On top of all the other stuff, bad luck, and robbery that we have dealt with in the past 6 months...

...this morning started normal. But when I pulled off the freeway on my way to work I noticed a little buzzing sound coming from the transmission tunnel, then a slight hissing sound. One mile later, while coasting into a turn in 2nd gear, the truck starts jerking back and forth and loosing power even though the engine was still at 1500 rpm and still responded when I put the pedal down. After another mile at 25-35 mph, I start to hear the buzzing, hissing, and then what sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard, and what could be described as that sound you hear when you get a branch wrapped around your drive shaft and it whack whack whacks the transmission tunnel as you drive... then it went away for a mile or two, then back, then gone...

...The noises seemed to get a bit louder, but the next thing was the jerking came back, then the feeling that I was driving into a powerful headwind, sort of like when you take off with the hand brake still engaged.

By the time I had driven the 20 miles to drop my daughter off at my parents' house, then over to work, I was embarrassed by the sound my truck was making going down the road, people were looking at me and holding their hears as I went by. The driving, shifting and jerking started getting worse, and I ended up coasting in N into the school parking lot and backing into the furthest spot I could find................



No smoke, no extra heat, no bad smell. However, after I parked I took a look around for a minute or two and only then did I start to smell transmission fluid -- not like burning, but kind of like you would expect if there was a puddle of it on the ground -- no leaks, nothing abnormal to see.

This all happened pretty much without warning, all within the course of one drive and over a total of only 25 miles.  I had not noticed any shifting or noise or other issues with the transmission.  I just changed the filter and fluid.  I have not had a chance to do anything but look under the truck to see if there was anything amiss.  I do not believe I will make it home.

That doesn't sound good at all. I'm not even sure I have any advice. Check the fluid level, and see if it's low or too full. Also smell to see if it's burnt.

My mechanic warned me some years ago about servicing high mileage ZFs, and said it may cause issues, depending on how regularly it has been serviced in the past. He seemed to suggest if it has been regular and kept clean it will probably be good for it, but if it has been a long time/lot of miles between services then it could loosen up crud that could move around and lodge in one of the many little passage ways and check valves. I sure hope that isn't what happened.

Kevan

I sat down to update everyone on the little tests I ran on the truck before having it towed to my house, I think it is bearings in the transfer case or something --- and Scott agrees!!!!! Whooo Hooo!

Anyway, that's just my hunch based on the fact that I do not believe the transmission went out -- I've been in a truck when the tranny goes, it's obvious. This was different, now that I think about it.

Second, I drove around the parking lot in different configurations. Hi/Lo/Locked/Unlocked. They all work, and the car shifted and acted normally in all four gears in low range, at low speeds the driving characteristics are normal, but you get the bad sounds.

However, some things stood out to me: I get a clanking and swishing sound when driving in Lo. I get just the swishing sound when in Hi. I can make most of the sound go away when shifting into neutral while in Hi, it sounds exactly the same in N/Lo as in D/Lo. I don't think it is a diff flange bearing because I would probably have trouble pushing the truck in N on level ground -- it is easy to move by hand. Anyway, I'm just guessing that it is the bearings in the transfer case, but I think that I'm making a good guess when I say that it is coming from the transfer case in some way shape or form.

EDITED: I think I want to take it to Doug, but I would like to try to pinpoint the problem and maybe do an hour or two of work on it myself first.  In other words, I want to know exactly what needs to be done, and I am confident enough to do most of the work myself.  But if it is something that needs to be rebuilt -- NO.  Something that needs to be replaced -- Maybe.

If you know Doug, he is the type of person who appreciates it when I can give him something to do that is worth his time -- if I could do it myself, he would probably actually prefer it that way.