Well finally heard back from TRE. With the pictures I provided (I took about 50 good pics of everything around the entire transmission area before even parting it) He said that most likely what happened with it was that the half shaft somehow came out while driving (pic below shows the grease from it all over the k-member) and that is where most of the trans oil leaked out, and the rest probably just boiled and burned off.
When he took the thing apart he found almost everything in the thing to be black and blue from the crazy amount of heat it made with no fluid in it. (I'm trying to get some carnage pics of it right now) He said internally (this is all from memory now, and I don't really know the internals of transmission well at all, so it is the best i could remember after a 90 minute phone conversation) after the lack of fluid, the intermediate shaft was seized, most the internals were black and blue from the heat, and he rockwell hardness tested a bunch of the parts and they came out to be in the low 50's, like 51-52 he said they are usually in the 60's. If he put if back together, it would work, but probably wear out/break super fast.
So, since it wasn't an internal failure, and really no ones fault at all, he said he cannot warranty it. He feels bad because its a real shit thing to happen, and he said it's only the second time in his career this type of thing has ever happened. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, he has been a super guy to deal with (hard to get a hold of at times, but a real good guy when he does get back to you) but then again, I realize it wasn't really his fault and at the end of the day he still has a business to run. it was just a shitty freak thing, that pretty much epitomized my entire DSM ownership experience. Freak problem after freak problem.
Towards the end of the conversation, he asked me what I would like to do and since I don't even own a DSM anymore, and the trans parts were not re-usable (he said gears were going for $.10/lb or something LOL) The whole works was maybe worth $50-60 in scrap metal and he really had no use for the rest of it. he said he would give me a free Sight glass rear diff cover for my Evo for my troubles.
Like I said, major mixed feelings, but at least I didn't get
completely stiffed and I got a trick ass diff cover
Here's where you can see where the half shaft came apart/popped out just enough and sprayed grease all over along with letting the fluid out
I highlighted it to make more visible
Both front axles had less then 1,000 miles on them also.
Linear Mode
