Another 348/Mondial t blow up on the way ? HELP to PAP, FatBillyBob and Ernie...

Hey,

It is an '89 Modial t. I've had a whiny gear selector for a while. The noise is the same and is a function of RPM. If I'm in neutral and rev up to 5-6000 RPM I get he same sound as if I'm in gear doing the same RPM. The sound is a mild metallic meshing/grinding sound almost as if it were a washer loose and vibrating in the bottom of the gear shifter box (describing a sound that is) - but nothing horrible or distinctly obvious.

I'd like to condition the thought towards the cables being a little too tight, as the gear selector is closer to the end of the gate in the top 3 gears (R,2,4) than the lower (1,3,5) and the gate cannot be adjusted in any direction.

I bought the car back in June and it had horribly notchy gear selection. I changed the box oil for a top end Castrol 70W90, just after I got it months ago. The quality in gear changing was improved instantaneously. I drove 2500 miles in the last 4 months (all around Europe, some speeding in Germany etc.). I always let the car warm up until the Oil temp gauge moves past 60 deg. C. before passing 4000 rpm and shift without tearing the gears.

Yesterday I did a fluid change, putting in 4 qts. of Redline 70W90NS and 1 pint of RL70W90. The shifting is now even better and would speculate it is getting close to a Porsche or my 5 series BMW once warm. When cold it is no worse than it was when fully warmed up back when I got the car.

The only bugger is I got tempted to open the inspection cover, as when I took the magnetic drain out I found more than the "fuzz" the I found last. I found a piece of steel, which I could only figure as the edge of a gear tooth.

When I opened the inspection cover, I found the source of this bit and some further damage. I guess there must be more teeth in there somewhere.

I don't know which version of Gearbox I have, but reading around I guess I have one of the older 1st gen ones (it is an '89).
All the tranny blow-ups I have read about involve the oil pump bearing etc. Here I'm seeing a few chipped teeth at the (1a location) on what I assume is part 1 - the main shaft. I can report that the shaft is not loose, the mating heads on the helical (not sure of terminology) heads (part 18 and at the top and left side of my picture) or any visible gears are perfect.

In the picture you'll clearly be able to see the spacer (part 28 - in the middle of the picture) but I could not see that ring next to it (part 42). The chipped teeth would have been those immediately below it.

I also noticed that the area of interface between the gear at (1a) and its layshaft (in the background) match are in fact perfect.

I guess my question is the following... Am I heading for an impending implosion of the tranny, or is this some strange "behavior" of the box. I cannot for the life of me figure out why the damage would be in an area where there is no obvious gear to gear touching, but right next to a spacer.

Any help would be welcome as I'n nervous just to take it to a dealer and let them loose on my wallet without first asking the Brotherhood.

Thanks guys,

Marco
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My picture is pointing towards the car's front with the clutch and flywheen behind me. The parts diagram is the other way around so it needs to be rotated - sorry for being pedantic here...

 

Marco I hate to tell you this but....................your gear box has to come apart. That tooth that chipped is on the main shaft. It is not a separate gear, it is actually part of the shaft. So you are looking at spending some big quid for that thing. However lucky for you you're on the other side of the ocean, and you won't get pummeled as bad on cost. It's still gonna be expensive but not as bas as here in the states. I made a post on how to pull the tranny. If you run a search of the archives you should be able to find it.

One more thing.

DO NOT START THE CAR ANY MORE!!!!! Unless you want to further destroy the gear box DON'T START THE ENGINE!

Capiche?

 

Damn, yes - what he said.

 

Any idea to what caused this and why it is only on that edge of the shaft gearing? I can't understand why the damage is there and not where there is conatc between the shaft and the layshaft gear...

 

My money is on that damn oil pump bearing. Probably a piece of the bearing cage. Like I said DO NOT start the car. Even if you have it in neutral the gears inside the tranny will still turn. You don't want anything else to get screwed up.

 

Yup. The engine turns the crankshaft. The crankshaft is connected through the tranny, past the clutch, to the flywheel at the very rear of our cars.

Well, whenever the engine is turning, so is the crankshaft...and so is the flywheel...so a shaft is turning inside our trannies, too.