The other day as I backed out, I noticed the car stutter and a white smoke came from under the car. I pulled back up and let the car sit for a while. When I restarted the car it was o.k.until I put it in reverse. It started making a weird noise but only in reverse. Is it about to die?I know it seems like a dumb question , but I need to know. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Hey, I'll take a stab at this ...when you have noise in reverse it's the sun shell stripping out...could be a clutch pac, but generally speaking they won't make noise...I hope this helps ..Dave

 

in reverse converter torque is transferred from the turbine shaft to the rear sun gear and planet via the reverse drum and drive sun shell in a clockwise rotation.the low reverse clutch pack holds the rear carrier stationary thus driving the output ring gear in reverse direction of turbine shaft .this same planet is used to overdrive the front planet in 2nd gear as well as 4th therefore the start of a possible planetary gear failure may be happening especially if you hear noise in 2nd and 4th gears as well.clunking is usually the result of damaged pinion gears or pins and is sometimes cause by wear in between teeth that engage the reverse drum and drive shell because of there mechanical arrangement in the transmission.a noise in reverse without the car moving as well as when moving could indicate low fluid level.the reason being that line pressure is multiplied in reverse via a hydraulic signal from the manual valve to the reverse boost valve to place additional downshift force on the pressure regulator valve requiring a higher pressure be reached before the pr valve will open.this is done to reduce engine runaway or clutch slippage in reverse .the fact that output shaft rotation is opposite the direction of input torque and its clockwise rotation is partially responsible for the engineered bump in clamping force a via increased pressure.in reverse with low oil level the pr valve can make an audible buzz or noise similar to a malfunctioning power steering system because without proper oil pressure at the valve it cannot balance itself properly.also in reverse additional boosts in line pressure put the pump under a load .simply pulling the tv cable out all the way will show this by a decrease in engine rpm of up to 300 rpms with a variable dispalacement type oil pump.the puff of smoke doesnt coincide and may be coincidental.do you have additional information?ckperformance