Today I was on the road and suddenly my shifter dropped down like 5". I got home and looked underneath the car to find the whole transmission lowered. The bar that goes across the transmssion under it, that the tranny mount is attached to has rusted through on one side and broke! So only one side of this bar is attached.

I am not driving it until I get it to a body shop or mechanic but I would like to know how bad it is.. I don't know if its actually part of the frame or if it is a seperate piece you can bolt on and replace??

I just hope the fix doesn't cost more than the car!

 

Tranny crossmember. Easy, cheap (should be) fix. One from a third gen A4 or 5speed will work. 4 bolts, 8 if you count the 3 on the tranny mount- replace that while you're in there. Most boneyards should have them. Good luck!

 

Depends to some extent on what actually rusted through and broke, but then again, maybe not...

If it's just the crossmember, you can get a junk one and change it out. But that is,,, .... unlikely ..... to do any good, to say the least.

If it's the part of the car that the x-mem bolts to, the car is pretty much toast. It is inconceivable that just that one spot has rusted bad enough to fall apart like that, but the rest of the car HASN'T. Impossible.

Same for the X-member... you haven't been driving around in the salt, and the whole car staying free of it except for just that one spot. You can bet that if THAT has cancerized completely through, you can see through the floor pan, the gas tank is less than a sheet of paper, the rear wheel wells probably are only held on by the carpet that's glued to them on the inside, etc.

Consider it a warning that it's time to SERIOUSLY inspect the car for rot, and prepare to buy another chassis.

 

seen this happen before, the frame section rots off and drops the trans. If thats the case, like sofa said, the car is most likely rotted badly elsewhere and may be a goner.

post pics of the underside!

Do not drive the car in this condition.

 

Oh my that sir is not good, get some pics up...