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, Sun, 11 Nov 2001 13:29:14
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Welcome to the weird world of Sonett! A couple of thoughts (if you call these thoughts)--
-- Yes, it IS supposed to coast down hills!! The other posters were right on the mark in describing the freewheel mechanism that makes this happen... but bear in mind that it's not uncommon for someone to have disconnected it in the intervening quarter-century, so you might want to check and see whether yours is still "stock." Here's how:
Look into the engine compartment at the transaxle. Right on top of it should be an odd-shaped arced "quadrant" made of white nylon-type plastic. The quadrant is about the size of two fingers and should be able to pivot toward or away from the clutch housing. At one end of the quadrant should be a big black rubber washer with a rod hooked into it; the rod should run back through the firewall and out the other side, ending in a black T-handle under the dash. This T-handle is what you pull out (to engage the freewheel) or push in (to lock it out) -- ONLY WHEN THE CAR IS STOPPED, PUH-LEASE!!!
However, if any of these parts are missing, someone may have removed them or forgot to put them back on after a servicing. It's more common for see a freewheel that's been permanently locked out ("neutered") either because the freewheel mechanism was too worn and started slipping, or because somebody got weirded out by the lack of engine braking. But who knows, some freewheel fanatic may have removed the linkage to lock your car in permanent freewheel!
-- Jumping out of first gear could be a bad transaxle problem, but it also could just be a slightly misaligned shift linkage. This is pretty easy for your mechanic to adjust IF s/he has the proper Sonett III factory service supplement, which contains explicit directions. (The original factory service manuals consisted of a V4 manual, which covered the 95/96 cars plus all the systems they shared with the Sonett, plus a separate manual that covered the unique Sonett-only bits. The Sonett III was the only one of these cars with a floor shifter, so you need the supplement to get this info.)
-- Laying the car up for winter: To the previous advice, I'd add: change the engine oil AND the transaxle oil, to make sure you've got nice, fresh detergent additives in both. In the spring, change them again before you start driving the car -- that way, any water that condensed in the oil/lube during the winter drains out again. incidentally, the secret to long transaxle life is (a) use the right lubricant (nothing thicker than SAE 80 EP; thicker oils don't get flung around enough inside the case to reach all the little bearings) and (b) change it often. To make it easy to remember, I change the transaxle lube every time I change the engine oil, and I use Red Line MTL (not cheap, but I'm only using 1.8 quarts per change!)
Another layup tip: Turn the steering wheel full left and squirt a grease gun into the grease fitting on the steering rack (don't overdo this -- a couple of squeezes of the grease-gun handle is plenty.)
-- Notchy steering: I don't know what to tell you about this other than that it's NOT supposed to be that way. Steering on a Sonett is a bit heavy (the standing joke is that they have "Armstrong power steering," i.e. wrestling with the wheel makes your armstrong) but very smooth. Jacking up the front and seeing if it smooths out is a good ploy for getting some clues about where the problem might be.
If you get the steering fixed so it's nice and smooth, but the wheel is still off-center, it's possible that someone simply put it on crooked -- the wheel hub is splined and slides onto splines on the steering shaft, and there's nothing to stop some doofus from putting it on ANY old way. But DON'T "fix" it just by putting the wheel back on straight until you've found out why the steering isn't smooth!
posted by 32.97.3...
, Sun, 11 Nov 2001 13:29:14, Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:28:54
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