Automotive Forums

Folks,

This is my first post as I recognize that I need professional help. I have been screwing around with this tranny since Christmas. A brief history:

Two years ago my wife hit a landscape timber in the road and knocked the transmission line off the bottom of the radiator. She drove the car home like this. I replaced the line, changed the filter and refilled with fluid. From this point forward you have to rev the motor up to get it to engage in drive. Once you do this it works fine through all gears including reverse until you shut it off. Once you shut it off you must go through the revving ritual even if it is only off momentarily. New York state has changed the inspection laws now the car will not pass inspection. So I am forced to fix the car.

I bought a used transmission and put it in, drove around the block high fiving myself for a job well done then tried to back in my driveway. I'm sure you can guess where this story is going. Yep you guessed it no reverse. I pulled this tranny and returned it. In the meantime I pulled my original apart as a learning experience. I figured I didn't have anything to lose.

Upon inspection I immediately noticed one of the clutch packs was fried (blue / black)in  color. I got a schematic and determined that this was the first gear clutch pack. I removed it from the shaft and took it apart to find 4 of the 6 friction discs had no pads left on them. I called the dealer and purchased 6 new discs and the apply plates. I put this all together and back in the car, but I still have the same problem although you don't have to rev it as much to get it to engage.

Here are my observations:

There is a plate with several compression spring in it that I did not replace because the dealer initially told me it was not replaceable.

After replacing the discs the pack was not tight against the retaining ring. When I shook it I could feel the dics moving inside the metal housing.

I called the dealer today and he told me that he made a mistake and the plate with the springs is available and the retaining rings are available in different thicknesses.

Questions:

How tight should the pack be in the housing?
Should there be a clearance between the apply metal disc and the retaining ring? How much?
What else should I look for?

Chevy57  

Did you replace the lip seals in the clutch drum? If not that is your problem, blown lip seals,you should always replace the lip seals on the piston and air test the drum. The clearance on the drum should be .030" to .052".  

I don't think there are lip seals in the drum on this tranny. There is a lip seal on the filter that I did replace. It looks like a motorcycle clutch. It is not like a Turbo Hydramatic GM tranny. I did not air test anything. All of the valves are located in the valve body which is brand new from Saturn. I have never taken a Tranny apart before, so I am not an expert.

chevy57  

That trans should be a TAAT trans ,and all the clutch drums have lip seals on the pistons. Compress the drum remove the snap ring and the piston, then you will see the lip seals. My guess is you have blown or bad lip seals.  

That trans should be a TAAT trans ,and all the clutch drums have lip seals on the pistons. Compress the drum remove the snap ring and the piston, then you will see the lip seals. My guess is you have blown or bad lip seals.  

Jgate,

You are absolutely correct. I thought about how it would work yesterday and decided I needed to take it back apart for a closer look. I did not realize that there was a piston in there. It looked like that was all part of the drum. Here is what I found. The rubber side of the piston was ripped in several spots. The lip that fits over the center hub is loose and the outside edges (outside circumference) of the seal where it hits the drum is also frayed. It looks like it got so hot it cracked the rubber parts.

It looks like the lip seal (center hub) is part of the piston is this the case or are there 2 different parts? The Saturn dealer parts guy is not very knowledgeable on internal tranny parts so I need to be very specific with him. Thanks for the help.

Chevy57  

http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=2&Category_Code=Saturn-TAAT

Try here they will have every thing you will need for a complete rebuild. I do suggest you do a rebuild , if those seals are bad the seals in the other drums are weak . Why are buying trans parts from the dealer, a Little expensive is it not?  

Jgate,

I put it back together last night and it works perfectly. I bought the parts from the Saturn dealer because they can get just the parts I want and ship the parts priority overnight at no cost to me. I did not think they were expensive. The friction discs,the apply plates, the lip seals and a neutral safety switch were $61.90.

Thanks for your help.

chevy57  

But you only did a "soft" rebuild, what about the other clutch packs, you did not put new lip seals and clutch plates in those? While it was out I would of done a total rebuild...