I just got a 91 Z28 yesterday. I put about 40 miles on it test driving it and everything seemed in good order. *Of course* when I get it home...

Whenever the tranny shifts into 1st gear it clunks. It happens when it's I first put it in OD,D,2 or 1, and it happens when I'm in OD,D,2 and it downshifts when I'm slowing down and at a near complete stop. Any ideas what could be going on with this?

 

tranny mount or torque arm mount get under the car and check 10 bucks at your local parts store

 

Thanks Speedfreaker. To expand it a little, it DOES make the clunk going into reverse but it's barely audible, the first gear clunk is twice as loud. Both clunks are lessened by letting the brake all the way off before I shift into gear, but the downshift to first clunk is really annoying me (the exhaust noise dies down to idle level and then all of the sudden if sounds like something metal is sliding foward and makes contact with something else, almost sounds like it's coming from the engine bay).

Could that still be either of those mounts?

 

99% of the time, if it clunks when putting it into gear, its the tranny mount. They're a common failure. Get a polyurethane one from Energy Suspension or similar and you'll be fine.

 

Thanks, both of ya

 

Well, the mounts are fine. The clunk is coming from inside of the tranny. What's wrong the other 1% of the time?

 

Number One, check your fluid level.

Do some research on the accumulator on the valvebody.

On my last build, it had a broken spring.

I always say to retorque the valvebody if your going to change the oil caused by new build grease contamination.

If that's not it, I'll say Mr. Custer with a candle stick in the kitchen?


Ron

 

cael,

not to say you dont know what your looking for but when you checked the mount did you check the rubber in the middle of it?
I had this problem on my truck once, had no idea what it was and I had a certified ase mechanic tell me that the tranny mount looked ok. when I took it down there was absolutely no rubber left, just metal clackin metal. And for the $10 or $20 it wouldnt hurt to change it anyway even if it looks ok, might solve the problem.

 

if it clunks and there isn't a broken engine/tranny mount it could very well be a worn u-joint.

 

Actually, there are two clunks, now that I got right next to it and had someone shift in and out of drive.

One comes from the front end of the driveshaft (probably the u-joint there), and the other one *clearly* comes from the transmission pan.

Hopefully a shop can fix it without removing the tranny, that usually ups the labor cost some heh. Should I get that problem fixed before I buy a shift kit, or does it have the potential to be a fatal tranny symptom?