It didn't blow, but it's close...

[jabba]

Going to work this AM on the Interstate, hear/feel a sort of thud (I didn't hit anything), some groaning noise, then an oily smell.

I slow down, thinking, what was that? Bah, nothing. Press on the gas...nothing. RPMs go up, but car doesn't accelerate. Shift gears, still nothing.

Pull on side of road, thinking, did the clutch just fry? I never burn out, so it would be weird. The engine will start up smoothly, I can engage all gears, but the car just won't move forward.

Then I notice a long streak of fluid behind the car. Fluids is dripping from the front somewhere, I think, and it's mostly clear. Hydrolic fluid? Could this be the master cylinder, or something else? If so, how would that affect the clutch or the fact that the gears won't engage?

Anyway, towed the car to the dealer, will find out more next week, I guess.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

Sounds like a trans/drivetrain related thing if your rpms are going up, but not your speed. Slipping clutch? Could be a number of things really... I couldn't give a difinitive answer by your description. But I believe with a fried clutch you could still engage gears... it would just have trouble accelerating, getting going, and the rpms would rise but not the speed like you indicated (clutch disengaging in gear).

 

[jabba]

Update: ends up it was the differential. There's some sort of 6 inch pin in there that broke and shot right through the casing of the differential, leaving a 1 inch diameter hole and causing the diff fluid leak. Dealer is replacing a whole bunch of stuff, so that should take care of things.

I'm now pimpin' in a Pontiac G6 rental. I miss my MS3....

 

[destrux]

Sound like what I did with my FWD dsm like... 4 times. The crosspin cracks, snaps off or slides out the wrong side, and the diff housing drop kicks it through the case into the bellhousing. It took out the clutch the first time too, and put pieces of spider gears through my firewall and hood. The other times it just left me sitting with no forward movement. Driveline shock always does it. Not always from a burnout... it could also be from the tires spinning in gravel then biting pavement, or from a pothole. Sucks.

On a side note... an aftermarket LSD would cure this problem. The stock LSD has a cross pin for the spider gears. A wavetrac, quaife, or similar LSD that doesn't have spider gears would eliminate the chance of ever breaking spider gears or cross pins again.