88 grand prix tranmission problem

[Unconcerned]

Alright, first post, here we go.

I've looked around a bit and as far as I can tell my car has a munchie 282? 5 speed transmission. I picked the car up for 250 bucks, it's a 88 or 89 grand prix SE with the 2.8l and a dash claiming only 33k. When I picked the car up I knew there was an issue with the transmission so now its time to fix the problem. As the story goes, friends brother buys car knowing it needs clutch. Step dad replaces clutch but does not fill trans. Car drives across town...then refuses to move under its own power.

I started and attempted to drive the car now that i've got it home via trailer and it makes no attempt to move in any gear. It makes a grinding sound when in any gear with clutch pedal released, less noise in neutral and no noise with clutch pedal to the floor. Checked the transmission fluid levels and they are as previously stated, none existant :P. The shifter feels very stiff when moving (Vs my 89 F150 shifter anyway) and suspecting a possible incomplete shift I attempted to manually shift the levers that the shifter cables interact with but even thou I managed to get it into what I think was a gear, nothing different occured

Anyway, I figured i'd have to pull the trans when I bought the car so I started on that yesterday. I mostly want to confirm that the tranny is pooched and that I am looking at getting the correct replacement when the time comes. Also, I found one thread either on this or another forum that stated the tranny could be removed by dropping one side of the subframe and removing the drivers suspension/whatever is in the way on that side of the car. I have already started removing the engine under the impression that it was the only way to get the transmission out in a fwd but if there is an easier way or there is a comprehensive thread that would point me in the right direction I would very much appreciate knowing about it. So far the coolant lines are off, a bunch of electrical is removed, the damn AC compressor is hanging on by one bolt and the power steering is taunting me with its seemingly engineered into the engine stuckness (Removed bolts but its starting to seem like it would be easier to remove the lines)

Thanks for any input ^^

[meltboy11]

well let me tell you, I have done it both ways, and takin the whole thing from the top is so much easier, it can be done from the bottom, but you gota disconnect the stearing so you can lower the subframe enough, pretty much to the ground in order to get the tranny to fit through the wheel well, and there aint room to do shit under there, it was a real PITA. It tool me < 4 hours to pull the motor and trans from the top and it took me a good couple days of work to get it out through the fender, so if you have the tools and the knowhow, I would definately say go through the top.

I did end up just removing the lines from the power stearing pump and put a rag on em and tied em so they point up, the AC compressor was a total BIOTCH, but that eventually came out. if you take the plastic off the passengers side near the fuse panel, there are 2 wiring harnesses there that you disconnect, one black, one gray, that's for the engine wiring, you can leave it all attached. Get all the grounds and whatnot off.

In the back of the engine there were 2 harnesses that had to come off, knock sensor and something else, I can't remember which, along with 2 ground wires, personally I disconected the exhaust from the downpipe, use some liquid wrench or something cuz those are probably gona be rather tough to get off. IIRC there was only 1 vacuum line that I had to worry about removing, aside from the brake booster one... there is a coolant line that goes to the firewall from under the throttle body area... disconnect the throttle cables.. I think that's about it, I literally just got done doing it about 4 hours ago so it's still pretty fresh, but here is a link to a site I followed a little to. http://www.w-body.com/forum/index.php?topic=61326.0

To be honest it will be pretty obvious what has to come off while you are under there as long as you have a basic knowledge of the engine, this was my first engine/tranny pull and it went pretty easy for me.

[Unconcerned]

Thanks for the reply, I finally got the car into the shop I work at and im likely to take the engine and transmission out tomorrow. As long as I have to replace the dongbone bushing I think I may as well do any sort of engine/transmission bushings and fix any gasket leaks while the car is down. I think im going to remove the exhaust from the downpipe as well since its a fairly clear view and a long half inch extension and impact would prolly do the trick. I'll take another look at the power steering tomorrow while im wrenchin but from the glance I made last time I worked on it, I couldnt see any real decent way to remove the power steering lines from the pump since there were no real joints visible besides where the lines plug into the steering rack. The pump itself while unbolted was tucked so tightly into the top of the engine that it seemed like alot more work to get the pump out than to disconnect it from the steering rack. Musta missed something :P

[meltboy11]

well I just disconnected the hoses from the pump that worked fine

[Unconcerned]

Ok, so I got the transmission/engine combo out on sunday. Got the power steering lines off at the pump, seemed alot more obvious when I looked at the lines in the light instead of the dark XP Once I had everything torn down I went to remove the CV shafts and what do I find? My problem wasent in the transmission...One of the CV shafts had popped out and the grinding sound was the splines grinding together! The splines wernt even messed up, I popped the CV back into the transmission and it held fine. When the previous owner did the clutch job he mustnt have pushed the CV in all the way. Anyway, I took the engine/trans out anyway since I had gotten that far and since all the engine mounts are pooched so ima fix whatever gaskets need fixing and such. One question thou. The hydralic cylinder for releasing my clutch looks strange to me. The pushrod doesnt have any sort of ball on the end but the actual release fork has a big cupped ball end. Is there supposed to be a ball at the end of the pushrod in the release cylinder? So far thats the only thing I've noticed out of place

Bleh, hope I get the car on the road soon, just noticed my old trucks gas tank is pissin out fuel all over the place, got a rubbermaid catching my half tank left ><