ok this other 97 cavvy has a weird transmission issue

when you put it into drive and try to take off it takes quite a bit more RPM to get it going from a dead stop than it does with any other vehicles

as if the car weighs five times what it really does,

also it does not creep when you put it into gear, as you normally see

instead the car just sits there, you can get out of the car with it in drive and it wont go anywhere

you just have to really get on the gas pedal to get her going from a stop


otherwise it runs and drives great shifts perfectly, downshifts smoothly, all is fine, i dropped the pan today and new filter also, the fluid was not burnt smelling at all, and was old but not horrible, the pan had no metal shaving or anything in it, no black flakes, no anything but a little bit of very fine dark stuff that you typically see,


160k miles, 3 speed auto


also i noticed that the engine torque rod is toasted so i have to put another on it

it has what seems to be a pretty bad tire thumping in it, yet i cant feel a bulge in either tire, i did swap the driver side one off with one from the other 97, but no change

it pulls to the left slightly, the wheel is crooked

and it pulls to the side when you hit the brake, but very slightly

maybe a tie rod end is shot?

could the toasted engine torque strut cause the thumping ? maybe it is the drivetrain thumping ?
its to a side to side movement at all, its either vertical, or lateral fore and aft



thanks for anything

-96 cavalier 2.2 auto 143k miles

I read and reread that, what exactly are you asking. Are you asking about the thumping, the pulling or the slipping? Your kind of jumpin around.


01 cav w/01 3400 gam gt 4t45e

hi there


well both


i have several things to figure out with this car

if i go and make a new post for every problem then im going to be spamming the forums

i cant be doing that

i guess i will just replace the engine torque strut and then see if anything good changes

it is shot, alot of the rubber is missing from the end inside it, the drivetrain jerks moves quite alot when put into gear or revved up in park/neutral

i just wonder if this thump thump thump that gets faster and faster with vehicle speed would possibly have anything to do with this junk torque strut ? any chance ?

it does not change with engine RPM speed or anmything else,

only with vehicle speed

so i figured it was a tire,

something is out of alignment in the front of this car

it pulls to one side, and the tires have a very odd side rough tread wear pattern when you rub across the tread from outside to inside of the tire tread the tread edges are raised quite a bit

very odd


rack wear ? tie rod wear ?

balljoints ?

hmm


thanks!

-96 cavalier 2.2 auto 143k miles

well the thump thump sound has got to be a broken belt in a tire. the chipping of the tread is a common thing on the rear of the J's, I dont know if its from a poor alignment or bad struts, probably a bit of both. The chipping sometimes will get so bad that it will sound like a wheel bearing going out. Chipping on the front is from severe wheel alignment issues like worn parts.
If the car pulls to one side with no break applied then its either a wheel alignment issue or you are running different size tires, a low tire sometimes causes it too. If it pulls to one side while breaking, then you either have a brake caliper hanging up or a collapsed brake hose.

What I would recommend that you do is take it to a shop that does front end alignments, get a wheel alignment, and your tires checked. If the tires are OK have them spin balance them. If they arent so good, have the tires replaced. Suspension parts that are worn (like tie rods and ball joints) will usually show up while performing a wheel alignment.

change the torque mount, they are pretty cheap and its a good place to start.



01 cav w/01 3400 gam gt 4t45e

hi there yeah we already have the new mount, i just havent put it on yet, i plan on that tomorrow

the tires are sideways tread chipped yeah thats the name for it, across the entire tread of the tires,

only the fronts

the front end pulls to the one side

and i think the reason why it pulls with the brake is not due to a brake doing it, but rather due to slop in the steering that gets taken up when the brakes are applied, thus causing the pull

see what im saying ?

i guess im gonna have to tell him to just take it to an alignment shop and have them check TRE adjustment and struts, because this is troubleshooting that i dont have equipment for, indeed


thanks for any further !

-96 cavalier 2.2 auto 143k miles

Alot of alignment issues can be diganosed by looking at tire wear.

And you have lost your "urge to move" with your tranny. Im thinking it could be torque converter related, but im gonna have to think alittle more on it.

When you step on the brake and it pulls to the left, does it seem to amplify the thump that you're getting? I was having this problem and it was due to a bad rear wheel cylinder. Unfortunately now that the drum is warped, I still have the shake when I hit the brakes. Also could be a sign that the rear brakes are tighter on one side than the other.

But, I would still say to take it to a shop and have them check the tires. Have them re-balance them. You might be able to tell by looking at it, but when it spins up on the balance machine they'll be able to tell if there's any sort of tread separations or anthing of the sort.

And finally, if there are things that you know are wrong, like the busted motor mount, start there. It'll help you narrow down possible other problems once you've fixed something that you know is messed up.

after driving the car around quite a bit lately after this trans pan drop it has actualyl gotten alot better

its no where near as sluggish taking off from a stop as it was previously, and its actually almost normal now, i am comparing it to my 92 bonneville 3800 4T60E in which is 170k miles and runs perfectly shifts perfectly and no resistance at all


the tires match perfectly, evne the same tread depth and all are set at 32psi

applying brakes changes nothing whatsoever at all, and none of it is in the steering wheel at all either

only in the car body shake shake sort of a thump thump and stays as fast as the tire rotation speed

engine speed rpm or different gears dont change this at all

its tire/ strut/ cv shaft /balljoint/ bushing something

its really odd

swapping different tires on the front did nothing at all

its all coming out of the loer front floorboard

cannot tell which side though

very low under the car underneath the front somewhere

its not near as bad at high speed though as it is in lower speeds

its a real good sort of a thump thump, and is much more at lower speeds than at cruising highway speed
its not even really a thump actually,
it feels like something is out of round turning on the car

its more deeper

but not a bearing growl or anything like that either

no loose TRE or balljoint either, i jacked the car up and pried on all of them, no slop in any of those


all good and tight
steering whele very crooked to one side all the time

tires are actualyl smooth no bulge in them anywhere, nice deep tread

stupid car

damn

im just gonna make him take it to an alighment place


it must have bene wrecked at some point

it was a young girls car i know

all the fluids were horribly old and nasty, it was not maintained at all ever,
just driven


so yeah,,

i hate to break it to him he bought a car just as worn out as the one he replaced this one with, athough at least this one doesnt have a blown head gasket like his old one does, in which i am fixing right now for myself to have a spare car

the engine torque strut i replaced

that changed nothing as well, but at least now the drivetrain doesnt jerk into gear haha

so yeah

i have done everything i can fo rit now

it needs a check engine light hard code checked/erased and it needs the front end inspected




thanks

-96 cavalier 2.2 auto 143k miles

bad drive-axle ??

Is there a lot of play in the wheel bearings? I just replaced mine not too long ago (one was making noise, so i did both fronts). I had a thump sound that got a bit quieter from doing this (now I Know its unbalanced wheel/tires).

Quote:

applying brakes changes nothing whatsoever at all, and none of it is in the steering wheel at all either

If it's not making the steering wheel turn, that points to it being a push from the rear wheels.