Gearbox problems

[peterban]

The LTD's started making noises from under the centre of the car.
It sounds like the brakes rubbing but is definitely coming from the transmission tunnel area.
When stationary with the brakes on if you go from reverse to neutral it makes a small whirring noise without any motion.
A couple of times it has banged into reverse.
When driving you can also hear the noise with the window down up until speed or wind noise drowns it out.
I took it to Bayside auto in Frankston and they tell me they have never heard the noise coming from the transmission and blame the diff????
I can't see how it would be diff noise when the car is not moving.

Anyone had this sort of noise?

[Mr Hardware]

wow that sounds a little strange peterban
certainly when i was looking after the cabs it seemed nearly every auto box liked to die in its own particular way
some slipped all day long, some just dropped gears, some squawked and some made real cool bearing-style noises.
Do the LTD's have a two-piece tailshaft? I've seen bung uni-joints do weird things on commodores...

[T3man]

It sounds to me like the torque convertor has collapsed. Or about to.

[frd906]

The wirring noise you speak of, mine started doing it as well, only did it after they yanked the oil pump out of the box, to replace the seals on it, every since they did that i have the same noise,

Could be also your alternator, power steering pump, etc

[peterban]

Thanks for the replies.
Taishaft is in one piece.
Noise is definitely coming from the rear of the transmission so I would count out the torque convertor.
The box is changing normally and locks up.
The only reason I know something is not right is the noise and the 3 times it has banged into reverse.

[frd906]

maybe the bush at the back of the gear box has carked it, causing slack with the tail shaft and probally resulting it to bang into reverse

[peterban]

I have taken the LTD to Sureshift in Frankston and they tell me it is the cluster gear in the gearbox.
The story he gives me is the LTD has an ION transmission as it is an AU II. Apparently ION took over from BTR and used cheaper steel or heat process was wrong and the clusters usually chip teeth around the 240 000 km mark and start making noises.
He will reco the box and put in an EL 2nd hand gear cluster as these he says are bullet proof.
He will charge $1875 which I suppose is about the going rate.

[Mr Hardware]

Yeah that's an alright price peterban
My transmission is a mashup between an AU and an EL one, taking the best bits from each basically, rock solid for over 100k (and that's 100k of abuse).

I suppose the other alternative is to leave it and give it some personality, but perhaps that's just something forte owners do, probably not the done thing on the last individual long-wheelbase car ford aus ever made, and only 900 of them at that.

[AMB]

Originally Posted by peterban

......The story he gives me..........the clusters usually chip teeth around the 240 000 km mark and start making noises...........He will charge $1875 which I suppose is about the going rate.

And let me guess, your car has done 240,001 km? Did he say the above after he'd seen your odometer? I'm a cynical b....

[peterban]

No, just ticked over 200,000.
He also looks after some of the taxi's in Frankston so should know a bit about what he is talking about.

[Mr Hardware]

Yeah you always go to the automatic blokes that do lots of cabs
the cab owners know who's good!