Transmission Problems

Hey fella's. Got a question for a friend of mine at work. I'm not too keen on transmissions, so I need a little help here. Not sure of the year of her car, but it's a Malibu (1997-2003 model) and it has a 3100 V6 with an auto tranny. I posted this in the Malibu forum as well, but thought I'd post it in here too since there are alot of guys here who know alot about transmissions.

The problem is that none of the gears work. The only one that works is it's parking gear. You can put it in D, R, 1, or 2 and it won't go anywhere. When you rev the car, there's this weird grinding/rubbing noise (even if it's in neutral). It's a weird noise that's kind of hard to explain. I'm familiar with the 3100 engine, since it's closely related to the 3.4 I have in my Firebird, so I'm not too lost out in the woods. I'm kind of guessing that the problem might be with the torque converter or possibly the shifter linkange cable. I'm hoping that it's something simple like the shifter linkage cable (if in fact it has one, I'm so used to working on RWD cars), but the fact that you can still put it in park and the tranmission still locks up just has me second guessing that. If any of you have any ideas as to what the problem would be, then I would really appreciate it. I'm going to check it tomorrow morning to see if I can possibly figure out anything.

transmission is gone, need a new one!!

happened the same to my friend.. we went to florida with his GMS 3500 truck and transmission was making weird noises and in the middle of the road we had to stop to make left turn. road cleared, he hit the gas but the truck just revved.. put on 1-2-3 nothing.. reverse.. nothing.. a police office came and pushed the truck with his cruiser.

and transmission was completely gone and they put new one in it..

The hoses on GM transaxles are known for being leakers and collpasing, much like a brake hose. Hopefully that's just it, What's the fluid look like?

The hoses on GM transaxles are known for being leakers and collpasing, much like a brake hose. Hopefully that's just it, What's the fluid look like?

I'm planning on changing out the filter and fluid. But I got to lookin today and I saw no dipstick for the tranny. All I saw was a yellow cap that read transmission on it. Do you think the dipstick would be attached to that cap? If it is, then I dont see how you would go by filling it up with fluid, because it looks as if that cap is located right under where the front manifold wraps around to the back of the engine. I used to work at a Dodge dealership here where I live, and all I ever did there all day long was change tranny fluid and filters, so I'm very familiar with how to do that stuff, but I've just never seen anything like this. Most the cars I work on nowadays are all RWD, I hardly ever handle FWD cars, so it's kind of all new to me.

Hmm, that's odd, I don't belevie it's a sealed unit. Only one that really started doing that right away is VW/Audi.

Hmm, that's odd, I don't belevie it's a sealed unit. Only one that really started doing that right away is VW/Audi.

No, it's a sealed unit. Found out the only way to check the fluid level in the tranny is to jack the car up on all 4's on an even flat surface. Then there's this nut on the passenger side of the transaxle you have to loosen, and if fluid leaks out of it then its full. If not, you have to fill it until it starts leaking. It's the most rediculous thing I have ever seen. There is no way I would ever own a car with a sealed transmission.

But, I ended up finally getting the time to drop her transmission pan. When I pulled that sucker down, all you could see were tiny flakes of metal shavings here and there. I showed it to her, and told her that something in that tranny met contact and to not expect alot of life to be left in it. Also, forgot to mention the fluid, that stuff was black as oil, it was just disgusting. But so, hoping to help this girl out as much as I could. I put the new filter back in along with the new O-ring, put on the new gasket, tightened her all up good, and finally added the 7.5 quarts of fluid. Let it sit for a few minutes, then started her up, made sure to shift through all the gears while I was in park to help circulate the fluid... then took her for a test drive. It worked great after that. The loud grinding noise was gone, and it shifted smooth as a whissle. I told her to take it easy on it for at least the next 3k miles just to help things settle in and what not. After seeing those metal shavings, I'm not expecting it to last too much longer without needing a rebuild.