Trouble with transmission after new engine installation

[vinimack720]

Ok, heres the story. My sister bought a 1992 toyota carmy xle I-4 from a used car dealer (bad idea i know, but she wouldnt listen). Everything was fine untill CLUNK! she threw a rod. So of course, its up to me and my dad to put a new engine in her car.

We took the engine out without the tranny b/c there was not enough room to take them both out at once without dropping the suspension and taking it out from below. So we take it out, put in the new engine, hook everything up, tighten all the bolts, turn the key and WOOHOO! The engine runs, and sounds damn fine. So i hop in, put it in drive, take off the parking break, and....no go...the engine runs, but when it is in drive/reverse/L/2 it still acts like it is in neutral.

So....crap...we think it might have been some kind of saftey switch that is preventing the tranny from getting out of netural so we readjust the shift cable where it hooks up to the tranny and still...no go...

There are a few possibilites that we have thought of that could be causing this:
1)We may have bent the torque converter when putting the engine in, causing it to no hook up right in the tranny.
2)The teeth on the end of the torque converter that actually hook up to the tranny were not allined right and damaged the pump.
3)The transmition may have been slipping before we put the new engine in. When the car threw the rod she said the cruise control was acting funny and causing the engine to rev higher just to maintain speed and over revving the engine causing it to throw the rod.



I know there are some electrical problems that could cause this, but i cant find very much information on how to test it, so i thought id come the the best source...you guys! The engine is from a 94 camry, not sure if this would cause the trouble but it seems like you should know.

The first thing i need is a pic of the inside of the transmission without the torque converter...that way i can see what might have been damaged in the installation/removal of the engine.

The second thing i need is any help you can provide me with. Has any one else done an engine job on their gen 3 camry? As many pics as possible would be very helpful. Any sugestions/advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

[toyomoho]

Does the transmission shift lever at the tranny actually move when you are shifting gears?

Try the link below for info on this transmission:

http://oregonstate.edu/~tongt/camry

[vinimack720]

yes it moves, and we adjusted it because we thought that might be the problem but it was set correctly.

[73sport]

Hmm - What to say - Need lots more info....

Things that come to mind:

Did the tranny cause the Rod failure? Good Question!

Does the tranny have any fluid in it?
What does the trans fluid look like/smell like?
Does it load the engine at all when in gear? Any vacuum drop?

Did you put the bolts back in the converter through the inspection plate?
Did you pull the torque converter out when doing the swap? Even a little bit...
How does the starter sound when engauged (cranking)?
Did you have to PULL the engine/trans together with bolts, or did it POP together on to the dowels and then you tightened the bolts? Note the second option is the preffered method!

Any noise at all of any kind: Describe in detail!
Wheels off the ground, does move the wheels, axels, stub shafts or show any speed on the odometer even though the car is not moving?

That,s what comes to mind....
73...

[vinimack720]

1.)We are considering that the rod failure might have been caused by the tranny slipping. my sister said that the cruise controll was acting funny and reving the engine high just to keep it at 70, which means that she might not have been paying attention and over revved the engine
2.)Trans fluid looks dirty and reads high even though the front end is jacked up. We think that the screen may be clogged in the tranny and that is causing it to not run. in the next few days we are going to drain the tranny, take off the pan and see what the screen looks like.
3.)yes the revs of the engine drop when it is put in gear. how do i know if the vacuum drops?
4.)Yes.
5.)When we were taking the engine out we (for some reason, idk, ask my dad) did not disconnect the torque converter from the fly wheel, so it came out with the engine. When we put it back in we did it the right way and put the torque converter into the tranny and then put the engine in and bolted it up.
6.)Starter sounds great, no cranking, starts right up.
7.)Deffinetly a pop. My dad is worried that he might have broken somthing in the tranny when bringing it together because it was deffinetly a pop.
8.)Engine sounds great, nothing abnormal other that it doesnt go :-(
9.)Wheels off the ground, no motion from the wheels at all, no reading on the odometer.


My dad has a 92 v6 xle that had some tranny issues at about 190k, he thought it needed a whole new tranny, but right before he was going to pull the engine he decided to check the screen in the tranny and it was full of junk. he cleaned it off, put it back in, filled it with tranny fluid, and it ran fine. turns out that he tried to use some synthetic tranns fluid because it would last longer, only he didnt know that the car was too old for synthetic fluid and it dissolved some little bits of rubber and clogged up the screen. The car currently has 265,000 miles with no other problems and runs like the day it was driven off the lot.

interestingly enough the trans has about 190k on it right now...im not sure if we will get lucky twice but i sure as hell hope so. It was a pain in the ass putting a new engine in it and now i have to take it out again to do the tranny?!!? baaaaawaaaaaaaaa!!!

[73sport]

Well now....

Spinning the converter in is a big deal on new converters with tight bushings.

One of 190K miles, well i would think it would be pretty easy to install.

Once started, you should feel three seperate clunks as the converter slides in and mates up with all of the splines, hub, and input shaft.

Think about this: The pop or clunk felt when the tranny mates to the engine is OK.
Try to remember this: Was there a gap between the flex plate and the converter or was the converter and the flex plate mashed together? When i say mashed together, i mean you could not spin the converter behind the flex plate and lining up the bolts would take some effort.

If the front pump was not engauged or the input shaft not engauged as the converter wasn't in all the way - well that could be it.... But, if you roasted the motor cause the tranny gave up and the FLUID smells BURNED, maybe the tranny is all done....

Tell us every detail about the install.

Regards,
73..