so i heard back from the dealer yeasterday and siad that the cause to my spedometer going all haywire is because there was a half inch of metal shavings and such stuck to the speedometer pickup magnet. $2500 for a rebuilt tranny and install. ummm no thanks i'll drive it till it gives up its ghost.

so now my question is, since there is so much crap floating around in the tranny i'm going to change fluid and filter on it (5speed), but was wondering if there is any solovent or way i should try and clean it out with before i put new fluid in.

any help is greatly apreciated, my daily driver so i'm kind of SOL!

Call around some tranny shops. You can find one that will totally rebuild that tranny for $700, or fix it if possible for less.

no dont put a solvent in there.. and im sure if the dealership said there was metal in it they alreadt drained the fluid (there is no filter)

Jonathan shumacker wrote:no dont put a solvent in there.. and im sure if the dealership said there was metal in it they alreadt drained the fluid (there is no filter)

No, they probably just took out the sensor and looked at it.

Just drain and refill the trans with the specified oil. Clean off the sensor if possible.

Draining and refilling is just going to buy a little time. If something's shedding metal it'll blow eventually.

I'd drive it and get it warmed up, then drain & refill. If the trans fuild is hot it will drain out quicker and might take some of the metal with it. I would not put any solvent in, that will speed up the failure. Did they show U the metal? If it's kinda brownish and won't stick to a magnet it's synronizer material. If it's not, it's either gear material or bearings. If it's sync material, your shifts will eventually "grind" all the time. If it's bearings/gear material it may lockup totally on you, or it might just free-wheel. That's what i'd worry about.
Don

It's gotta be your spider gears. Very common in the Isuzu 5 speeds.

I just replaced mine with hardened spiders from a SOHC Geo Storm. $100 for the whole tranny, then several hours dropping the tranny and swapping out the diff.

My speedometer was doing the same thing, it was totally covered with metal shavings.

For a while, it would make a pop sound when I was slightly turning left. Eventually, it totally gave out and would only drive in a straight line.

If your transmission is working fine, then stick with it. All the dealer is going to do is overcharge you for a new transmission and sell yours to some other sucker at a similar price. Shavings are pretty common. I found a pile of sludge stuck on the magnet of my 4spd auto, back at 75K. It's still running perfectly at 97K, so I wouldn't chuck it just for some shavings. Run it until it breaks, but take care of it in the meanwhile. I'm not sure about your Isuzu, but I overfilled my Getrag with 4qts of Mobil1 Synthetic ATF with great results (it calls for 1.8). Maybe if you overfill yours a bit, you can buy some time.

2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd

I agree with Snake, I just drove mine until it broke.

A littel bit of shavings is normal. Depends how much there was.


- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new

Nicholas Morgan wrote:It's gotta be your spider gears. Very common in the Isuzu 5 speeds.

I just replaced mine with hardened spiders from a SOHC Geo Storm. $100 for the whole tranny, then several hours dropping the tranny and swapping out the diff.

My speedometer was doing the same thing, it was totally covered with metal shavings.

For a while, it would make a pop sound when I was slightly turning left. Eventually, it totally gave out and would only drive in a straight line.

been driving it nice since i got it back. today on the way into work i shifted to second and it made a clunking sound but went in fine. got to work and did a wide U turn in the parking lot to get into a space and it started making that clunking sound again. its not cv joints, i know what that sounds like. this was the tranny.

i'll take a picture of the metal that was stuck to the VSS. this thing is on the way out faster then i wanted.

how hard is it to drop the tranny out of these things? i'm one who understands motors just fine, but trannies are a mystery to me.

anyone have a link to a site that will walk you through changing spider gears or anything related to the tranny?

kind of like
http://www.installuniversity.com/install_university/index.htm

Go figure, i just bought a 98 Z28 and now my z24 if jealous of its big brother and wants attention. it might end up sitting in the corner for a while to teach it a lesson... or until i get the funds and know how to fix it.

@!#$!!!!!!!!

thanks guys for all the info, i'll post a pic of the shavings tonight. its not brash shavings its chunks of grey material.

EWHHH Grey usually is gear material, if it's the spyder gears they aren't hard to change out. Guys correct me if i'm wrong, but the easiest way is to get the trans out is to pull both engine & trans together. I know you can pull just the trans, but with the engine & motor mount arrangement i think it's easier to pull both.
Don

within a month your tranny is gonna go. drive it if you want but hope you dont get stuck some where

yeah, i'm guessing as much.
trying to find a rebuilt one for cheap right now from a junk yard.

well here are the pics.







O' by the way, i went out after work today to go home and she banged and clanked like it was trying to make an exodus out of the car. i made the hour drive home but boy was it harry. every turn i made it acted up, i finally just about lost first gear. i mean just about because it would go into gear but it would fight the rest of the teeth, clutch pack or whatever kept me moving in first. second seemed to be halfway decent. my car pulls to the right and the abs light came on while driving home.

needless to say shes @!#$!!!

so if you see anything like this on your VSS, your days are numbered.

i'm hunting for a cheap rebuilt tranny right now, looks like i can get some from the junkyard for $850 but thats no rebuilt.
from GM its 2k. the Z28 is going to get some miles put on her until i can find a cheap enough rebuilt tranny for the 24.

Hey you should have the Isuzu tranny, its toast man, went through 3 of them before I gave up on the whole car. You Diff is falling apart. Main symptons, when you goto turn right it just clicks and won't move, Then clunking and poping when moving forward. If any or all of these are the case, get a new tranny and unless you get a 60k miles warranty the warranty does nothing. Most of these diffs run out about 65 - 85 k miles. Thats under mild abuse less if you really work the car, and my last 1 was a junkyard special with 115k on it.


<img src=http://domestictuners.com/banner.jpg WIDTH="400" HEIGHT="75" /img>

Sold this car on June 12 2005-I have a engine FS check mid east regional
Hit 200 NA it broke once, Hit 213 it broke again,
Hitting 300 NA is further away than I thought.

found a rebuilt tranny for $1300. 6 month warranty on it, lets hope this one lasts. i will deffinitely be driving the car different this time around.

got the rebuilt tranny in. spider gears were a mess on my old one.

well im getting some ticking now and its the freaking throw out bearing that i replaced 2.5 years ago.
time to rip it back apart. @!#$!!

Might as well through a new slave in it, hate to have you pull it i a few eeks to replace a leaky 1.


<img src=http://domestictuners.com/banner.jpg WIDTH="400" HEIGHT="75" /img>

Sold this car on June 12 2005-I have a engine FS check mid east regional
Hit 200 NA it broke once, Hit 213 it broke again,
Hitting 300 NA is further away than I thought.