Out of nowhere the other day my tranny started acting up. It’s a 99 CDN B18C5 w/LSD and has all stock internals. Here are the two problems occurring:

1). When taking off in first, it feels like taking off in second or third (i.e. that sputtering action when the revs aren’t high enough). It almost feels like wheel hop but it’s coming from the transmission somewhere.
2) It's hard to get into gear. As I’m driving I have to engage the clutch and wait for at least 1-2 seconds (as opposed to ½ second) before I can put it into another gear without it grinding. And even then I have to wiggle it slightly before it’ll engage.

When taking off in first gear and lifting off of the clutch pedal as it starts to engage, I hear a sound coming from the transmission housing, almost like something being sanded down with sandpaper extremely fast. Once in gear the sound goes away (but the sputtering doesn’t until the revs are above 2.5-3K rpm’s).


Can anybody give me any insight as to what they think it could be? I need to get this thing fixed as soon as possible.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

I would check the fitment/clearance of your clutch.

What I'm thinking is that it was installed improperly and is making contact against the housing. This would create huge forces that your engine will have to overcome, which may be the cause of the sputtering and possibly the sand-paper noise as well.

However, I'm not certain...

 

Thanks for the reply. To the best of my knowledge, the tranny's never been removed from the engine and all the stock internals are still being used. It has just over 50k on it now. It wouldn't be due to an improper install and/or any aftermarket parts.

Could the clutch still be pressing up against the housing?

 

Clutch disc could be worn down to the rivets (Bad news for your FW) or it may be a bad throwout bearing...