Good morning to all. I have a 91 tt auto and coming home from a fishing trip to poole yesterday the gearbox gave up the ghost. I am not sure if it is the box or the torque converter.

 

What it is doing> When in D it has a bit of drive but making all kinds of funny sounds and at one point just before I stopped it sounded like some one had hit it with a hammer. It was at this point I pulled over.

 

It will not engage Reverse, you can hear it trying to but no reverse.

 

I have only had the car 6 months and have not done any kind of miles in it so have not done a lot to it and have no idea as to the service life it has had. The only thing I did when I got it was to change the rad filler cap as that was leaking and to clean and flush the coolant.

 

I have checked oil level in gearbox and that is fine but was bloody hot. Does any one know the running temp of the auto box oil. It may have been hot because that's its normal running temp.

 

Many thanks for your help.

Is it an import? Imports have a particularly crap box cooler, its simply a loop a few inches long that passes through the radiator. They weren't ever designed for high speed long motor way journeys, in the Japanese market. This is rectified by the Uk specs by actually having a separate box cooler.

 

The box fluid should be a lovely pink colour, if it smells of burnt toast and its brown, that's a bad thing. There is something you can try that works for some, even if its temporary. In the box is a filter, this blocks with metal fillings etc, clean this change the fluid and it will possibly work for a while.

 

However that being said, the auto boxes are renowned for failure, most of them have had a hard life with those 300 horses going through them. Unless your restricted to an auto for what ever reason I would urge you to convert to manual. Manual box is stronger and more reliable, the car will feel more responsive you've probably been throwing a lot of horses down the drain through transmissional losses. If your auto box is toast and you do fit another its likely you will find yourself back in this position in a few months/years time.

 

Lastly don't go breaking down in my county again please esp if the car is red. people will assume its mine breaking, I don't like that idea. :clap:

Thanks for your reply. Yes its a import and I did check the oil and it did smell burnt and had a little smoke come out of the dip stick hole when I removed the dip stick. I was thinking that the whole thing was buggered but was hoping there may have been some thing else which people who have had the cars for some time would be able to point me in the right direction with. I am just in the middle of sending out enquires to gearbox people to see how much for it to be repaired. I am also just looking on fleabay to see how much I am looking at converting it to manual.

 

Also its black and I did make it back most of the way home. I got as far as just past newbury on the a34 before it all went wrong so I think your safe no one would think it was you.

Thanks for your reply. Yes its a import and I did check the oil and it did smell burnt and had a little smoke come out of the dip stick hole when I removed the dip stick. I was thinking that the whole thing was buggered but was hoping there may have been some thing else which people who have had the cars for some time would be able to point me in the right direction with. I am just in the middle of sending out enquires to gearbox people to see how much for it to be repaired. I am also just looking on fleabay to see how much I am looking at converting it to manual.

 

Also its black and I did make it back most of the way home. I got as far as just past newbury on the a34 before it all went wrong so I think your safe no one would think it was you.

 

I certainly wouldn't pay to rebuild an auto, so much cheaper to go manual. £3-400 for the kit, new clutch would be a good idea, all depends on what's about it can be done relatively cheaply.

Thank you for you consideration in breaking down elsewhere haha.

£3-400 for the convertion. I have been looking this morning on ebay and they are going for more like £1000 for the whole kit. I have not tried to find the parts on there own as yet just done a quick search on it. Will look some more when I have some time going to try and get it out of my head for today. Nice car just a right pain in the ass when it goes wrong. I think it may have to wait a min or two was only going to have it on the road for the summer then take it off for the winter and do some bits on it to put it back to almost standard. Well its been lowered so was going to put it back to normal ride level as its a right nightmare around here with the speed humps and potholes. Just going to have to put my legnum back on the road sooner then I was hoping.

I just sold a manual conversion to a fellow zedder for 350 delivered.

I did see another for sale on here for slightly more, but no where near 1000 like the flea bay thieves are asking.

Welcome to the club John and sorry to hear about your gearbox but if you have a look in our items for sale section there are a few boxs for sale at good prices.

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?17-Items-For-Sale

Thanks tomomontata u did sell to me :clap: I've seen another on here for £500 but not sure if its still for sale !! H31 if your wanting to go for a auto box mine will be take from my car in a few weeks time and for sale if iam allowed to sell on here ???? As far as iam aware the box is fine strong in all gears only saying coz my mate picked my car up from Southampton and drove it back to Stockton for me now iam changing to manual . Hope you get sorted with it

eBay is full of con merchants.

Sadly it sounds like your auto box has cooked itself. As said above, you could try an oil change and filter clean/change; but TBH if the fliud smells burnt it's not a good sign.

 

A good rebuild from a specialists will cost you around £1400 - I had it done on my old red ZX by a very knowledgable and reputable auto-box company; not cheap at £1200 plus VAT all in!! But it did come with a no quibble guarantee for peace of mind.

 

A second hand auto box will cost you around £200-300; plus a bit for fitting. But you have no idea as to the state of that one either and it could go bad again in a few months. And TBH the same goes for a manual conversion too mate - don't think for a minute that you're guaranteed a manual 'box in 100% god condition either! That could also be 20 years old and suffered from 300bhp being put through it for 000s of miles.....

 

Full manual conversion kits do come up for sale though; and I've seen them go from between £300-600 on here. Again, if you can't (or don't want to) do the work yourself you need to factor in the labour. IIRC Zedworld charges about £1500 all in - which includes a brand new OEM clutch.

