pr1mu5

Hi All,

I'm experiencing a nasty rattle seemingly coming from the transmission on my 1994.

I'm hoping that maybe the fluid is a little low, so planning to just drain and fill the fluid.

Any tips on which fluid to use? Apparently I can either go GM or BMW?

How much of a pain is it to get to the fill plug? It looks like it isn't going to be easy...

abc 123

Easier than changing diff fluid. I'd put it at a difficulty rating of maybe .5

pr1mu5

Nevermind... I think it's the exhaust instead.

i'm all over the place diagnosing this noise, everything is so cramped down there and close together it's hard to tell...

toptechx6

You are welcome to use my lift if it will help with diagnosis, PM me for directions if interested.

Mekanic

toptech, you are lucky you live over there, or my *** would be annoying as hell!

toptechx6

Actually kind of wish I was on your side, have friends over there and it is too damned crowded over here. One consolation is that the diving is better on this side, guess you can't have everything.

pr1mu5

Thanks for the invite... I brought it to an exhaust place today, he basically said "I have no idea" and charged me $20.

He seems to think my cat might have crumbled a little, and there are some small pieces in the pipe behind it. He said that they will hopefully break down into dust in a few days/weeks and the rattle will go away.

If not, how do I go about finding a place that will remove cats for me? I'm thinking I'll take the cats off, hopefully clean out whatever junk is in there, and run straight pipe instead? (Or I guess I should plan on gutting the cats, and putting them back on to 'fool' people?)

Camaro350z28

If it truly is a cat problem just get new cats. No real reason to take them off besides sound.

If you must hollow them out though get a exhaust shop (if can you find one who will) to run a straight pipe through the cat to avoid the sound a hollowed out cat makes.

Mekanic

no emissions in FL so no reason to "fool people"

You can get a ticket, if you get pulled over by a cop willing to crawl underneath a hot C4

pr1mu5

Well my long term plan would be to put long tube headers on the car, just don't have the extra cash right now to do it...

I guess I'll live with it for a while, and hope it goes away, and start saving for my upgrade.

theadmiral94

Glad you found it, often it can be the tranny when someone replaces the dual-mass flywheel with a different type of flywheel.

However, back to the tranny fluid, if the fluid has more than 15k on it, you should change it (check out zfdoc.com).

ALso you do not want the fluid to be low as it could damage the input shaft bearing, so at miminum, check the fluid level.

You will need a special allen-key socket (17mm), and DO USE the BMW oil -- used it on our 94 and love it, tranny shifts like butter......

toptechx6

What a rip off, I only charge $10 to tell you I have no idea!
Kidding aside, PM if you ever care to use the lift, there is no charge.
Good luck with the car in the mean time, hope the noise is the only problem until you can get it fixed.