91 Spider Transmission BROKE?

[AlfaNeely@domain.elided]

       I think the hub in the center of the clutch disk has broken loose.  
The clutch disk still turns with the flywheel, but it is no longer connected 
to the hub.  You should hear some funny rubbing noises as the hub spins in 
its fitting.
       I first guessed that the diaphragm spring in the pressure plate broke. 
 But then the clutch pedal should be floppy loose.
       A broken input or output shaft on the transmission might act like 
that.  But I have never heard of a transmission breaking unless it was 
abused.  I cannot think of anything in the transmission that could come 
loose.  Did you have the transmission rebuilt when you did the clutch?  I 
guess if the mechanic left a key out, then a gear could be spinning on its 
shaft.  The gear might have held for a while, until things loosened up and 
allowed the gear to spin on its shaft.  That might be a possibility, but I 
would suspect it only if the transmission had been apart.
       A broken shift mechanism would feel strange, but you report that it 
feels like it goes into each and every gear.  A broken bolt on one of the 
sliders would allow that pair of gears to not engage, but the other four 
should still work.  That is, if the first and second gear shift fork was not 
moving the slider, those two gears would not work.  However, you would still 
have third, fourth, fifth and reverse.  I cannot think that all three forks 
have come loose from the rods that move them.
       A broken drive shaft Giubo or U Joint would act like that.  If it 
broke right behind the center carrier, the noise might be minimal.  However, 
if that were the case, the front half of the back driveshaft should be laying 
on the ground.  And when you pushed the car off to the side of the street, a 
great banging and clanking should have been heard.  Did you look under the 
car?
       So by process of elimination, I am guessing it is the clutch disk 
itself.

       So let us know what you find out.  Someone is going to have to get 
under the car to figure this one out.

Ciao,
Russ Neely
Oklahoma City


In a message dated 1/23/2003 3:00:49 PM Central Standard Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:


> Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 13:56:36 -0500
> From: ltooz@domain.elided (LLe_2002)
> Subject: 91 Spider Transmission BROKE?
> 
> Hello all,
> I've been enjoying my 91 Spider Veloce for a year and a half now. Yesterday 
> when I got off work, drove to the stop light and the car's transmission and 
> gear didn't engage anymore, the engine is running, I can put in all gears 
> nicely (the clutch was 3k miles old), but releasing the clutch, I only hear 
> some grinding sound in the trans area but the car doesn't move.
> Engine is great, the clutch is great, is my transmission broken? If I can 
> shift to gears and it stays in gears, why doesn't the car drive? What can 
> it be wrong with the trans?
> My Spider is totally immobilized now. It's so sad. Please help me to 
> identify this problem.
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Louis Le
> 91 Spider Veloce,
> Sunnyvale, CA.
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