Howdy all, got a question... for an aunt, who is: a-short on funds, and raising grandkids, and b- borrowing my LeBaron, which I miss badly... so I'm throwing this out BEFORE recommending she take it to a shop.
She's got a 1989 New Yorker, 3.0 V6, and the A604 electronic four-speed from what I can tell- according to the online specs at autozone.com, it was the only tranny application for the '89 NY:
When you first start it up after it's sat a while, the car sounds fairly normal, though there is some rumbling when cornering that I can't decide if it's suspension or CV-related (my LeBaron is similarly noisy ever since I smacked the front passenger wheel into a curb while skidding on a wet road).
The tranny goes into gear when you make a selection, maybe a little sluggish, but it does it. At the very first, the shifting is delayed a little, to me, anyway, but I felt it go through all four gears.... Once, anyway. After driving it a short, and I do mean, short distance... a whirring noise begins, and the more you drive it, the louder it gets.
Once the whirr starts, it's not long before the transmission goes into one gear and stays there. Now, I've got the 3 spd w/lockup in my '88 LeBaron, I'm not familiar with driving the A604. I read up on the 4-spd's 'limp mode' from Allpar, but I can't really tell if this is what it's doing since I don't really know what the 4-spd is supposed to feel like. It will let you go say, 35, and while the engine's revved up, it's not exactly sounding as if you're going to make it fly apart from excessive RPM's, either. Could that be second gear limp mode?
Drive it enough (a couple miles maybe?), and it gets to where it doesn't want to go without some throttle goosing, even then it might just flat refuse, if it's an steep enough incline. There's an odor of something getting too hot, too.
This 'whirr' is not related to what the gear selector is in, it's not related to road speed. It's purely related to engine RPM's and if the thing's been driven, or not. It sounds kinda like metal rubbing on something, pulsates slightly like there's a spot that rubs just a tad harder, and a mechanic's stethoscope places it loudest (enough to hurt your ears when you rev the engine) when I touch it to what passes for the bell housing on the transaxle. Maybe not quite as loud down on the tranny oil pan. And much, much quieter when you listen to the engine block. Increases in volume when you rev the engine.
Let the car sit, and the tranny 'rest', even with the engine still running, and the whirr gets quieter, and quieter, until it's barely audible with the nekkid ear, and you have to use the stethoscope to really detect it's still there at all, even when revving the engine.
So the noise develops quickly when you drive it, and fades somewhat more slowly than it develops when the car is sitting still, and definitely seems to be coming from the front end, so to speak, of the transaxle because it's dependent on the engine RPM's, not the drive wheels, for volume and frequency, though it only develops the noise through the act of driving the car, not just running the engine.
And if it's warmed up any at all, it is limited to reverse, and one forward gear.
The fluid level is ok, but only God knows if it's ATF+, or Dexron. The fluid didn't smell particularly burned or anything, seemed fairly normal, but the dipstick was damned hot to the touch- that after driving it a couple miles with it stuck in one gear most of that time.
Well, I reckon that's about all I can think of. Any thoughts?
Torque converter?
Solenoid pack? (I feel I'm grasping straws with that one but...)
I'm thinking of going ahead and dropping the pan (if I can get it loose) and doing a filter/fluid change and see if there's any interesting debris. Is that an excersise in futility?
My stepdad is more familiar with older Mopars, and he described symptoms during a phone conversation on this matter, of when older model RWD Mopars developed a cracked flywheel... his description sounded very like what I've been describing, from the metallic rasp, to the transmission acting up.... could that be a possibility?
Any input is extremely welcomed!
Rich
'88 Chrysler LeBaron sedan '94 Mercury Sable '74 Chevy Custom C-10 (my twuck) '94 Chevy Silverado C1500 (wife's twuck)