Tranny thump...

[Jim]

Any ideas what could cause a nasty thump when an 89 TTA shifts from 1-2 or when put into either forward or reverse gears from park or neutral? Mounts are all good, and so are the u-joints. The car shifts great 2-3, 3-od (firm, fast, not harsh). The car is all stock with no mods? less than 90k on the car. I'm not a mechanic, so I'd like ideas before I shell out huge bucks to get a tranny rebuilt, when it's just a little thing. Thanks!

 

[turbotaone]

They all clunk when you put them in gear, it's just the nature of
the F body. My car also clunks when I downshift into drive while
cruising. But as for the thump when it shifts into second, that
sounds like something that you should have a tranny shop check
out.

James

 

[turbov6joe]

It's the mushy tranny mount that allows it to thump. For a VERY short period of time I used a polly tranny mount and the "thump" was gone. The only problem with that polly mount is the SEVERE vibration that vibrates the car to bits! Needless to say I yanked that thing out ASAP and the vibration was gone. The uni body cars disipate too much of the driveline vibration throughout the entire car to use a mount like that. Initially I thought my OE mount was torn but it wasn't....just very soft!

 

[Razor]

If the car when it hits 2nd under some throttle, hits hard/chirps the tires, the band is good. If the car when it goes into second rolls into the gear,slips, is very mushy..then the band is about to go.

Your thump could be normal.. the shifts are suppossed to be crisp, firm, fast. The more throttle the harder they hit. If the tranny performs as I describe..its ok.

The 2004r tranny clunks when put into gear.. sounds like bad universal joints. This is normal. Actually the TTA is less severe than the GN due to valve body changes in it. TTA valve body is TTA specific.

Lastly.. careful who puts theyre grubby hands on it.. you dont know the horror stories that abound on tranny shops as to the F'up the 2004r transmissions in our cars.. Its not a regular Monte Carlo transmission.. Actually pieces inside your tranny, are TTA specific.. yeah yeah..I can rebuild that..done plenty..lemme ... careful..

Hope this helps..

Only like 3-4 tranny shops in Forida that wont F'up the 2004r... out of a couple thousand shops.. dunno why.. its worse than body shops..lack of knowledge..people ship their transmissions to PTS in California to have them built.. wonder why??.. cuase theyre local tranny guys messed it up.

Biggest mistake made is valve body modifications.. that does 90 percent of the shops in..They think they know..until they drop the ball.

Cheers

Julio

 

[tta583]

Mine does the thump when dropping it into drive as well. I hate it, I cringe everytime I do it. At the nationals I realy hate it being surrounded by like tons of firebird folks. Anyway..

Long ago there was a mention that replacing the bushings at the rear end helped a little, at least on this particular car. I think the deal was, this was a LONG time ago, end link and trailing arm bushings were upgraded due to age and wear. The side effect was a lessening of the clunk. Perhaps from better isolation and less play due to new parts. At the very least you have 90K (I think your sig said) on the car plus over 14 years of plain age on your rubber.

I plan on going through my suspension as a winter project. As part of that I will be replacing the trans mount. I think I will go stock replacement there to avaoid the previously mentioned vibration throught the body.

Brent

 

[trading t/a]

I'd also look at the bushings for the crossmember . They have a bushing there for a reason after they were the vibration goes right up your spine cause you're practically sitting on it.

 

[1badTTA]

Not sure if it was mentioned yet, but also check the torque arm. The bushing/mount for it could also be trashed.