Please Help W/ Unknown Problem

I have a 1993 chevy lumina euro with a 3.1 engine and 82k miles. I had just bought the car from an 88 year old lady about 2 months ago and now things are going wrong. I think it is because the car doesn't know how to react to DRIVING since she only used it to go to the food store and church. Now my tranny I shot (I know this because I no longer have reverse or can't get out of first gear in drive...reaches 4000rpm at 20mph). My bigger problem, though, is that my car also makes a loud clicking noise (or tapping which ever you prefer) under the hood while running but can't exactly tell where it is coming from. It sounds as if it is coming from the engine compartment on the driver's side, but can't tell for sure. Also, more smoke than usual has been coming out of the exhaust...the exhaust also sounds 'weird'. It sounds like how old chevys sound, too, the "hollow garble-like" sound.
PLEASE HELP WITH ANY SUGGESTIONS BECAUSE MECHANICS AREN'T BEING VERY HONEST WITH ME...IF POSSIBLE, EMAIL ME AT IMNOTNOTJOE@YAHOO.COM

THANK YOU

I have a 1993 chevy lumina euro with a 3.1 engine and 82k miles. I had just bought the car from an 88 year old lady about 2 months ago and now things are going wrong. I think it is because the car doesn't know how to react to DRIVING since she only used it to go to the food store and church. Now my tranny I shot (I know this because I no longer have reverse or can't get out of first gear in drive...reaches 4000rpm at 20mph). My bigger problem, though, is that my car also makes a loud clicking noise (or tapping which ever you prefer) under the hood while running but can't exactly tell where it is coming from. It sounds as if it is coming from the engine compartment on the driver's side, but can't tell for sure. Also, more smoke than usual has been coming out of the exhaust...the exhaust also sounds 'weird'. It sounds like how old chevys sound, too, the "hollow garble-like" sound.
PLEASE HELP WITH ANY SUGGESTIONS BECAUSE MECHANICS AREN'T BEING VERY HONEST WITH ME...IF POSSIBLE, EMAIL ME AT IMNOTNOTJOE@YAHOO.COM

THANK YOU


Hmmmm sounds like maybe the catilyst converter or the carburator can be clogged is that car fuel injected ?

yes it is feul injected....why would that be so loud though??

All those old lumina's had a noisy exhaust. As for the transmission, grab a friend and put another tranny in yourself. Get one from a junkyard or a salvage yard. I got a transmission with 52k miles on it for $500, including the dipstick and torque converter.

As for the clicking noise, it's mostly likely just the valves making the noise. The 3.1's are damn good engines, but sometimes noisy.

Since your transmission won't go out of first and you have no reverse, your torque converter COULD of shelled out, which is causing the clanking noise.

The tranny is simple to remove. Only about 7 bolts hold it to the engine and then the transmission mounts. It takes about a day to remove (6 hours) and about a hour to line it up and get it ready to install on the engine, and then about 7-8 hours to reinstall everything.

All you need is somebody to help you, and an engine support for the top end of the engine.

can anyone help with a more detailed explanation of how to switch out the tranny and torque converter
thanks

eh.. switching out the transmission is pretty easy as long as you know how the stuff works. If you got good memory on where the ground wires, hot wires, cables, etc. goes, you should have no problem. You could also tag the wires for reference when installing them back in the correct places.

As for removing the transmission, there's a lot of work that needs to be done to do it. You must disconnect and remove the CV boots, disconnect the rack-n-pinion (steering), remove the sub-frame (the frame that holds the transmission and engine from falling out of the car), and a few other things.

You'll need to obtain an engine support to hold the engine in the car while the subframe is out. This is pretty easy to make, which you'd only need a 4x4 with some adjustable hooks on it to hook onto the engine, and you also need to add wood to each end of the 4x4 to make it level when it sits on the car.

As for removing the transmission, here's basically what needs to be done.

First of all, you need to remove the air filter and hose all the way to the throttle body. Then you need to go around and disconnect all the visible wires connecting to the transmission. On the drivers side of the car, at the back of the transmission, you'll see a cable connecting to a little black box. You'll need to disconnect that, which is the shift cable. After that, you're ready to start unbolting the transmission from the engine. I think there's 7 bolts that hold it together. As the exhaust wraps around the drivers side of the engine, you'll see a few bolts on the transmission going into the side of the engine. These are what holds the tranny on. Remove these. On the passenger side of the transmission where the axle is, I believe there's 2 bolts there that need to be taken out. After all the bolts are out, you need to unhook the engine and transmission from the sub-frame (have your motor support in place). It's best to have 2 floor jacks when doing this, since the sub-frame feels like it weighs 100 pounds, and it's not the easiest thing to put back on the car without a jack. Put one jack on the back middle portion of the frame and put another on the front middle of the frame. Then unbolt all the screws holding it in place. Then start to lower the jacks slowly and evenly. After the sub-frame has been removed from under the car, it's best to get a piece of plywood and stick it on one of the jacks and put it under the transmission pan. This will help out the engine support and not put so much strain on it. If that support breaks, your engine will be introduced to the floor. Once the frames been removed, you'll need to take the starter off the engine, and remove the torque converter cover. Once that's been done, I believe the transmission is ready to come off. To do that, you'll need to jack the transmission up a little, then do a quick jilt to the right with it (to the drivers side of the car) and that should disengage it from the engine. If not, keep wiggling it, but try not to drop the transmission off the jack. If you do, you'll have a hole in the floor, let alone a mess of fluid. Don't forget to drain the transmission fluid prior to doing ANY of this, it will leak out of the axles and cause one hell of a mess.

Putting another tranny on is reverse of removal, except you MUST make sure the torque converter is engaged with the engine. The torque converter has a little nipple on it in the middle, and this nipple must go inside the engine perfectly and centered. Once it's in there correctly, the transmission is lined up and ready to be bolted on. It's easier to install the thing than it is to remove it.

I believe the tools required are 13, 15, 18mm (1/2 & 3/4 drive), 7, 8, 10mm sockets, and for some reason a 22mm comes to my mind, but I can't remember what we used it on. Make sure you have PLENTY of extensions, and an air impact wrench comes HANDY.

I believe this is all that needs to be done to remove the junkyass thing. If you do remove the transmission, don't be scared about doing it. Be confident. If the retards at the auto shop can do it, anybody can if they want to.

thank you very much