Transmission, xfer case, drivetrain hum/growel. Q:

[erik]

I have had this hum/growl coming from those places while I am decelerating only while in gear. What could it be? Can anyone help diagnose this? It was doing that just a hair for a few years, but I passed it off to normal car wear and it was ever so faint to be an issue since it didn't change in pitch, volume or frequency any.
But just a week ago, this sound decided to get a lot more noticeable. I might have heard that our U joint had a recall. I think I had it checked 2yrs ago and they said I couldn't get it changed unless there was a problem with it. ... I think that that was the part.?
The car also usually has a clank (metal on metal hitting) when I throw it in reverse. And that is why I think it might be that. But maybe it's the drivetrain itself binding due to a lil play somewhere?
I've checked the transmission oil level and it seems fine. And I've checked the drive shaft and that doesn't seem to move any. Or maybe I'm not trying to move the right piece? ... I don't know.
Any constructive comments are welcome! thx.
erik

[Van]

It could be rear diff wear, rear support bearing worn or just a u-joint worn.

[MaxDraco]

This sounds like it's starting to become a common problem - I have it, but I'm hoping my new(used) tranny will solve the problem.

At first I thought it was a partially frozen u-joint and it turned out I did have that problem, but it decel problem persisted.

Erik W. drove along side my car once and he said the noise was definitely coming from the tranny.

MD.

[MaxDraco]

I just replaced my clutch and tranny - no more decel hum/growel.

[erik]

Good to hear that Max! And it was a used tranny? humm. I had to replace the syncros twice and then finally replace the tranny with a completely new one. The dealer did it and they said that you can't tell if it's the new style one or the old one untill it was pulled and replaced. I was told that the 2nd gen tranny and transfer case is better on the 2nd gen. .. I had asked to see if they could replace it with a 2nd gen style tranny when they get the old one out. But when they recieved the new one and had it ready to install, they mentioned that it was the same old tranny that they would have to put back in. I wasn't so happy about that but I had no choice. They were allready doing me a great favor and absorbing 1/2 of the total cost of repair. So i just hoped that the new one would hold out.
Now I'm thinking that it could be the clutch master cylinder and/or the rotating asembly, because if the car has a hard time going into gear when cold and getting into reverse and being very notchey, then maybe it isn't wanting to disengauge itself. But maybe it's that the car needs to have the rotating mass reballanced. ??
erik

[DlandryTSI]

All that the balancing does is insure that your motor isn't going to shake it self to pieces.

Now what could be happening is if the clutch isn't disengaging you might want to look at the clutch fork to see how worn it is. Also check the pedal height. If you don't feel the clutch till your close to the floor then I'd adjust the pedal height.

What tranny fluid are you running?

--Dave

[MaxDraco]

Yes it's a used 95' Tranny, but it had been rebuilt about 4k miles ago. I'm thinking it was a combination of the RPS stage-3 clutch (6-puck) and a bad tranny.

The ceramic clutch pads looked like crap and one of the springs for the central hub had broken in half !

I like the ACT2600 much better then the RPS.

MD.