A noise started in my transmission a few days ago. A rattle. A bearing issue sounding rattle. "Wow, I hope that isn't as bad as it sounds.", I thought. Primarily because of my lack of funds at this time and my lack of knowledge about transmissions. And, I had always heard that 240 tranny's are generally bullet-proof. Well, yesterday the noise rapidly got louder and more obnoxious until finally culminating in a very loud crunch/rattle that left my car slightly in gear, enough to get through the intersection and park it. At this point, I enlisted the help of a trusty friend, who happened to be at the bar across the street, to help me get my car to a reasonable place to park. This was when I found out that it will not engage any gear except 4th. I have access to used transmissions and tools and a pretty good pool of knowledgable friends to help me fix this issue but I thought I would also throw a couple of questions out here in interwebz land. Is my tranny shot or can I replace inner workings? How hard is it, really, to swap a tranny in these cars?...(Time consumption). Anything in particular that I need to keep in mind while doing this job?
Thanks in advance for any responses.
Wes