Can a tranny issue cause this?

slow-mo · Post by **slow-mo** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 1:51 pm

Hi,

I have an 02 Neon SE with right around 160k miles on it. I went in to the shop to have the rear brakes worked on and used the opportunity to mention a few issues I've been having lately. Issues like ride harshness and some clunking/popping/squeaking noises going on up front. Anyway, upon inspection my LCA bushing on the driver side was bad so that was replaced. My upper and lower torque strut mounts were bad as well. The bottom mount being so bad that it would slide on and off the motor. When the mechanic replaced the LCA bushing he mentioned that the sway bar link broke and he replaced that as well. After driving it home I noticed that the front end alignment was off so I had to take it back in again today. After he fixed that, when driving it home I noticed that when I accelerated the car would pull to the right and when I let off it would straighten back out. I took it back had him sit in the car while we took it for a test drive and he acknowledged what I was seeing. So we took the car back and swapped the tires up front and got the same results. He then started talking about how he thought it may be transmission related because of what he felt when the car was shifting. A few years ago I had an issue with the transmission cooler blowing up and ended up having all of the tranny fluid sucked out and through the coolant system and caused the car to overheat. I didn't notice this was happening though and had driven the car a few miles, stopping along the way to let the car cool. It wasn't until the car wouldn't go in gear that I realized what was going on. Anyway everything was flushed and replaced and I didn't have any issues after that. Then sometime later the tranny started going into limp mode and I'd have to reset the battery to get over 30mph or whatever. It ended up being the TCM which was replaced and reflashed due to some rough shifts. After that I haven't had any issues with my tranny, with the exception of an occasional hard shift, but nothing consistent.

His conclusion was that this has been happening for some time now and has only become pronounced because the motor mounts were replaced and there isn't much play in the engine. Seems logical to me, but I'm still hesitant to jump right in completely. To my question, could what I'm describing be tranny related as he seems to think? I've also seen it mentioned that this could be a bad tie-rod, though the guy assures me that everything suspension related is nice and tight. I just dumped about $1k in the car in the last 2 days and I'm hoping this isn't tranny related. Thanks in advance.

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:52 pm

I've had a trans problem cause a nasty pull before. It was a 5-speed and one of the spider gears blew up and exited the case. I doubt this happened to you though since there's no hole in your case.

If there is a problem with your differential, it can cause a pulling issue. I'm no auto expert, I tend to stay away from them as it seems to me they have a higher failure rate than I'd like to see. And they aren't as fun.

Post by **occasional demons** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 6:09 pm

I can see a differential having an effect when turning, but in a straight line, there shouldn't be any influence. Well there can, but I think it would be a constant pull, not throttle related. (other than torque steer, but I don't think that is the issue at hand)
A wheel bearing seizing might, but if it is primarily related to throttle input, I'm going to stick with steering components. The fact he didn't check for alignment after the LCA's kind of speaks for it's self. A bad inner or outer tie rod end will cause throttle steer also.

It may also do it when shifting, because the upshift acts like pressing the throttle due to the torque change. Maybe take it somewhere else, and have them check the Tie rod ends/inner tie rods, and steering rack for issues.

You can check the outer tie rods fairly easily if you can jack the front up and support the car. A simple push/pull on the tire will tell you if it has slack at the tie rod joint. If you cannot do it safely it isn't worth personal injury.

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:04 pm

occasional demons wrote:I can see a differential having an effect when turning, but in a straight line, there shouldn't be any influence. Well there can, but I think it would be a constant pull, not throttle related. (other than torque steer, but I don't think that is the issue at hand)

This cause the car to pull hard to the right when floored. Like change lanes in the city hard. I drove it about 8 miles home through Madison after the spider gear decided to leave it's assigned seat.

I'd have the alignment checked though. I'd hope the guy that did your suspension work did. But an alignment that is off will usually happen all the time as well. Worn steering components usually cause problems under accelleration/braking.

slow-mo · Post by **slow-mo** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:13 pm

Thanks guys. I'll try to figure out another place to take it to and have them look at it.

Damn chip, that looks nasty

Post by **racer12306** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:24 pm

Tranny's can cause some strange problems.

*Carlisle 2010 reference

slow-mo · Post by **slow-mo** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:26 pm

racer12306 wrote:Tranny's can cause some strange problems.

*Carlisle 2010 reference

Yeah like feelings of guilt, shame, and judgmental stares by on-lookers.

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:32 pm

slow-mo wrote:Damn chip, that looks nasty

I have more!!!

Post by **occasional demons** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:37 pm

chipdogg wrote: This cause(d) the car to pull hard to the right when floored. Like change lanes in the city hard. I drove it about 8 miles home through Madison after the spider gear decided to leave it's assigned seat.

I would hope if that was the case, his mechanic would have took notice.

slow-mo · Post by **slow-mo** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:10 am

Hey guys, sorry I haven't responded back to this. I've had a lot to deal with between work and my personal life so it hasn't been on my list. Anyway, I was finally able to look into this and the problem was the driver side LCA bolt was loose

...that was simply tightened and the pulling disappeared along with the strange clunking I'd get when the weight would shift or I'd hit a bump. I've went to this shop since I moved here 10+ years ago for things I couldn't do on my own. I've never had an issue, but I'm glad it got worked out. I think I'll stick with those who have been there longer when I need something done outside of my abilities.

Wanted to say thanks though to those who took time to respond.

Post by **occasional demons** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:35 am

Glad you got that solved!

Might want to spray some paint around the crossmember contact point, as it probably wore the paint off there, with all the rubbing and clunking.

jrumann59 · Post by **jrumann59** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:54 pm

Have you looked at motor mounts, struts. Also while road tests are awesome a flat surface or as close to one as possible because road ruts can cause the car to do things freaky if you pay attention. Road ruts plus torque steer can be a weird combination.

slow-mo · Post by **slow-mo** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:13 am

jrumann59 wrote:Have you looked at motor mounts, struts. Also while road tests are awesome a flat surface or as close to one as possible because road ruts can cause the car to do things freaky if you pay attention. Road ruts plus torque steer can be a weird combination.

All good now that the LCA bolt was tightened. I need to have my ball joints replaced as well and I'll be doing that soon. Feels nice and tight like it should, no more pulling. Glad though now that I'm having to drive into work again. Things would get a little sketchy when I'd accelerate and start moving head on toward the car I was passing

jrumann59 · Post by **jrumann59** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 1:09 am

front wheel drive cars toe out on acceleration take a look at tie rods, if one is allowing the right side to toe out more than the other that could be the issue.