Perhaps I should have put this in the engine section but im posting it here based on what I have heard. When i shift my car from park to drive or reverse i get a loud violent knocking along with the car jolting heavily, in newer cars I know you have to have your foot on the break to shift out of park but with my 85 TA I don't, and if I shift without my foot on the break it engage hard enough to chirp the tires and the car will jolt forward, anyways I was told it could be the torque bar in the rear end of the car or the torque bar running down the car allong the driveshaft, it dosnt look like there is anything visualy wrong with them. To be honest its like shifting out of park when your RPM's are too high, my engine idles at roughly 750-850 RPM.

If someone could give me some more insight on this it would be great

Trent

 

Most likely your U-joints are no good. Get under the car and see if you can twist the driveshaft back and forth. there should not be any play at all. If the u-joints are original take them to a machine shop you have to use a press.

 

ok il try that tonight before work and let you know how it works out tomorrow. Also i have access to a hydraulic press, would this do?

Thanks.

 

it's a broken transmount, if the u joints were that bad you would have undrivable vibrations asnd would always feel the problem, replace it with a ES mount

 

This makes sense as well, few years back i was driving the car through alberta and ran over a deer that was already dead in the middle of the road (i know i know how the hell couldnt you miss that right?) it struck the base pan denting it up but not enough to damage the oil pump, struck the cross member and exhaust pipe is damage as well, il have to see if I can bring it into the college to let my instructor have a look at it.

 

Ok so from talking to some people it seems what "1988-305-tbi" has said seems true, I have a feeling a transmount is gone, my next questions are, does anyone have any pics (or a discription) of where the automatic trans mounts are in these cars? and would I have to remove the transmission completly to replace one?

 

the crossmember under the back of the trans...the mount is between it and the trans. Two bolts in the bottom of the trans and one in the crossmember is all the holds the mount in. And, no the transmission does not come out for this one. just jack the back of it up a little to hold it up off of the mount.

 

Thats good news lol, im going to climb under the car tomorrow and size it all up.

Thanks for your help.

 

So I did manage to get under the car after and check out the crossmember and the mount. The crossmember is damaged in some sorts, its bent a little bit and both bolts on the left side of the car are twisted off, the previous owner did a welding job and welded the crossmember back up. So I want a new crossmember...

On the other hand, the mount dosnt "look" damaged under a quick look with a trouble light, however I will be getting a polyurathane mount as well as a new crossmember regardless if this is what is causing the knocking. My biggest fear is drilling out the twisted off bolts and using easy outs, absolutly hate that.

Anyways, I tried to look for a new transmission crossmember but couldnt seem to find one for a third gen, found lots for 2ed and 4th gens but nothing for mine, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks again for your help!

 

Spohn has em for about a hundred forty.... you can pick up a stock piece from a junkyard cheap, check out thirdgen ranch (site sponsor, links everywhere)

Crawl under your car, and push up on the tailshaft of the tranny, chances are you will be able to lift it right up...... (although, given the lack of maneuvering room under there, getting leverage is kinda tricky.)

 

Il give it a shot tomorrow and let you know what happens, unfortunately junkyards are not an option, around here they only have cars from a certain year and above, much newer then my 85.

 

Let me know what pricing/availability is like for you up there, and if nothing else, I am sure we can manage to get one to you, if we can do it cheaper. There are third-gens aplenty in the yards around me...... Shipping wouldn't be too much of hit, I don't think.... (although, I can't imagine that some of the online shops (the ranch..) wouldn't ship to canada....)