1995 Maxima : transmission or differential problem?

[maxima278]

I'll try to list every bit of info I have here:

History: I have a 95 Nissan Maxima GLE with 190k that recently had a motorswap done. I had a friend of mine install the motor, and he had not ever removed an automatic trans, but he has worked with manual transmissions on many cars. When we bought the car it had blown headgaskets, and possible bad bearings in the motor so the decision was made to purchase another motor, the new one having 90k on it, or so the source claims. It ran and drove perfectly with no transmission issues whatsoever. Please note: I have no experience with auto transmissions, nor did I have any hand in taking this car apart and putting it back together, so I'm in the dark.

As of right now, the new motor runs like a dream, the transmission shifts perfectly, all fluids appear to be good, no metal shavings appearing yet in the transmission. It's been driven maybe 50 miles at best since the swap.

Here's the problem: when you drive it it sounds like a truck with knobby tires going down the road. Like a roaring or scraping sound, whenever the car moves, coming from the frontend, totally dependent on speed of the car, not on whether or not it is running, and not whether it is in gear or not. Pretty much vibrates the entire car.

My findings: I've put the car on jackstands, cranked it and put it in drive. Took brake calipers loose, no change. Noise appeared to be coming from the wheel bearings, so I swapped out the hubs with hub assemblies from a junkyard car. No change, to ensure the new ones weren't bad, I took the old ones to an actual mechanic who told me they were good. I noticed the passenger side axle was beginning to squirt grease everywhere, so I replaced it too. No change. Drivers side axle appears to not be in all the way, I can slide my finger in between the axel and the transmission. Splines appear to be in far enough, only smooth surface showing from outside, but still doesn't look right. I removed it and reinstalled it, no change, so I removed it again, took off the c clip and shoved it back in, still had gap.

Noise appears to be coming from between the 2 axles on the transmission where they meet. Which I'm assuming is the differential portion of the transmission. When axles removed, no fluid comes gushing out of the hole. Seems to me like it would. Transmission fluid was introduced to the transmission through the dipstick hole. I did not see another place to add fluid, but wonder if its circulating properly.

I'm looking for answers that don't include 'your transmission's screwed', but I'm not hopeful at this point. Thanks in advance for reading this god-aweful long post and for your help.james

[maxima278]

anyone?

[maxima278]

not exactly the response I was hoping for...

[maxima278]

Can anyone help me? Or at least steer me in the right direction?

[boriquaS13]

I have seen on the manual transmission's the carrier bearings go bad. But never on an automatic. Why not take it to a reputable trans shop and have them go for a drive with you and see what they say? Don't know what else to say.

[maxima278]

Done. I dropped it off yesterday at a shop. This mechanic has never steered me wrong, but right now he thinks its wheel bearings. I disagree, hence I'm letting him do a little investigation.

[driftingmy240sx]

the axles should be flush with the trans, no finger gap.