Newbie to the group seeking advise.

 

1989 Japan T top Fairlady Z, 3litre twin turbo - 150,000 KMs

 

When I start the engine there is a whiring type noise which disapears after about 5 mins (convertor side of gearbox).

 

It drives fine for a short period, then the drive comes and goes for no apparant reason....if I turn off and restart the motor then drive is restored?? It goes through the gears and performs as expected until the drive is lost, then it's just like it's stuck in neutral.

Checked the oil level which is OK. There is no obvious bangs or clanks.

 

Any advise or help would be appreciated before I take the car to the service area.

 

Has anyone else had a similar problem?

Sounds like the strainer / filter is blocked or collapsed get it to an auto specialist for a service asap.

 

Jeff TT

Seconded

Same thing happened to me last week (see http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18478)

 

Spoke to several people about whether it was worth trying to repair just the pump but they all said the risk was that there might be debris which would cause problems later so it was better to go for a full rebiuild.

 

I decided to go for the SE fast road rebuild in the end as it was only £150 more than what I was being quoted for a standard rebuild and if you've got to do the work then it's as well to upgrade.

 

Old box sent off last night so no car for a few weeks yet!

 

Colin

Dick...what was the total cost? did you remove the box yourself and onsend it? thanks.

I had an old box lying so haven't taken the broken box out yet. SE quoted me £1400 for the upgrade and it cost me £49 to ship it using Target. When it's returned I'll have it fitted at a local garage.

 

Colin

another newbie here, been reading the forum for ages picking up some good advice, then a few days ago developed EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM

as above, and as my import has only done 35k, thought dropping the auto sump was worth a shot, the minute i saw the filter i knew it wasn't right

so cleaned it, refilled with new fluid, and hey presto the horrible noise has gone, and no loss of power, also a big thanks to ANDYGP, who kindly gave his number to a m8 who was fitting an alarm,

so as long as i've caused no long term damage, the price of the transmission fluid has cured an otherwise fatal problem

You have to ask yourself why the filter was blocked though.

ive seen MANY of the jap imports, and the dust and the climate

they come from, nothing surprises me, and having recently delimited

the car, who knows what it's dislodged/shocked,

ive had a few autoboxes apart and never seen muck in them like this

especially after just 35k, maybe the previous owner contaminated the fluid?

and the hard driving has uncovered it

 

i was close to buying another import, because for double the price of a rebuild

i could have bought a whole car, swopped boxes and still had a LOT of spares

hope i am wrong, but the filters tend to block because the box is near the end of its life.

 

i see no way the climate has any effect. IMHO

if it was metal shavings i would agree with you

this was muck/contaminated, climate has everything to do with a car

jags dont rust in america, they certainly do here,

air intakes in japan pick up completley different muck than the uk

as you said previously dirt shouldnt be in the box, but it could be something as silly as the container the previous owner kept fluid in, as ive seen diesel rot containers then end up in the filters, so who knows

Well, i was assuming that total stupidity was not to be considered. If it is then all is lost. And of course climate has no effect on the condition of said container because to many other factors would make more difference. As for metal in the filter, when an auto starts to eat itself, there is not always metal. The paper on the bands and cclutch plates comes off and contaminates the fluid, generally turns the fluid black/dark too.

As I said, I dont feel any auto box in good condition will need its filter cleaning. No offence.

No offence taken m8, cos in that respect i totally agree with you

ive seen many insides of auto boxes and they have all been clear as the day they were put in, the fluid in this one was the correct colour

when i actually saw the muck i was quite hopeful

a m8 standing there said "oh that wouldnt cause it" but i knew it was possible

but i was more bothered that there may have been damage because of it

 

been out again today and fingers crossed all seems well, gear changes are perfect, maybe the little guy who had the car couldn't reach the dipstick

and used a hose to put it in lol

billynomates , i like ya name lol,

i agree with what mark has said , i had a rover sd1 years ago , had exactly the same problem so i cleaned the strainer/filter and new fluid , everything was great.... for about three months! then it died completely.

It could have been coincidence but like mark says its not a good sign.

Cant see how climate would effect the inside of an autobox either.

Hope it stays ok for u anyway :-)

yep i'll just have to hope and fingers crossed and keep me AA card with me lol

maybe they dropped it in the sea on the boat over, or it was sat by the docks for 3 months (wishful thinking)

 

had a m8 stick a new diagnostics machine on it today, and all came up clear

was expecting a message "some arse has been messing with the gearbox" lol