is it my transmission?
 

1988 camry dx 2.0 engine auto trans....the other day I was starting to pull out of my work and the car reversed fine, went forward for 20 ft and then something in the front end ate itself. the front wheels are now locked. They will not rotate, even when the tranny is placed in neutral. it almost feels like it wants to move under load, but nothing happens. there was no clicking from the cv joints, but something definitely ate itself, it sounded like something from the drivers side. thoughts? thanks

Was there noise before the problem and if so what kind?

Did trans gear lever somehow go into Park?

Determine if the gear selector lever on the trans matches the gear selection in the car. That the shift cable did not break, slip, etc.

Raise both front wheels off the ground. Rotate tires by hand to determine if one or both are locked.

Did someone work on the trans, change trans fluid, etc?

so, the gear selector seems to match the indicator. yes there was a noise from the front end...kind of like if you were to imagine mbe the splines rotating and they weren't supposed to? like something broke out of the teeth that were holding them and then bound up? there was no chance of it being bumped into park while driving and no one has serviced the transmission. I raised the front end and tried to rotate both sets of tires and both of them are not turning at all. even when put in nuetral

Is there rotational play in the axles when you turn them? You rotate the tire, it moves slightly but stops. Or is the tire rotation totally frozen?

If some tire rotation, when trying to rotate one tire does the other tire (also off the ground) try to rotate in the opposite direction?

Check that the axles are fully installed into the differential housing.

Check for signs of trans fluid leaking out of the location where the axles install.

Check that the differential case has fluid. This fluid section is separate from the trans fluid section. Determine if the fluid has metal particle. Same for the gear box fluid.

Does the engine start and run normally? Doesn't stall because the axles are frozen.

Check for the possibility of a frozen axle bearing (wheel bearing) or frozen axle shaft intermediate bearing. This bearing is midway on the passenger's side axle and supports the axle.

The trans has two sections, the gear box section and differential section. You are going to need to determine which section has "froze up" and the result is the axles are not turning when they should.

The gear box has gears that change the output RPM of the engine to allow utilizing the engine torque without over revving or stalling it. Think of how a stick shift with gears operates. In the case of an automatic trans the shifting is automatic. The RPM output from the gear box goes to the differential which also has gears. These gears lower the RPM again and connect to the axles which turn the wheels.

Typically if gear box has major problems, the trans gears will not engage. This means if the selector is put into a gear, the car will not move but the engine RPM will rev with the gas pedal. The axles will still be free to rotate except in park.

The gear box has a parking pawl that works when the gear selector is placed in park. When the gear selector is moved to park, a metal part engages a notch in gear inside the trans to lock up the gear box. If for some strange reason this pawl engaged on its own when the car was moving SLOW ENOUGH, then trans and axles would lock up. Perhaps with a noise when doing it. If the car was going too fast the pawl would not engage or would break off.

The differential section is where the axle plug into. The section has gears which power the axles. Normally these gears are free to move in any gear box gear except park. However if the gear box ha major problems it could seize up.

The axles engage the differential gears using an external splined shafted axle. The gears that drive them have internal splines. It's possible if the differential experienced bearing or gear failure the gears might seize how. More common is for some reason the differential runs out of lubrication fluid. Did anyone work on the trans or diff recently? Sometimes the axle can slide out of the differential housing if not correctly installed.

See private message.

so both tires have zero play. the car does seem to rev normally

Make sure its a gear box (trans) or differential issue that is causing the lock up.

There is always some play in the axle CV joints even if the trans or differential is frozen. Rotate the tire one and the other and watch for play in the axle joints. Make sure a brake caliper or wheel bearing or the passengers side axle carrier bearing has not seized up.

If it is the trans or differential you will need to investigate. For the differential, remove the rear differential cover to allow viewing the differential gears. Might even find metal when draining the differential fluid out.

Make sure the fill plug is not frozen before removing drain plug.

For the trans drop the pan. Determine if the parking praw is engaged when not in park, damaged, etc. If the problem is here may find metal in the trans fluid and at the bottom of the pan on the magnets.

The info sent via private message will help.

The differential cover and trans pan use gaskets.

https://parts.lakelandtoyota.com/sho...rimLevel=18338

update
 

SO, the car does want to move forward and back. If I shift in into gear it wants to go. could both of the cv axles have went or one of them and cause a lock up? there was no audible clicking while turning one way or the other.

What does " If I shift in into gear it wants to go" mean? Will the car then move under its own power or allowed to be easily pushed?

if I put the car in reverse and give it a decent amount of gas it will move slowly, but acts if the brake is on. Same going forward, it will roll by itself but if I give it gas its like im working against something

Left front of car off ground. Grab a front tire and rotate it each way. Unless a brake or while bearing is frozen there is always some slight rotational movement/play/slop in the axle/tire even in Park. The passenger side axle will have more play because it has two axle sections.

If the axles/tires can be slightly rotated then the issue is the transmission. If the trans you going to need to diagnose it. Might start by removing the cover plate on the differential and inspecting this for damage.