How to tell if manual tranny is still good?

[fordby4]

About two weeks ago I was driving on the highway and the tranny started whining real loud and it just gave out and I went to press the clutch and there was no clutch(pedal went all the way down). I pulled off to the side of the road and then when I stopped the clutch pedal had resistance again but after I started it then let go of the clutch with tranny in neutral it made an awful sound and it sounded like the slave cylinder because the noise was only there when the pedal was not pressed. Well any way I pulled the tranny last night and cant really tell whats wrong so is there anything I can do to tell if its the tranny that went. By the way when I tried moving it in first gear is was jumping and seemed stuck. Thanks for the help

 

[xcaret]

Your trans and clutch pedal have nothing to with each other The pedal just pulls the clutch away from the engine so to speak ,so the engine is seperated from the trans and you can idle ( or what ever you want with out moving ,with the clutch pedal pushed in ) You should check the trowout bearing as they whine when they are worn out ,and they are cheap .Slave cylinder could also be part of the problem ..But not the trans ..When you tried to move it in first gear was the trans in or out of the vehicle ? I mean did you have the trans on the ground and try to turn the input shaft by hand ,or was it still in the vehicle ? no matter your wasting time checking the trans it is mostlikly in the clutch as there is no logical way for the trans to make the pedal go limp...the pressure plate ( part of the clutch) also could be the problem..Lucky for you clutch parts are cheap you can get rebuilt ones at any parts store ..
Good luck ..

 

[JDraper]

Because of the symptoms you describe. I'd be looking at the clutch and throwout bearing first. Probably time to replace them. The manual tranny's have been pretty good except for the input shaft bearing. They cause a whine when they start to go, but the tranny will still work fine. If you still suspect the tranny (even though your symptoms say clutch problems), manually put it in gear and then rotate the input shaft...the output shaft should rotate without any grinding or clunking...