Differential Whining and Clunking - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

texasrolla · 10-23-2006, 07:58 PM

Howdy yall,

My differential is dying, and I would like yall's opinion on what to do about a Corolla I recently purchased. The car in question is a 92 Corolla, ae92 with auto transaxle. The transaxle, I believe, whines quite loud and occasionally clunks. This problem began last weekend, right after I changed the auto tranny fluid. Also, I unwittingly drained the differential; about 1/2 quart came out of the differential drain hole. I thought mistakenly both drain bolts were for the transaxle. Turns out that one of the drain bolt is for the transaxle, that the other drain bolt is for the differential, and that there are two separate fill holes: one for transaxle and one for differential. I didn't know about the fill hole for the differential!!! Therefore, I only refilled the transaxle with proper amount of Dexron III. After the fluid change, I drove the car about 300 miles across the great State of Texas. About 100 miles into my trip, for a few seconds, I heard clunk-clunk-clunk, felt lost of power, and smelled something burning. Then, everything seems alright again. I completely the remainder of the 300 mile trip with my crippled car. By the time I pulled into my driveway, I was hearing loud whining, which is wheel speed dependent, and intermittent clunking during turns and sometimes acceleration. From my research in this and other forum, I learned my differential is most likely TOAST! I opened the drain hole of the differential when I got home, and about 1/2 quart came out. Whew! at least I had 1/2 quart in there. I thought it was bone dry!

Wha' da yall think I should do? Should I: (1) fill the differential and keep driving it until the differential explode; (2) replace the auto transaxle with one from the junkyard; or (3) do a manual transaxle swap? I am leaning towards a manual transaxle swap, but I'm scared by the cost. I've read somewhere, this guy did such swap on his Camry, and his bill from the junkyard was $1000. Option (2) is cheaper than (3), but I prefer the more robust manual transaxle. At least, with a manual transaxle, I wouldn't have to worry about the fiasco with the differential.

edit:
More evidence of differential catastrophy: when I removed the differential drain bolt after I got home, the bolt has magnetized a whole bunch of metal shaving.

Thanks for reading. Hope to hear from yall soon.

92 Corolla, AE92, auto (3 speed, I think)
From the great State of Texas

diver9000 · 10-24-2006, 06:03 PM

Put the proper amount of gear oil in the differential and pray. Hopefully all you smelled was some hot metal. I would try that first. If it works and it doesnt leak, and it quiets down, consider yourself blessed. Its a lot easier and cheaper to try adding fluid before doing a transaxle swap.

tashirosgt · 10-25-2006, 08:41 AM

The differential on the '92 also uses transmission fluid instead of gear oil. But I bought a '90 that had the differential filled with gear oil by the previous owner and there was no harm done. To replace the auto transmission according to the book, you must remove the engine. I've seen messages about people who wanted to remove the tranny without doing this, but I don't know how well things went for them.

texasrolla · 10-25-2006, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tashirosgt

The differential on the '92 also uses transmission fluid instead of gear oil. But I bought a '90 that had the differential filled with gear oil by the previous owner and there was no harm done. To replace the auto transmission according to the book, you must remove the engine. I've seen messages about people who wanted to remove the tranny without doing this, but I don't know how well things went for them.

Yeah. There appears to be a lot of controversy about the need to remove the engine to take out the transmission. I can see that there is very little room to slide the tranny away from the engine because the side of the transmission is very close to the car body. However, the free Autozone website-manual indicates you can pull the tranny while the engine is still in the car.

Does anyone know if an CV axle from an auto ae92 car will fit in a manual ae92 car?

Thanks.

--------------
92 Corolla, auto
Texas

***toyomoho*** · 10-26-2006, 08:47 PM

How many metal shavings are we taking about? Suggest you take diver9000’s advice, fill it up, drive it and see what happens. Might use gear oil such 75W-90, then start looking for another transmission. If you could find a 3rd party manual trans parts car or someone parting one out, this would keep the costs down on the conversion.

texasrolla · 10-27-2006, 04:47 PM

I would estimate there was about 0.5 cubic inch worth of metal shaving.

I drained, filled the diff oil, and drove the car around the block. The diff sounds like someone put marble in there; I think something inside the diff broke off and is jostling inside the diff. I don't think I should continue driving this way; whatever is loose inside the diff might get caught up in the gear and really mess things up.

Manual swap, here I come.

Quote:

Originally Posted by toyomoho

How many metal shavings are we taking about? Suggest you take diver9000’s advice, fill it up, drive it and see what happens. Might use gear oil such 75W-90, then start looking for another transmission. If you could find a 3rd party manual trans parts car or someone parting one out, this would keep the costs down on the conversion.

silkydraws · 10-29-2006, 11:42 PM

The carrier bearing from the transmission to the diff. is ate up. I'm sure the diff. has mucho more shavings in it. I came across one exactly like this and it "clunked" just like yours also. Diff was dry. The fluid was let in by the failure of the bearing/seal. It's possible to just replace the bearing but takes a teardown of the lower part of the tranny. Gear selct. shaft must come out to access. In other words tranny MUST come out. Engine can stay in. I do this all the time, just hold the engine up with a lift and let the tail drop slightly to get the tranny off. All in all easier to get a new tranny and replace the whole thing. I also have done the swap but it is alot more involved than a simple change out. Worth it? Depends how much you want it. I actually thought the car was peppier with the auto. Don't forget all the changing out of the shifter and linkage/ clutch hyd. lines and mounting a clutch master cyl(and drilling a hole through firewall from under the dash to mount it)

texasrolla · 10-30-2006, 10:45 AM

For those interested in manual tranny swap, below are two websites I found that has decent write up on manual-to-auto swap. The job doesn't seem bad at all, considering I need to pull my auto tranny anyway.

Camry swap
http://www.tt-cc.com/ratko/swap/index.html

Corolla GTS swap
http://www.ae92gts.com/gze/trans_conv1.html

diver9000 · 10-30-2006, 08:37 PM

It depends on your budget and how much time you have to devote to it. Good Luck

imsofilthy · 12-07-2006, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tashirosgt

The differential on the '92 also uses transmission fluid instead of gear oil. But I bought a '90 that had the differential filled with gear oil by the previous owner and there was no harm done. To replace the auto transmission according to the book, you must remove the engine. I've seen messages about people who wanted to remove the tranny without doing this, but I don't know how well things went for them.

If you lift the car and drop the trans side of the engine slightly it can be removed. It is pretty tight though. I did it 3 times recently.