On a side note. The transmission I got has some sort of sensor near the drivers side driveshaft. It has two wires going to it but for the life of me I can't remember the other transmission having this and cannot find a conncector for this. Anyone know what it might be for? Hopefully it's something for ECM feedback that will not be needed if I cannot find the connector if it's even there. Transmission is a 1992. Vehicle is a 1994.

 

Is this the speedometer sensor?

 

That would be my guess.

I've decided to crack it open. So far it looks as though 4th gear is ok. If anyone is interested I'll post up what I find and pictures as well as prices and how much work it takes. I've rebuilt a few transmissions already, so they are starting to come apart pretty easy. Once you do one no matter what style or brand they all do the same job and have the same parts, but are just setup differently.

I know there are tons of these vehicles(Camrys/Prizms/Corollas) in the salvage yards and they all have the same milage on them(150-175k). They are esentially the same transmissions, so this could apply to all of them. I'm hoping to get this thing done for around $20 and a tube of RTV if I'm lucky. Parts seem to be fairly cheap so as long as I'm able to locate exactly what I need without buying a whole kit I should be in good shape.

 

Yes, do post with your findings.

Apparently the basic trans is the same except for those parts needed for a specific model.

 

Quick update before work:

Got the thing torn down. About the simplest one I've taken apart before. I'm pretty sure just about anyone could do this, so don't have any fears. I tore things apart way more than I needed to so it's going to be an adventure trying to figure out how to get it back together again without a book or anything.

Here's the input shaft. Got hot enough to discolor the steel.




Upon dissassembly you can see that Everything is pretty well toasted.(frictions should be tan in color and steels should be just that)


This is going to require new frction plates and steels that go between them.(3rd piece from left is actually pieces that will not separate anylonger)



I had to beat the clutch pack off the hub on the left. Half the clutch pack had actually fused itself together.

As for root cause, it can either be a stuck valve in the valve body, a tear in the piston seal that applies this clutch pack, or the fluid got low and starved the pump causing a pressure loss. If this is the 2nd gear clutch pack it could be a safe assumption that the fluid level gets low. These transmissions do not require much fluid so a little loss could be devastating. Pics of reassembly will follow with a short write-up.

 

Great pictures, thanks a lot!

You say this trans is easy to work on then?

How does this trans compare to others you have taken apart as far as durability and how it is put together?

If properly maintained will this trans last or is there some aspect that makes failure inevitable?

One other problem with these trans appears to be the one-way clutch in the torque converter, thus suggest you check it out. The car fails to move in forward or reverse gear.

I posted some info for in a private message that should help.

 

It comes apart way easier than any others I've done. 700R4 out of many early 80's to early 90's GM vehicles with V8, and a 4T60/4T65E that comes in just about any FWD GM vehicle from mid 80's to early 2000's.

As far as durability they are very short on clutches since the cars it's in is so light, so that's about it's only drawback. Every part in it is steel vs. aluminum in the GM transmissions. I havn't done any Ford or Dodge yet though. I'm sure they are the same. If they had made this transmission just a bit larger and doubled the number of clutches in each cluster I think this thing would probably handle huge amounts of power and the case would become the weak point.

 

Got the trans all back together and have it in the car. I popped that sensor out of the case first to take a look. It is just flat and almost appears to be a pickup or something similar to cam or crank position. However the only thing it is near looks to be completely round. On diagrams it shows this as being a shift solonoid #2, but there is no way it can have anything to do with shifting. It would need to be a lot bigger to be able to induce enough magnetism to move something. Even then I tried prying on anything nearby and nothing would move with minimal force.

So, pending something else being bad which caused the clutches to burn I think this should be successful.

I'm also sure it has nothing to do with speed because that is driven off the differential. From an hour of searching and no resuslts I suppose I'm going to be the guinniepig for myself.

 

The older model trans may have had a speed sensor on the side of the trans. The sensor appears to have been installed in place of the governor on the A140L models. Appears to go into the same location on the side of the case.

The location appears to be the back side of the case near the diff housing plate. Large plate with maybe 7 bolts around the edge and a hole in the center for the axle to slide into.

The newer model has a speed sensor to replace the speedometer cable, this cable mounted on top of the diff housing. The new sensor mounts in the same location. It is a two piece design having a removable gear that engages a gear on the diff carrier.

The gear has a shaft that slides into the sensor housing. The gear may have a magnet that when rotated is picked up by the sensor to generate a signal.

 

I was going through some boxes and found a transmission parts book from when I worked at a parts store.

I found out that this transmission had the Forward Clutch bured up. I'm pretty sure a transmission is always in 1st gear.

So the first drum contains the Direct Clutch. This is surrounded by the band which should be held while in drive(I think). The input shaft contains the Forward Clutch set. Then it goes to the 2nd Brake Clutch to the Reverse Clutch and to the Overdrive Direct Clutch. In that housing on the drivers side of the trans, is the Overdrive Brake Clutch.

I was able to get some movement in reverse, but it required quite a bit of throttle. I could feel it shift into Drive, but felt as though it had a trans-brake(drive and reverse applied at the same time). I suppose I'll be checking all solonoids first, but it would appear that this transmission is getting removed again. Much to my disgust.

Is it easier to drop it out the bottom again or to attempt to lift engine/trans out the top?