Hello all,
I was on my way from work this afternoon, sitting at a stop light and when the light turned green I gave it some gas and heard (not too loud of)a pop and that was it. I have no forward or reverse. I checked to make sure that I didn't have a half shaft turning and something broke at the wheel. Not that lucky. It's a '98 S70 glt w/190k. When you try to go into park with the engine running you get the clicking sound. So is that it for the tranny?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Randy

 

Sounds like time to rebuild it or replace it. Goodluck.

 

The clicking sound you hear is the park pawl trying to engage a spinning differential. You might have broken a halfshaft internally. Raise up the car, and have someone hold one front wheel while you try and turn the other while the car is in park. If you can turn it, check your halfshafts while one person holds a wheel and another turns the other side- you want to watch for the inner cup to be stationary, while either the shaft itself with outer cup or just the outer cup turns. check both sides. If the whole axle turns on either side, then yes, it's an internal problem with the transmission. And, of course, if you can't turn the wheel while someone is holding the other side, then once again, you have an internal transmission problem.

 

If the halfshafts are broken internally does that mean it can't be repaired? I will try the above test soon. I haven't decided what to do with the car. I've started getting quotes on replacing it with a used transmission. How common is this problem?
Thanks,
Randy

 

No... the halfshafts are also called "CV shafts..." they're easily repaired! Transmission failure, while possible, is extremely unusual in this car. And the fact that it clicks when you put it into park- which means everything inside the transmission itself is turning- suggests that one of the 2 axles that transmit power to the wheels from the transmission has broken- like you originally thought, but I'm thinking it has broken on the inside of one of the joints, so you can't see it outright. That's why I suggested all the tests with trying to turn the wheels independently of one another while the car is in park. And an easier way to do this is to raise up one wheel, and try to turn it, with the other wheels on the ground and the car in park. If you can turn it, you've got a broken axle, and not a bad transmission. Normal behavior with the car in park is this: with both drive wheels off the ground, rotating one drive wheel will cause the other to rotate in the opposite direction, as the differential carrier (inside the transmission on a front wheel drive car) rotates around the pinion gear, which is locked in place by a part called the parking pawl. When on the ground, the car stays put because the wheels can't turn together in the same direction. If you try to put a car in park while it's moving more than about 1 or 2 MPH- while the differential's pinion gear is still turning- the parking pawl drops down but rides on top of its slots- the clicking noise you hear- until the pinion slows down enough to allow the pawl to drop into place. It seems that the transmission is no longer physically connected to the wheels- at least on one side- and that will cause the same thing to happen- the differential is turning, but not turning the wheels, so the car isn't moving. When you put it into park, that clicking noise is the pawl riding on its slots until the pinion gear slows down enough for it to drop in place- which also may not happen until you turn off the engine. Anyhow, I don't think your transmission is shot- check your axles/ halfshafts/ cv shafts/ whatever you choose to call them- there's lots of names for them- the way I told you to, and I'll bet you'll find your problem. The only other possibility is that the differential itself has come apart, but I have never seen or heard of that happening on one of these cars- the differential is a VERY robust part.

 

Hey Carrots,
I really want to thank you for your help. I determined it was a broken half shaft. I had recently replaced the drivers side unit due to a cv boot being busted. I could turn the right side with the car up and in park and could hear the internals of the transmission turning. On the left side while turning the wheel it was completely silent. I pulled the half shaft and seen where only the last 1/4" of the spline was broken at the area where the retaining clip rides. Is that all that's engaged normally? See the picture below.

 

Looks like you have all the pieces.
You sure are lucky the piece come out easy!
I have had a few that took over an hour to get the piece out of the tranny.

 

Holy crap! How did you get that thing out of the transmission? That really came apart- usually, it's really hard to get them out (like Tech said) when there's any kind of unusual damage there. Now... It looks like either the shaft was too short, or the little C- clip that locks it in place was damaged/ bent/ flat when installed, or that the shaft wasn't pushed all the way in. Make sure that the new one is fully engaged with the transmission, and that the C- clip is locked into place, or that will happen again.

Glad you got it figured out!

 

That was the first halfshaft I had ever installed. I purchased it from O'reilly. It took some pulling to get the original one out and in thinking back during the install the one that broke seemed to engage/lock very easy. Keep in mind I've driven about 6k miles before it broke. I purchased the latest one from a local import parts place. I compared the spline length and it was the same on both shafts. It was a much tighter fit on this last one and it took some work to get it in and fully seated. It sounds like I was lucky that the broke peice came out so easily. Thanks again for all of your help.
Randy