bwiencek

My brother thinks his manual transmission "blew" on him in the car he just recently bought. It's a 2000 corvette coupe (not a Z06), has about 80k miles and is relatively stock (aftermarket exhaust and intake is all the mods that are on it besides appearance stuff). He said he was driving it the other day and let the clutch out to go and it popped and all he gets now is "a terrible grinding sound" He's not really mechanically inclined beyond basic maintenance and bolt-ons so I've offered to help swap his trans if that's it...

Anyone know how can I verify that it's the trans and not the rear end / diff? From what I understand - it ginds something terrible when releasing the clutch in any gear and even neutral. When the engine is off the trans is "locked up" with the shifter in neutral (Won't roll unless the clutch is pressed in then it rolls just fine??) With those symptoms I assume something inside the trans is broke and it's terminal - don't know if there are common/easy fixes (i.e. he popped a shift fork and it's not changing the gears properly and it just needs to be replaced?) I've rebuilt plenty of automatics and a few 4-speeds as well as a bunch of T5's but never got into a T56 - are there any common problems that would cause these symptoms? Anything to inspect / check / test while he's got the car at home?

dadaroo

From your description it sounds like the tranny is the problem. If it were me, I would talk with RPM Transmissions. If they agreed, I would pull it and ship it to them for repair. They WILL properly fix it. There may be someone locally in your area that could do it.

3boystoys

Well since the trans and the rear end are essentially 1 unit and will have to be removed as a unit it's a moot point trying to speculate on the internet, pull it out and check.

Since you'll have the entire drivetrain from the rear of the engine to the rear of the car out, it's a good time for a new clutch and clutch hydraulics while your in there.

KOZ

What about the torque tube bushings? The rubber couplers in the driveshaft?

bwiencek

I might have him give them a call and see what they say or if he's interested in getting an upgraded one from them - honestly though I think we're just going to look for a stock replacement and swap it.

Yeah - if the car was here and it was mine - I'd pull it, tear it down and rebuild it and not worry about the time - since I'm doing him a favor the plan is right now he's going to drag the car here as soon as we figure out what parts to purchase, we'll fix it over a long weekend and hopefully send him on his way when it's done - and I've already told him to buy a clutch setup since we're so far in there's no point in not doing a new one...

bwiencek

What are the symptoms when those go out? I can't imagine that even if the driveshaft failed it would cause the symptom of the 'lockup' in neutral since the trans is behind the driveshaft and would de-couple it. Or are you saying to replace them as PM while the torque tube is out?

3boystoys

It is a good PM, but I think his issue is inside the trans, you won't really know till you get into it.