Amontgomery

280xxx currently. 1997 SE.

OK. I got extensive time behind the wheel with it this weekend (pulled a trailer 250 miles) and I can say for sure that it is not the motor mounts. There is a grinding popping sound when it happens, so I know it is internal. Since the vehicle has around 280-290k miles on it, a lot of things will begin to show wear so I will probably just do a complete drive-train swap when it quits working and use it as a toy/project vehicle. Maybe even do a SAS or some other extreme modification.

I had not thought of doing that, but it makes sense.

It would probably be easiest to find a low mileage pull-out and swap that in if that is the case.

Repair in this case would require either swapping out the entire transmission, or breaking down the current one and replacing the syncros and the linkage for the shifter as well (maybe). Would this exhibit similar symptoms (coming out of gear when you let of the gas and the vehicle is going downhill)?

I could probably do that over a weekend without a lot of trouble, and I could rest assured that after 300,000 miles the mounts will have some wear and the act of changing them would only help the vehicle in the long run. My only worry is with such a "well used" vehicle, would I run the risk of breaking something else in the act of changing. In any case, I can try removing metal in front of my shifter and see if that improves the situation, if so, I can look into doing the motor mount swap. Thanks. If anyone else has any other ideas I welcome them.

Not sure about the noise, I have only driven it a few times. Is the floor what is pushing out in the cases mentioning the motor mount? Would clearing a little of the metal from area in front of the shifter help the problem until I can get it to a shop and get the mounts replaced, if that is the case?

I will soon be getting a 1997 SE with a 5 speed tranny. I am getting it at a VERY good price($500) and I know enough about the history (belonged to a family member) to be fairly sure that it will run well other than one issue. The transmission will try to "push" out of the gears 1-3-5 when the transmission has the load taken off of it (specifically when it is coasting down a hill). It only successfully pushed out of gear in 5th gear, but when you keep your hand on the shifter and do the same thing (let off the gas going downhill) you can feel the shifter push back into your hand. I know this is a problem on the inside of the transmission itself, and I know it would be labor intensive to pull the transmission myself and do the work, or replace the transmission myself. My question is twofold; 1) What would be the approximate cost (book hours) to swap a transmission? 2) What would be the approximate cost to pull and repair the transmission? Both cases would be a mechanic shop doing the work for me. I have the tools and the experience to do the work myself but not the place to do it or the lift/trans jack to do it with.