Several Drivetrain issues....

[MopàrBCN]

Hi,

I am having some serious issues with my front drivetrain in general and need advice.

We are talking about a 1989 Daytona, Turbo 2 with Equal length Axles and A555 Tranny.

When I bought the car a year ago within 500 miles of driving the tranny lost all of its oil and the clutch throwout bearing made an incredible noise. The front drivetrain made quite some noises as well.

At the time to solve all those problems I put in a new clutch, flywheel, new wheel bearing hubs, new Rack and Pinion, new Steering Pump, Balljoints, Tie Rods etc.

Now, I had some peace of mind for a couple of month until I noted the throwout bearing again being noisy when the clutch was not depressed.

Soon afterwards I noted noises coming from the front again and I felt vibration in the steering wheel.

To top the lot I ran my tranny dry once again.

Now, obviously there must be something not right there. Besides that I have an idea what I am going to swap this time, I would like to avoid having to go through this excersise every couple of month.

What could cause that the throwout bearing gets beaten that quickly and also damages the input shaft bearing to cause that the tranny looses it's oil almost in an instance.

I was thinking immediatly the Axles. But then I remembered that they - although not new - were swapped as well at the time last year.

The vibration in the stearing wheel I was having before and after the rack and pinion swap. So one thought was, that whatever causes this may be to blame for wrecking the bearing from where it loses the oil, maybe?

Is there a coincidence or something that could be jointly responsible for wrecking the clutch throwout bearing and at the sametime the input shaft bearing?

I am looking for ideas of where to look at once I have taken off everything...

Thanks!!

PS: I forgot to mention that I have quite some torque steering to the right when doing some spirited accelerations!

[cordes]

Do you keep the clutch pressed in while you are at stop lights etc.? That will prematurely wear the throwout bearing.

IIRC the bearing on the input shaft of 555s doesn't ride in a race, but in the case itself and is therefore not serviceable. Perhaps this could be your problem?

Are you leaking the oil out the front of the bell housing, or out an axle seal, or even the end of the case near the driver's fender?

[MopàrBCN]

This is a good question. I only have been able to roughly localize it, since I was not able as yet to raise the car.

It definetly drops down on the far left side of the drivers side. But I could not establish yet where exactly. The car is parked on the street right now and I am waiting for money to come in to get it moved to a garage to raise it to see what the story is...

The only thing I know for sure is that that, what I found on the ground is definetly tranny oil. I also checked the level of tranny oil as far as I could reach in with my finger, and was not able to touch any....

To the clutch bearing:
Yes, I do have the habbit of depressing the clutch at a red light, but I am doing this for years now and never ever had an issue like this with any car.
Now, this one was hardly changed for about a month, once it started making noises again... It was the first issue I noted. From there onwards I got more and more noises.

The other thing I noted (and ignored) was, that I always had some vibration in the stearing wheel at higher speeds. Recently added to this came vibrations from behind the center console (to give a location) at higher speeds.

There is one thing I never looked at and this is my intermediate shaft. Could there be an issue there?? Perhaps with the U-Joint?

[cordes]

An axle could cause a vibration like that. I would definitely give the axles a once over.

If it is leaking from the far left side of the car, then I would suspect that it is coming out of the cover on the end. That gives me more hope that your input shaft might not be totally wasted.

I only ask about sitting with the clutch pressed in because the heavier pressure plates can cause very premature throwout bearing wear. I have gotten into the habit of taking it to neutral with my foot off the clutch whenever starting the car, or I am at a stop. It is also a lot easier on the thrust bearing in the block too. What kind of clutch do you run?

[turbovanman²]

You mentioned you ran it out of oil then replaced a bunch of stuff but not the tranny? If so, thats probably your issue as the input shaft bearing is shot, oiling up the t/o bearing and its wearing out prematurely, if you did replace the trans, the input bearing/seal could still be an issue.

What brand of clutch and t/o bearing?

Have you had the tires balanced? Alignment? if so, what settings?

Have you checked the U-joint? if its not installed correctly or worn, it will vibrate at higher speeds.

To check out the front end, jack up at the control as close to possible at the wheel and shake the wheel side to side and up and down feeling for any looseness.

FYI, Unless along wait at traffic lights, I keep the clutch in and have never killed a t/o bearing, same as my family and customers so I doubt thats your issue. You might be leaving your foot on the clutch all the time, some people do that without knowing they are.

[MopàrBCN]

Hi, at the moment still a T2/3 Hybrid Clutch, with the heavy duty Pressure Plate. I have a 4 Puck Disk waiting to go in.

On the axles a question: I have come across The Driveshaft Shop and think to recall that there are a few on this boards who are using them as well. I admit that for the close to 800$ they are asking for a pair I would get all I need shipped from Rockauto (Wheel Hubs, reman. Shafts etc).

I can't really judge the worthness of the expenditure. Can anybody comment on those? The only reason I consider it right now is that recently I have not made a lot of good experience with remanufactored......

THX!!!

