I have 95 XE with auto. I bought the truck with 181,000 km on it, and the issue where the tranny would hesitate going into reverse started to show up early on. Eventually reverse stopped at 219,000 km, and then I had a used tranny (with 135,000 km installed)
Now at 236,000 km I have a deceleration rattle. It's intermittent and mostly happens on the highway if I let off the gas when I'm doing 110 kph or so. Usually the truck has to be warmed up, but sometimes it just happens as I pull out of the parking lot.
After reading about the need to replace the tranny cooler, I now remembered that for the first while that we had the replacement tranny, there was an aweful lot of heat coming out of the emergency brake opening. This heat has now seem to have gone away.
My question is this: if the tranny seems to be working fine, do I hope that the rattle is not a death-rattle and get an aftermarket tranny cooler? Or is this tranny now doomed because I didn't know to get the stock cooler replaced at the same time?
Well, first of all, are you sure the rattle is not simply an exhaust heat shield or something other than the transmission?
Second, let's say it is the transmission...you bought a used transmission to replace the original. Who's to say that it didn't just fail regardless of the cooler? That said, anytime the trans is replaced, the cooler line should be flushed out as per the TSB addressing this issue with Kooler Kleaner or a similar chemical flush. It is important that the cooler line inside the radiator be backflushed to remove the potential debris.
I would suggest you have the rattle isolated to the exact cause and then address the situation as necessary.
You're right, I should make sure where the rattle is before assuming it's the transmission. I had found a couple of posts about subarus with a deceleration rattle where they mentioned that the same thing can occur with pathfinders, so maybe it's not a good assumption.
That being said, is there any way to find out besides poking around underneath to find anything loose? The noise only ever happens on deceleration so I'm not sure how to test this. Could a garage put the vehicle on a hoist and then run it in gear to try to get the rattle to happen?
I suppose there's also the possibility that it's the fan or the alternator rubbing into something, but I wouldn't think that would get progressively worse and noisier.
Ok, so I had a look around underneath and I couldn't find anything that was loose or could be causing the deceleration rattle.
At the same time, I not only discovered that the floor underneath the driver's foot is completely rusted out, but I also discovered that there are 3 tranny to engine bolt holes that have no bolts in them.
**** Does the automatic transmission have extra bolt holes for different engines, or should I be worried that there are missing bolts? *****
There is also fresh oil/fluid on over that area, although it's not enough to actually drip onto the ground, but I didn't have time to figure out what it was or where it was coming from.
I already took it back to the garage that installed the used tranny because there was a cross threaded bolt on the tranny fluid pan, and my 4wheel drive light no longer comes on on the dash board (I end up guessing if it's engaged), so I'm a little hesitant to take it back there again.
I suppose I could have the dealer look at it, but I don't really trust them either. I'm doing a show this weekend that will require putting about 500-600lb of stuff in the truck and then driving 600 km each way, so I'm not sure what I can do about any of this before then. Suggestions would be appreciated.
I usually stick the vehicle in the air and tap the exhaust and shields with a rubber mallet to help locate rattles.
Without seeing it, I can't tell you if the boltless holes are supposed to have bolts in them or not. I would suggest finding a reputable dealer or independant shop and having them look at it.
Unfortunately I have no hoist, so I have to crawl around under there and get dirty.
I took another look this morning, and I'm pretty sure those empty holes are supposed to have bolts in them. One of them is for what I think is the dust-cover for the torque converter, but the other two look like they are engine-to-tranny bolts, judging by the matching flanges on each side.
I also took a look at the fluid under there and it's motor oil and it doesn't really look like there's a fresh stream. Since the engine isn't loosing any noticeable amount, I'm going to assume that's residue from the last oil change spillage.
I will have to get these bolts fixed first and see if it changes the rattle, and I think I might just bring it to the dealer for that, but I haven't quite decided yet. After that, I might try changing the tire pressure to see if that does anything. And then next week when I have more time, I'll look into getting an aftermarket tranny oil cooler.
I'm taking the truck into the dealer to get the missing bolts replaced, but on the way home from doing groceries today we got the rattle, which is actually kind of a rattly ringing sort of like an old school bell, when turning the corner into our street at about 15 kph. Which is what made me remember that as another symptom: it sometimes happens when turning at low speed.
I've been suspecting that the left auto-locking hub has been shot for some time now. The one that's on there now is actually a used replacement for the original, which also died. Is it possible there's a loose piece in there causing the rattling/ringing?
Can I just unbolt the hub and take it off to see how things look, or are there special tools involved?
The tranny was missing bolts and some of the remaining ones were loose or cross-threaded. This is now fixed, so I'm much happier about that.
The mechanic thought that the rattle was coming from the rear exhaust, which has been welded back in a couple of times, so it's apparently mis-aligned. This is something I can live with until the exhaust gives out anyway.
As far as the auto-locking hubs go, they're apparently done. On the hoist the differential turns but the wheels do not, but that's not the cause of the noise. So I'll have to fix those, but I'll start a new thread about that.
Finally, I've ordered a tranny oil cooler just to protect this used transmission, now that it's managed to escape falling out of the bottom of the truck. (phew!)
Missing bolts?
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