Are the later autoboxes the same as the early ones apart from the improved oil cooling? Has anyone experienced any problems with later autoboxes or SE-Nissan modified earlier ones.

The reason I'm asking this is that it will cost me approx 250 small, squidgey sea creatures for a big oil cooler, plus 250 more for a full 60K service, plus extra to get my prop sorted, plus possible extra if my cylinder heads develop the problem that very early Zeds have and if the gearbox is still not totally dependable then I would prefer to just sell the car now and put the extra money towards a newer/different model.

 

I'd just like to be able to drive to Switzerland next month without having to worry about such things

 

 

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[This message has been edited by Dylan (edited 31-05-2001).]

Dylan,

 

I haven't got a Autobox on mine but from what i have read only the 90's were dodgy in the stock form. They failed quiet badly.

 

More recent ones should be fine - providing you keep them at a good temprature - If you have a UK model then your Oil cooler should be OK for a stock car that has only just done 60K - If you have a Jap and are planning to drive in Europe then get the SE cooler - that is why nissan added one to the UK spec's ! Auto boxes can be dodgy if you start to run higher boost - that is when you need to upgrade them !

 

Head Problems ?? Not sure what you mean by that i haven't heard of too many Z's that have had cylinder head problems - do you mean noisey lifters or worn cams ? shouldn't be a problem unless they are very noisy now.

 

Get the Prop sorted - What is wrong with it ? People always get over charged for this job ! - Look into gettin some parts from the state - Courtesyparts.com is your man.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Z ya

Nico91TT

From an earlier post in this forum:

The 1990 model had its passenger side (near side) head machined wrong - hence the splined joint between the CAS and the exhaust cam wore prematurely causing hesitation problems that only get worse. The only proper fix for this (apparently) is to replace the head(£££££££)!

 

My prop has the same vibration as most other people seem to experience. It happens between 40 and 70mph but is not seriously bad yet. I was thinking of getting it looked at the same time as upgrading the oil cooler for my autobox.

 

If my gearbox is also different (ie more fragile) than more recent models even after its had extra cooling then I might as well just sell the car and spend the extra 1000 squid on a newer model that doesn't have these "design features".

 

My car is an 89 TT import

 

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[This message has been edited by Dylan (edited 31-05-2001).]

From an earlier post in this forum:

The 1990 model had its passenger side (near side) head machined wrong - hence the splined joint between the CAS and the exhaust cam wore prematurely causing hesitation problems that only get worse. The only proper fix for this(apparently) is to replace the head(£££££££)!

 

As I own a 90 TT Auto, I had a look into this problem.

 

Not ALL 89/90 TTZ got this problem, but only VERY FEW of them, probably LESS THAN 100 !!

 

If you really have a doubt, send me your ENGINE serial number, and I'll check if your car is a "suspect" one.

 

If your car is an "import", I'd suggest that you invest in the "euro gearbox oil cooler"...BUT...most gearboxes do NOT fail because of high temps, but because of "the nut behind the steering wheel" problem...one thing gearboxes do NOT like is to have the car driven HARD, while the box is still cold.

 

BTW, there only ONE place in continental europe without speed limits.....it's called GERMANY...there ARE speed limits in France / Switzerland....similar to the UK ones (and with large speeding fines)....I don't see WHY your box should fail because it's on a foreign (to you) road.

 

Finally, be sure to say "hi" if / when you'll be in Switzerland

 

Zee you

 

Henri

Speaking of speed limits in France, a Swiss guy just got done for doing 173mph in his new Ferrari 360 Modena. He's in court and they think that he may go to prison.

Looks like we'll have to keep a beady eye out on the Le Mans trip....

 

Andy

Hate to break it to you, but even Germany has speed limits now. I've just spent the last 6 months there and I was SOOOO tempted to take my Zed until I realised that at best I could legally take her to 130kph (about 90ish, I think). Hardly seemed worth it. Add to that the mileage I would put on her driving her over there and the enormous amount of trust that I would have to have in the shipping company that shipped her over and I realised that my Zed in a garage in the UK was preferable. Even if it did mean that I had to drive the company Passat for 6 months.

I wasn't planning on speeding, just getting there and back without breaking down.

My gearbox failed after midnight on empty roads when I was driving at about the speed of a granny in a Ford Fiesta (ie not going above 70 for the 90 minute trip). It failed about 6 months ago when the previous owner had it too.

At the moment I'd feel more confident taking my old Fiat.

And to think I gave up my string of Italian cars and bought a Japanese one because they are more reliable

 

Welcome to 300 ownership matey!

 

Tim

;-)

 

Failed ??

What acutually went wrong with the tranismission?

 

If a box has failed that many times in a shortish period of time and it is driven as sensibly as you say i would look at the integrity of the person that is doing the rebuild work.

 

Find a reputable person to look at it if it happens again - so many problems are miss diagnosed on the drivelines of these cars it amazes me !

 

Z ya

 

Nico 91TT

Nasty grinding sound happened at about 50mph, the noise cleared after 200yds but I later found reverse gear was just a neutral (speed sensor not working due to bits of teeth attached to it?). First gear now sounds a bit rough but other forward gears are fine

 

I took it back to the place that "fixed" it last time as they warranteed the work. Taking it elsewhere would cost me money so that is not an option I'd consider yet.

 

when they took the box out, did they flush the cooler as well ?

 

i seem to remember a previous post where someone had a similar problem....

 

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UK 92 TT White

Mongoose K&N AVCR

KYB Eibach

Hate to break it to you, but even Germany has speed limits now

 

Don't know where you've been, but last time I've been there (a couple weeks ago), I can garantee you that there are quite some sections of the autobahn without ANY speed limit.

 

I even phoned a Z-German friend a couple seconds ago....and he comfirms that.

 

Henri

Stuttgart, Bavaria and Frankfurt. They all had 130kph signs littering the road. And bloody sneaky speed cameras too. Just these square "holes" lurking in the bridge over the road next to the speed sign. You get as far "What the hell are..." and then they flash,follwed by "oh". Then...then about 500 yards up the road, they flash your number plate up on a sign with an exclamation mark so that you know you have been nicked. Fortuantely nothing arrived in the post and I left Germany about 8 weeks thereafter. I'm just waiting for a forwarded post for OK KO 195 to come through saying that I was speeding on the Frankfurt autobahn on this date...

 

Mind you, that was 3 months ago, so they probably just paid it and left it at that. My experience with the German was that they weren't too efficient (bang goes that theory about Germans) and avoided making a scene. Or maybe that was just the companies I was working for...

 

Probably they are just rolling it out across Germany as Dusseldorf has recently got them in as a colleague has testified to, having just been sent a nice letter with his photograph attached, so maybe where your friend lives they aren't in situ yet.

I phoned the garage and they said the transmission place in Bristol (JR transmissions??) have 3 other Zeds in and they are going to add a bigger autobox oil cooler to stop it happening again. They seemed to know about the problem with Zeds which has given me some confidence. Noone has told me I'll be paying for anything yet so I'm keeping fingers crossed. It should be ready by the end of next week (exactly the same time as my job finishes - woo hoo, the start of summer, Z and all day to play in it)

 

Ajay,

 

Interesting my friend, so let me get this straight all? We are not actually in Europe at this time(Euro etc.), but we are closely copying our Euro. chums in rolling out exactly the same speed camera network?

 

Sounds like we are already in Europe to me!

 

Tim

;-)