[cordes]

Hi, at the moment still a T2/3 Hybrid Clutch, with the heavy duty Pressure Plate. I have a 4 Puck Disk waiting to go in.

On the axles a question: I have come across The Driveshaft Shop and think to recall that there are a few on this boards who are using them as well. I admit that for the close to 800$ they are asking for a pair I would get all I need shipped from Rockauto (Wheel Hubs, reman. Shafts etc).

I can't really judge the worthness of the expenditure. Can anybody comment on those? The only reason I consider it right now is that recently I have not made a lot of good experience with remanufactored......

THX!!!

If you just have a T2/T3 clutch in there sitting on the clutch pedal shouldn't be the issue.

I have heard a lot of good things about the DSS axles, but they aren't really necessary until well over 300HP IMO depending on vehicle weight and the use of slicks at the track.

[MopàrBCN]

You mentioned you ran it out of oil then replaced a bunch of stuff but not the tranny? If so, thats probably your issue as the input shaft bearing is shot, oiling up the t/o bearing and its wearing out prematurely, if you did replace the trans, the input bearing/seal could still be an issue.


-> Hi, this was last year, and yes, I swapped the tranny as well! But this input bearing is an interesting thought, since you mention it alongside oiling the t/o bearing. If that were the case, would this explain as well how occasionally oil gets contact with the clutch disc and in those moments causing slippage????



What brand of clutch and t/o bearing?

-> Cindies T2/T3 Kit



Have you had the tires balanced? Alignment? if so, what settings?

-> Good one. Yes I did and it's Alignment is far from being ideal. The guy aligning must have thought that this type of alignment: /---\ is the way to go on my car. It's not that extreme but you see the drift...



Have you checked the U-joint? if its not installed correctly or worn, it will vibrate at higher speeds.

-> Thanks for putting this up. I mentioned this earlier and this interests me. Since I could not explain vibration noises from the center of the car I was wandering what was around there to be able to cause this noise.
I actually initially suspected the Engine, but I never ever would get any type of strange noise with the engine idling.
So when I studied my Factory Book I actually noted the intermediate shaft and its construction with the U-Joint and was asking myself if this could be an issue.
I will definetly have a look at this once I have taken off everything.

Could this cause as well other damage around there (as to explain the recurrance of my problems...)???
This Joint and shaft was never intentionally touched, so this is one thing which still is the way the car was when I bought it.



FYI, Unless along wait at traffic lights, I keep the clutch in and have never killed a t/o bearing, same as my family and customers so I doubt thats your issue. You might be leaving your foot on the clutch all the time, some people do that without knowing they are.

Yep I am having this habbit as well. The thing with leaving the foot on the clutch all the time I used to have as well, but this one I have gotten rid off :-)

Thanks for your input!

[turbovanman²]

FWD's bearings are good quality so thats not the issue. I would go with my thought that the oil is washing out the grease and if it is bad enough, it will oil up the clutch and cause slipping.

Your alignment pic is fine, as long as they set the toe properly, it won't eat tires and will handle like a go kart.

I had my u-joint wear and it caused a vibration on the highway but not around town, then it broke and I ruined it, the new joint wouldn't sit properly so I had to put another shaft in. To check is simple, just jack it up, leave it in nuetral and try to induce play by twisting both sides against each other. This won't cause your throwout bearing to wear out.

[MopàrBCN]

Quick Question on the U-Joint:

I have two options I could buy: Greasable or non Greasable. The Question is, what would be the "better" option, or even, why do I have two choices? What is the difference, besides that one is greasable and the other one isn't??

Thanks!!

[turbovanman²]

Quick Question on the U-Joint:

I have two options I could buy: Greasable or non Greasable. The Question is, what would be the "better" option, or even, why do I have two choices? What is the difference, besides that one is greasable and the other one isn't??

Thanks!!

Get the non greasable HD one, they are stronger. It is worn out?

[badandy]

Do yourself a favor and swap out the passenger side driveshaft/stub shaft for a 1 piece unit. This will make it unequal length but you shouldn't notice increased torque steer. It's much more simple and durable.

[minigts]

I had my u-joint wear and it caused a vibration ...

IIII wouldn't go around promoting that to everyone... ;)

[MopàrBCN]

IIII wouldn't go around promoting that to everyone... ;)

Hey, leave Simon alone and give me the color code for this blue on your car !!! :D

[minigts]

I'll see what I can come up with. I think I still have the paint can that exploded INSIDE my car when I left the lid ajar on it. :D It is Viper Blue, that I know. The color code should be from the blue Viper GTS series.

Try this: 1997 Viper GTS blue pearl coat metallic SBE-PBE Got that from here: http://www.primequip.net/products/Project_427/blue_paint_choices.htm#4

[MopàrBCN]

I must admit that not only today I had an eye on that foto. It's a really nice blue!!!

[minigts]

I like it. :D The pearl clear coat really adds to it as well. There is some in the blue, but there is something else in the clear that enhances the color. Looks awesome where he did a good job and poopy where there are runs, bad bondo work and what not. :(