Possible auto trans boo-boo

[Ncostello]

My 1991. 5 46RH (A518) has 200K on it and seems to still be doing well. I've upgraded with a deep pan and some Sonnex parts in recent years and keep the fluid changed.



However... a few days ago I removed the rear wheels and put the rear end up on jack stands so I could run the engine and have the transmission in drive. I was trying to find a noise... which I had suspected was the u-joints.



Anyhoo... it was in drive and everything was spinning along just fine at about 20mph according to the speedo at an idle. I applied the brakes to make sure they were working OK and put it in neutral and released the brakes. Unbeknownst to me, while in neutral there is fluid apparently flowing enough to make the axle rotate somewhat... although there is no real power applied to it.



I then shifted from neutral to back to drive... then back to neutral. Then I shifted to park without applying the brakes. Obviously the park pawl rod didn't find things stopped and buzzed or grinded for a split second. Instantly realizing what was happening I immediately shifted back to neutral, applied the brakes and then shifted into park fine.



Could I have caused serious damage? The rod never made it home when things were spinning... just a little noise from trying to. I suppose I need to drop the pan and pull valve body/rod to see for sure.

 

[Flexiheep]

I wouldn't worry about it too much, if nothing happened then, and it isn't doing anything out of the ordinary now, just think of it as a lesson learned.

I have done this a couple times in my 4x4 while shifting the Tcase. If you get the Tcase shifter in neutral with the transmission in anything but park, the only way to stop the transmission from spinning I know if is to shut off the engine and then put the transmission in park... .

 

[Ncostello]

That makes me feel better. It didn't sound like carnage... just a little buzz and I could feel it in the shifter. At which point I knew exactly what was happening and threw it back to neutral. It all happened very fast. Kinda like touching something very hot... you don't hold it too long before you know what to do.



I "knew" and realized things were spinning... it just slipped my mind. I guess the mind plays tricks on you when you're not rolling yet you're going thru the gears. I found myself thinking "how do I shift to park"?

 

[JLEONARD]

The park pawls are hardened steel. And tested to be able to withstand your screw up.



While working as an engineer at The Torrington Company we made several park pawls and shift mechanisms, mostly for Ford though.

Bottom line is that they are pretty tough pieces of metal. They have ti be because of the possible lawsuits if the system breaks (and runs someone over).

 

[cerberusiam]

Yeah, your not going to hurt the pawl buzzing it like that. The real damage occurs when it actually engages under rotation and things come to sudden stop.



Then you get to replace OD housing and such, not a good thing to do.

 

[RSchwarzli]

No worries. I did that once at 40 MPH... . bumped it when leaning down to grab something that fell by my foot..... GRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPP... . WTF is that noise!!!???? Oh crum! Park..... back to D.



That was about 5 years before I pulled the auto out. Never caused an issue.