so I was cruisin in 5th and heard this strange sound (not loud at all) but noticeable, sounded like a "airy" sound so I continued cruisin (on my way home about 2 miles away) and I heard this metallic ping or pow which also wasn't that loud, then my car just dies and I pull to the side of the road....my engine cranks, but it doesn't start, so I get out and all my differential fluid is flowing out really fast!!! and it is polluted with tons of tiny metal shavings from my differential bearings....anyway, my buddy told me my car should still start even if all the differential fluid is gone and if my differential bearings are shot as long as the clutch is disengaged from the engine....but my car won't start, it just cranks and cranks....checked my engine oil, looks fine......but he said for me not to rule out the possibility of my timing chain snapping....taking everything else with it! or maybe just throwing a rod or something.....

anyone with problems on their 5spd 4th gen tranny? does this story sound like what happened to you? my engine still should crank over even if the tranny and diff were locked up shouldn't it? my engine oil looks fine, but my differential fluid filled with metal shavings is all over the ground and didn't drip, but flowed out...?!?!?!?!?!?

 

When I blew my trans...My engine still started and ran.

 

bump bump bump bump

 

my car did whine in 1st (characteristic of differential bearing failure), but it didn't get progressively worse and was silent in every other gear....not like all the other members state are the symptoms of imminent failure of the bearings..which usually say the sound begins in 2nd then 3rd eventually and so on...not in my case, but when the tow truck picked up my car this afternoon, it was very hard to get my shifter into 1st and when I finally did, we were still able to push my car a little....

 

Where is the gear oil flowing out of? Driveaxle? When the tranny blew, did your car violently slow down?

Provided your clutch system is working, your engine should start even if your tranny is toast. When you pulled over, did your car stall, or did you turn it off? Do you have a CEL?

If you can put your car in 1st and still push it, you're transmission is in bad shape. You will likely need to replace it, as the cost of rebuilding it at this point doesn't seem worthwhile.

 

i don't think your timing chain broke because they're supposed to last as long as the car does, but it might be the timing chain tensioner. I had to get this fixed once and before i did, my car would crank but wouldn't turn over, same situation as yours.

 

my car stalled on me after I heard a single metal ping noise, my car cranks, but never starts....yeah in 1st, my car can still be pushed....but my car wouldn't start up if say the main transmission input shaft or the bearing is screwed....cause then the tranny would still be connected to the engine regardless of the clutch....therefore my car wouldn't be able to start..is my thought...it was definitely differential fluid (really thick greenish/brownish golden fluid) smells like gear oil too! my timing chain tensioner was makin the noise on cold starts everytime for the last month or so...I was just about to replace it...

as far as codes go, i think my car is pulling random codes due to the incident of my car violently slowing down and stalling out on me....cause the codes are knock sensor, crank position sensor, and emission control purge valve or something....all un-related to my differential fluid pouring out I would think!

 

When you depress the clutch pedal, you disengage the clutch disk from the flywheel, severing the connection between the engine and transmission. Provided your clutch is in working order, you can start the car with a broken transmission.

From where was the gear oil draining? IIRC, if the CPS fails, your car will turn over but not start. Someone care to verify this? (search is down)

 

the differential oil looked like it was flowing from the engine side of the tranny....ie....right where the tranny is bolted to the engine, which is kinda weird....anyway mechanic looked at it today and found a cracked bell housing which is why the tranny leaked all the differential fluid out...don't know why the tranny fluid didn't come out though! anyway, but he still doesn't know why the car isn't starting...but it is cranking...he said maybe the clutch was damaged as well...he's gonna look at that too today...and I'll let you guys know!

I know the cps hasn't failed....my car just through a bunch of codes when this happened...guess the ecu didn't like whatever happened to my car! anyway, I'll keep you guys posted!

you guys are the best! It's nice to have members that truly care about other members and try to help them out...


by the way, I believe it was a huge tree branch that kicked up when I heard the metal ping...when the bell-housing cracked!

 

Is gear oil and differential fluid the same thing? cause when i put my gl4 redline gear oil in my manual transmission i thought that goes to the differential too?

 

apparently not....they are seperated but cast in one unit on front wheel drive cars.....just saw the tranny out of my car and the housing where the clutch goes (the wide mouth side/engine side), you can see through the housing into the differential....huge 2-3" diameter hole....look like a huge chuck of casing that covers the differential just blew out on the inside where the clutch is so that the diff is exposed!

 

95MAXIMASExy: You are correct. With our transmissions, the regular gear oil doubles as the differential oil.

Sucks about your cracked tranny...Are the internals fried? Are you going to rebuild it, or just replace it?

Images don't work.

 

can't rebuild it, cause a rebuild doesn't include the bell housing....anyway, we do have separate fluids for tranny and differential...according to both my local family mechanic and a nissan master tech (buddy of mine)...anyway, the diff fluid is really thick and greenish/golden brown (metallic like as well in luster) whereas our tranny fluid is rather clear with kind of a red tint to it as it gets older...unlike our auto fluid which is red from the get go....ie. atf.........


don't know why the images don't work....

I am just going to replace the tranny from a junkyard with 90 day warranty, then after the 3 months are up, I am going to have a buddy rebuild it for $500 and maybe add a qualife diff at the same time...and do my flywheel at the same time...

 

I've got a $20 bill and a Nissan FSM that says your family mechanic is wrong.

Uhm...you don't have an automatic transmission...so you shouldn't use ATF. Unless you have the most extraordinary 'factory-freak' ever known to exist, the GL4 you dump in the (only) fill hole lubricates both the tranny and differential.

As for the rebuild, if all of your internals are fine (which I doubt), you could just replace the case/bellhousing/whatever's broken.

Maybe your transmission blew up because you put ATF in there.

 

no...i was just using ATF as an example of color of fluid, I use valvoline GL4 75W90 last time I filled flushed the tranny....all I know is the fluid that poured out of the diff looked entirely different than the fluid that remained in the tranny....and according to a master tech, they are different as well....can't rebuild the thing....rebuilds don't include bell housings, only internals....in either case, I bought one from a junkyard and am going to use up the 90day warranty then have it rebuilt by a friend for $500...