"Zibodiz" (zibodiz1)
05/03/2014 at 11:19 • Filed to: advice needed
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"Zibodiz" (zibodiz1)
05/03/2014 at 11:19 • Filed to: advice needed | 1
| 7 |
I just drove 1200 miles into Canada in my super-faithful '98 Escort (with 209k on the clock, still runs perfect, no oil leaks or anything). Before leaving, I did all of the maintenance I could think of, and everything was good; wasn't low on any fluids or anything.
Well, I arrived at my in-laws at 2am this morning. About 2 miles from my destination, I came to a stop at a stoplight, and when the light turned green, I found that I wasn't able to shift into first. Panicked, I tried, but found I couldn't shift into any gear — it was like there was a wall in the transmission preventing it. I shut off the engine and was able to shift into any gear I wanted, so I shifted into first, then started the car while in gear. I was able to take off and drive normally, but noticed a new 'rattle' I hadn't heard before. A mile later, it became hard to shift again, and eventually I couldn't get it into any gear other than third. I limped the rest of the way to my destination in third, happy that there weren't any more red lights along my path.
Now, I'm a backyard mechanic that has replaced clutches and trannys before, so I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, but I'm also not eager to get into a repair that might take my whole vacation and make me late getting back home. I also don't want to do a temporary fix that only gets me halfway home. There are a lot of desolate stretches of highway between here and home.I think (from my own knowledge) that I've probably run out of tranny fluid. Does that sound like the problem? If it's a gradual leak that's taken years, I can just top it up and drive home, but I'm afraid it may have been a lot more sudden than that. Has anyone else had to deal with a sudden tranny fluid loss on one of these? Is there a seal I would need to replace, or am I looking at something more serious? If it's probably just a seal, how hard would that be? I'm guessing I would need to take the tranny out to replace it, is it hard? (I've done it multiple times on a Civic, but not an Escort)I haven't yet gotten a chance to look at the car, because we abandoned it at 2am at my in-law's house, and were given a ride to our hotel. I'll be able to look at it tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks for reading my sob story and any advice you can give! Have an awesome Escort (not mine, I wish! Owned/raced by Andrew Mackintosh, and stolen from the Ford Escort Owners Assoc. Facebook group) for your troubles.
BJ
> Zibodiz
05/03/2014 at 11:31 |
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How about just dropping in a replacement transmission? Bring the old one home and have it rebuilt and then sold off to recoup the costs.
I don't know how much money/time you have, but this is almost certainly the safest option. It may not be the smartest or most economical...
Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
> Zibodiz
05/03/2014 at 11:34 |
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If it wasn't for the rattle I would've said the clutch cable needed adjusting. On my girlfriends old nissan micra it was getting harder and harder to get into gear, turned out the clutch cable had stretched and needed adjusting.
DaveBagel
> Zibodiz
05/03/2014 at 19:27 |
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Where in the world of Canada might you be having these issues, I'm sure there is someone somewhere that could give you a hand sorting stuff out.
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Zibodiz
> DaveBagel
05/04/2014 at 02:38 |
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I'm in Edmonton. We're visiting the in-laws, so while my wife is hanging with them for the next week, I wouldn't ordinarily have anything to do. Instead, I guess, this time I get to spend some time in their garage.
On the plus side, they have a cement floor in their garage, which is more than I have at home. It's looking like it's probably a clutch hydraulic issue, from info I've gotten from other Escort owners, and that, thankfully, is relatively easy to remedy. We'll find out tomorrow (or maybe Monday, if shops are closed) if anyone has parts on the shelf.
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Zibodiz
> Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
05/04/2014 at 02:43 |
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Yeah, the rattle is the one thing that's really confusing me. That having been said, I started it in gear today, and drove it around to the back of the in-law's house. When I got there, I put the clutch in, but the car kept crawling forward. I think I've definitely got a clutch problem. It's a hydraulic clutch, so I'm thinking maybe I need a new master or slave cylinder, or maybe just need to bleed the lines. The other possibility is the throwout bearing, but I hope that's not the cause, because I'd have to take the transmission off to get to it. Not the end of the world, but still not something I'm eager to do 1,200 miles from home.
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Zibodiz
> BJ
05/04/2014 at 03:17 |
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That's exactly the first thing that came to my mind when this all happened. Only problem with that is that I'm not 100% sure the tranny is the problem. I was at first, but then today I've gotten a bunch of feedback from other Escort owners that indicate it's the clutch slave cylinder. It also might be the throwout bearing. I tried moving the car from where I'd parked it on the street, to the garage in the alley, and when I got into the garage, I put in the clutch, but the car kept moving, albeit lurching, forward. I switched off the engine to stop the car. This tells me that the problem does not lie with the tranny at all; if the clutch were working, the car would have stopped when I engaged it.
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Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
> Zibodiz
05/04/2014 at 07:12 |
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Yeah that'd be kind of a shitty job if it's the throw out bearing. Hopefully it is a leaky slave cylinder or something, shame it's not a cable activated clutch a turn of a 10mm spanner and you're sorted again.