a 2001 town& country transmission, is it chain driven
driving on the road last night it started to grind and shake and then saw alot of white smoke, when i pulled oven it grinded to a hault and would not move felt like it was in park.
i had the van towed to my house and the next morning i checked the fluid but it was not burnt, i drove the van in to the driveway with no problem. I put the car up on jack stands and ran the car in gear, it sounded like it had a loose chain.
Your engine probably has a loose timing chain....the transmission has no chains~ I'd put a mechanic's stethoscope to your motor block near the timing chain to see if it has stretched and worn away the "wear shoe" yet~
the noise is coming from the back of the transmission "only" no noise coming from the engine , i used a mechanics stethoscope and listened to the block and the engine, I'm mechanic also but do not know much about these front wheel transmissions.
sorry, i meant block and transmission
white or white with a blueish tint smoke is oil from engine, IF it's coming from tailpipe. If there is a leak of ATF and is getting on the exhaust, there is an extreme risk of fire, ATF ignites easily... exhaust manifold heat is enough to ignite it to flame, and if it somehow traveled along the pipes back, and gets on the muffler or catalytic converter even worse. Please be careful.
nothing is leaking all fluids full, everything around engine and trans. dry.
might it be the rear output bearing and seal?
I guess it could be, I will look in to it. Thank you judge_roy
You just got through saying the seal was good...these fail in a most unusual fashion...frequently they sound like baaa-ing sheep...groat-groat...more so than grind-grind as if full of sandpaper~ What kind of sound exactly does yours make?
you said nothing about listening to the timing cover with your stethoscope....honestly this chain is the only show in town...transmissions rely on varying stages of friction as supplied by the somewhat slidey transmission fluid~....now "puff of white smoke" is a cause for alarm...for all we know some bugs were laying their eggs and webs in the intake port~ and thuk got turned into white smoke...this was not a persistent condition, but only the one time....right?~
Yes this was the only time this has happened, it was working fine before with no noises or burning smells. Not sure of the sound but it did sound like a loose chain hitting the back cover.
It's not the timing chain, It only makes noise when in gear, I said it sounded like a loose chain. I guess I will have to take it apart and see what I can do with the transmission.
Okay, you know what's goin' on there~
Now, I'm thinking the ring gear and flywheel have a radial crack in them...inspect your flywheel and ring gear for defects~
there's going to be a "little window" that one may have to look through to set the timing~ see if you can get an eyeball on the state of the flywheel~
You could unbolt the starter and looksee at the ring gear and flywheel...think that it's scrapin'~
the teeth would have a "chain-like" sound to them~
fifty or so dollars for the kit...including NEW sprockets too~
I wish people came back to say what it was... my 2002 is doing the exact same thing...
