Ford that had a worn locking ring and the shifter would come out far enough to not engage the linkage. Here's a pic of the shifter part that goes into the transmission.

 

[mwebfj60]

Inside view of h42

 

[mwebfj60]

Top plate

 

[60 toy ota]

I'll pull the boot tomorrow and have a look, thanks. I don't dare drive it without knowing what's going on but it does drive like usual as far as shifting goes

 

[mwebfj60]

That's kind of a different story then if it drives like usual but you get a rattle noise. I was under the impression you had it in gear and when you went to shift to neutral, it was already there, like you hadn't actually shifted the gears even though you moved the shifter. With the rear off the ground, transmission in neutral, and clutch out, there can be enough drag/stickiness between the shaft and gears within the assembly to make them spin just a little bit?If the ring was somewhat stuck on the gear, you wouldn't be able to stop it with your hand. I would rule out pulling the boot and start with checking fluid levels, transmission mounts, and make sure all linkage is tight.

 

[Godwin]

Drop the inspection cover on the bottom of the bellhousing and have a look at the clutch and throw-out bearing. See if the T/O bearing is the rattle. How old, what condition, is your clutch?

The bushing in the shift tower is something else to examine closely.

 

[60 toy ota]

I'll take a look in the clutch inspection plate. here's a link to the video I took as well

 

[gregnash]

Sounds almost like you throwout bearing is gone and thus the clutch is engaging slightly (enough so that the rear wheel is spinning when off the ground. If you lift the rear end off the ground completely will both wheels turn?

 

[60 toy ota]

I should add that the noise the clutch makes when the petal is down (not the rattle) has been that way for long as we've the car in the family, over twenty years and 200000 miles. Made that noise before and after we had the clutch replaced so I wouldn't think that that's related to this problem

 

[60 toy ota]

If you lift the rear end off the ground completely will both wheels turn?

I'm sure they would, because the drive shaft is spinning but I've got a lack of tools (Jacks) here where I live for a college that would allow me to check

 

[Mace]

Even in neutral the drive shaft can spin if the motor is turning. But that's just because of the viscosity of the fluid.

The rattle is interesting. I'd drop the inspection cover on the clutch, transmission and tcase and take a look to see.

Is the rattle only when the transmission is working? Meaning you hit the clutch while rolling it's still there.

 

[gregnash]

I'm sure they would, because the drive shaft is spinning but I've got a lack of tools (Jacks) here where I live for a college that would allow me to check

Ah understood...
So again, probably throwout bearing. Something is causing the clutch to engage enough that the wheels are turning and there are few limited parts down there really... Dumb question but are the clutch master and slave working properly (or in your case does the master at least have fluid in it)? Maybe go to a mechanic and see about getting the clutch adjusted or if you have tools to do it read through the FSM and adjust yourself.

 

[mwebfj60]

Yeah, that's not loose linkage. I agree with Mace, start pulling covers and see whats going on.

 

[60 toy ota]

UPDATE
something just didn't seem to be adding up about all this, it seemed that no certain thing was acting weird enough to be the culprit. Like gregnash said, there really aren't too many parts down there and I wasn't feeling any of the rattling through the shifter or anything else. Well upon taking off the clutch inspection cover and firing up the engine, I started really trying to pinpoint the noise with my ear and I found it...right next to the transmission...in the cat.
So apologies for the false alarm and many thanks for all the brain work and the quick responses, I'm just super relieved it's an isolated issue, easily accessible and not anything in the tranny or I would have been up a creek without a paddle. weird though. who knew such a drive line-like noise could come from the exhaust?

 

[TallCanDan]

Sweet! I'm reminded that the honeycomb-like material in a cat breaks into chunks after a long while and will rattle

 

[gregnash]

Sweet! I'm reminded that the honeycomb-like material in a cat breaks into chunks after a long while and will rattle

Yup this is where I am starting to get a slight rattle.. Think a new exhaust from the down pipe back to the muffler is going to be in order for me this year. Should be pretty simple though.