 

If you do decide on the cheaper option of replacing he auto box, make sure you extend its life by upgrading to the UK spec oil cooling system! Good luck mate; and sorry to hear of your woes:sad:

 

Richard:thumbup1:

Thanks tomomontata u did sell to me :clap: I've seen another on here for £500 but not sure if its still for sale !! H31 if your wanting to go for a auto box mine will be take from my car in a few weeks time and for sale if iam allowed to sell on here ???? As far as iam aware the box is fine strong in all gears only saying coz my mate picked my car up from Southampton and drove it back to Stockton for me now iam changing to manual . Hope you get sorted with it

 

Sadly not mate - you need to be a subbed member to sell on the forum. Please see here on how to upgrade your memebrship when/if you would like to sell anything in future....

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?132930-Club-Subscription-Benefits&p=1320745&viewfull=1#post1320745

 

Cheers!

 

Richard

Thanks Richard will upgrade

Thanks Richard will upgrade

 

You're welcome mate:wink:

Thanks for all of your help. Fitting it would not be a problem for me as I am in the middle of setting up a mobile automotive business and I have a workshop with lift etc. I did think it was gone but just wanted to make sure from people who have had the cars for some time and know what they are talking about. As I said I am in the middle of starting my own business so money is a thing I do not have a lot of at the min. So I may have to go down the route of the cheapest for now and look at a full conversation later.

 

I do have a atf cooler in my cupboard which I was going to fit to my legnum. Could not do that as there was no room for it (or it was to big) I see from taking the bumper off of my z there is loads of room in there. The only thing I will ask is will that not make the atf to cold. I know they route it through the rad to warm it up as well as cool it down. If taking the atf away from the rad to help cool it would this not make another problem because it would find it hard to get upto working temp.

g-ramsey. I may well be interested in your box, please could you do what ever you need to do as far as this site and then give me a price delivered many thanks.

I have a Auto box and updated oil cooler if that's your preferred option.

Check out for sale section.

Hi h31 I will upgrade my account and get back to you

I don't think it will do any harm taking the ATF away from the rad; I suspect it does not take too long for the ATF to reach operating temperature anyway:wink:

 

On the upgrade to UK spec cooling, I believe that you buy a new, bigger, oil cooler for the engine oil - and then route the ATF through the current engine oil cooler already present on the J-spec car. After giving it a good clean out of course!! The Zed Centre used to sell the upgrade (not cheap); but TBH you're better off speaking to JeffTT about a second hand kit - or Mike at MJP for new.

 

Richard:thumbup1:

If your looking for standard shocks and springs these are a bargain http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?169956-rear-shocks

 

Paul

Yep is a good price but I would need both front and rear.

Is it an import? Imports have a particularly crap box cooler, its simply a loop a few inches long that passes through the radiator. They weren't ever designed for high speed long motor way journeys, in the Japanese market. This is rectified by the Uk specs by actually having a separate box cooler.

 

Just to clarify, the UK zed did NOT have a seperate cooler and used the radiator method the same as the import UK auto`s have the same fail issues that the imports do and mainly for 2 reasons, lack of service and lack of service ( prior owners often the case)

 

As far as the op question the noise you hearing does in fact sound terminal, however if you have access to a ramp then get it up and drain the box, remove the sump and clean out the strainer, you will not get all of the fluid out of the the torque convertor but you can blow the cooler lines clear with an air line etc.

 

No guarantee of a good result but what do you have to loose, a few quid for some fluid and you may be lucky.

 

Jeff TT

Yep is a good price but I would need both front and rear.

 

You can get the fronts from MrF look him up in the traders section if you want new or ask in the for sale section, plenty of people have upgraded there suspension and got the old one's laying around.

 

Paul

Edited June 23, 201312 yr by 300_zedx

Theres a breakers got a NA Zed Manual very near me - I spoke to them two week ago because I was after the Vacuum Clutch Assist cylinder (if that's what it's correctly called) as the one on my car is FUBAR and I have it disconnected which makes the clutch heavy.

 

Anyway they wouldn't sell it to me as they were offering the whole kit as a 'ready to fit' Manual conversion for £600

 

If that's any use to you I'll pass you the number so you can see if they still have it.

 

I still need a clutch assist thing BTW (if anyone has one) but hear they are like rocking horse poo to find. If I'd had the cash spare I'd of probably been best to buy the whole lot of them, keep the bit and need and sell the rest separately lol

 

Rich

Just to clarify, the UK zed did NOT have a seperate cooler and used the radiator method the same as the import UK auto`s have the same fail issues that the imports do and mainly for 2 reasons, lack of service and lack of service ( prior owners often the case)

 

As far as the op question the noise you hearing does in fact sound terminal, however if you have access to a ramp then get it up and drain the box, remove the sump and clean out the strainer, you will not get all of the fluid out of the the torque convertor but you can blow the cooler lines clear with an air line etc.

 

No guarantee of a good result but what do you have to loose, a few quid for some fluid and you may be lucky.

 

Jeff TT

 

Thanks Jeff - although it is bigger on the UK/EU spec cars though isn't it? Or have I just picked up on another myth....?

Or have I just picked up on another myth....?

 

Is that a female moth?

Rich, the UK radiator has a 2 coolers inputs/ out puts on the side headers where the import radiators only have one side, so effectively an opportunity to pass the fluid through the headers a second time as to how much better this is is arguable, a nice air to fluid cooler is a much better option, something we have been an advocate of for many years.

 

Jeff

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Is that a female moth?

 

:laugh: