87 744Ti
215k miles

Short Story
Brothers driving back to school. Slight whine from the car during the trip.
1 mile from his home the car wont move forward, or back.
Seems tranny related as the noise changes when the shifter is moved through the gears. He said it lost grip/power to the wheels completely.

Got it home and I dinked with it today. The car will engage all gears when the motor and trans are cold, and the car moves ok for a while. Leave it in park idling for 5 minutes and then nothing. It gets progressivly better the lower gears you select. 1 is the easiest with the ability to get some forward momentum. But then after trying to get it in the garage it is almost like a trans brake is applied and the car loses forward speed completely. Also at this point, reverse is practically gone. I checked the fluid when it was cold and it was above the Hot full mark. I drained off enough so it was at the Min cold mark. The fluid was a good color, not burnt, black, etc.

This changed nothing in the symptoms. I could rev up the engine to 3k and nothing would happen, nothing caught in the tranny. It was quite odd. We have never added tranny fluid to it since it was purchased late last year. It seems odd to me that it is was that full. I am assuming this caused problems with the transmission (like overfilling the engine). Apparently this tranny is either new or rebuilt according to the previous owner.

What are the differences between an Aw71 from a turbo car and an NA car?
I have sources for a low mileage tranny from an NA car now.

thoughts?
The plan right now is to get a low mileage Aw71 and replace it.

thanks
take care