Crayzkirk

My transmission has started having issues; when the weather started getting colder, it was hard to shift into gear. Later, it started acting like the parking brake was on in low/reverse. Now, it has started having difficulty going into reverse gear and sometimes will slip and clunk into gear. It will drag and then sometimes clunk and the drag disappears. Lately, it has been starting out in second gear instead of low. Manually shifting into low raises the engine speed however the car slows down like the parking brake is on. The harder I try to accellerate in low gear, the more pronounced the braking effect. I have the Bentley manuals; is this related to the low/reverse brake?

The car isn't worth paying someone a bunch of money to repair it; how hard is it to R&R the transmission? How high do I need to get it up in the air to remove the transmission? Car ramps? Recommendations on rebuild kits? Special tools, hints, tips, etc. would be appreciated.

Also, I have an opportunity to buy a 1989 100 cheap; it has a slightly larger motor (2.3L vs 2.2L). Will it and the transmission swap into my 1986? Is there a 4spd overdrive that will swap in? Can the transmission be removed w/o removing the final drive differential?

It's been a decent car for the last nine years and have over 300K Miles on it at this point. The transmission was rebuilt about one set of tires ago and I'm not paying another $3k to have it rebuilt.

Thanks in advance,

Kirk S.

AudiSpaulding

Cheaper to swap in a new/used one than to have it rebuilt.

icon73

with not just mechnical, but electrical, you'll need to swap the ecu and wiring going into the engine compartment as well. Now is your 5000 a manual and the is the 100 a manual as well?

Crayzkirk

Thanks for the info. About the swap, both are Automatics. Figured the ECU would be a bit different. From my own experience working on my 1986, the cars appear to be well designed. I've also seen a wrecked Wagon that appears to be a similar vintage. I might check that out as well.

Thanks!

Kirk S.

audi_marv

rebuilt than to find a GOOD used tranny, remove both and re-install used one. Original trannys usually go after 200k miles. Avg. life span for a rebuild is 5 yrs, so it sounds like you were about there. If you're in the Cincinnati area, I can give you the name/number of the shop that did the rebuild.

Crayzkirk

Thanks...

I'm in the Kansas City, MO area...

maybe a VW repair shop would be better than the Cottman I used last time.

Crayzkirk

Will a turbo transmission work? It looks like the final drive ratio is different however the gear ratios are the same in the Bentley. Can I simply swap the transmissions and keep the original transaxle and torque converter?

If I swap both, will it give me better fuel economy or will my non-turbo have to work too hard? Final drive ratio is 3.08:1 vs 3.45:1.

The 100 I was hoping to get was sold... :-(

Kirk S.

auditech1218

The turbo Transmission would work if u use your old torque converter, the non turbo has 3 bolts securing the converter to the drive plate and the turbo has 4. With your old torque converter the turbo final drive and auto section will work fine. The turbo trans also has a electronic speed sensor, if your car has a speedo cable, you can unscrew the sensor and screw your cable in, you may have a speed sender also though. If you got any questions shoot me a email, ive prolly removed 100 of those from cars, installed like 100, and even rebuilt a few now lol