Questions and Answers

Chevy Lumina Engine Or Transmission Noise
Q. Okay, the car is a 1996 Chevy Lumina Sedan, 3.1 liter V-6, 4 speed automatic transmission and 184,000 miles. I was merging on to freeway and had a sudden loss of power and appearance of really odd noise.

I had to gun my car to stay going 25 mph; I drove it home a mile away floored. Prior to this incident the car has had NO problems except a water pump I replaced a month ago and constant error code "EGR valve flow insufficient" which has popped up for 80,000 miles and caused no problems yet.

I start the car in park and the noise is till there, I did get the error code multiple cylinder misfire one time when I started it after the incident, but I started it yesterday and there was no error code or service engine light on at all. Noise is still there, car will not go in reverse, moves in forward though, and still makes that noise.

It is undriveable right now so I need to figure this out, the vibration when the noise goes in very minute so I seriously doubt I threw a rod, anyway, I can't even drive to a mechanic and if I have it towed at great expense I'm sure they will tell me time to scrap the car OR, new engine and new transmission which, with labor, would be over $5,000.00, more then the car cost 90,000 miles ago.

A. It would be very hard for me to diagnose a noise that I can't hear. What you need to do is determine if the noise is from the engine or transmission. If you have no reverse maybe the problem is in the transmission.

You could try unbolting the torque converter from the flywheel and push converter towards the transmission so it won't drag on flywheel. Start it up to see if the noise is gone. We know you have a transmission problem since it doesn't have reverse.

If there is still a noise with the transmission disconnected, maybe it's time to move on and get out from under this car.