Ok at the end of last year (2007) i had my auto replaced by a second hand box due to my torque converter breaking off and destroying my box while doing 100 kmph:(. Anyways i had my the box serived and fitted by my zed mechanic and i trust the work he did was dont correctly and i know second hand boxes arent like brand new auto boxes when it comes to having problems and such.

 

Ok so atm ive had the new box for about 2 months and ive been having a problem while driving at low speeds in first gear where my car would sometimes not want to change up 2 second gear. basically the car will rev but not accelerat at all. Now ive tried to manually shift the auto into 2nd and 1st gear but no change occurs. Ive also tried turning the O/D switch to off and still no difference. Ive also tried switching the POWER and HOLD settings to also have no change. Ive worked out if i pulled over and turn the car off and then on again the car will then shift normally.

 

Now i rang my zed mechanic after the first time this happened and he said the clutch could be slipping or a seal was sticking inside the box. Would this sound right for this problem im having. I havent had it check/fixed yet as i almost went broken trying to replace the old auto with the new one. I am currently saving up so cash now so i dont get into this situation again but i just want to know if it could be an electrical problem causing the auto to no shift correctly.

When your box destroys its self it also spreads millions of tinmy bits of metal everywhere, inc the oil cooler.

 

Unless the cooler is really cleaned well, and some say buy a new one, when you change your box these bits from the cooler then start to wreck the "new" box too.

 

But your problem may be low fluid, or the strainer (filter) blocking. But you have to ask why the strainer is blocking in the first place.

First thing first mate. I had my the same problem with my Auto, turned out that the mechanic hadn't bled through properly and the fluid was wrong. The hyd' fluid that he used was more compressable then the rated 'DEXRON III', so with this in mind either ask what fluid he used or go for a complete drain, and as stated above, look for evidence of material in the drained fluid. Fill with DEXRON III, rock gear selector back and forward through all gears, checking fluid level until full.

If it stops after the ignition is switched off, could it be an elec problem ??

ok sry i forgot to add the standalone oil cooler as the radiator cooler was stuffed cuz of u know what. The reason i thought it might be an electrical problem is doesnt the ecu reset everytime u turn the car off or something like that. Thought mayb the auto computer might be stuffed.

 

i do intended to call my mechanic and ask him more questions ill ask about the oil they used etc ive only been putting it off so i could save some money incase i need to have the shop drop the auto for a check, was hoping it was something simple to fix. So it could also be air pockets in the tramission oil or is there anything else???

ok sry i forgot to add the standalone oil cooler as the radiator cooler was stuffed cuz of u know what. The reason i thought it might be an electrical problem is doesnt the ecu reset everytime u turn the car off or something like that. Thought mayb the auto computer might be stuffed.

 

i do intended to call my mechanic and ask him more questions ill ask about the oil they used etc ive only been putting it off so i could save some money incase i need to have the shop drop the auto for a check, was hoping it was something simple to fix. So it could also be air pockets in the tramission oil or is there anything else???

 

 

When u say u switch it off and it drives normally, how long does it drive for. When it faults does it fault right away or do you gradually start to loose drive, then switch off and restart and its ok for a while. The reason I ask is I work on auto boxes on the buses (ZF/Voith/Alison to be exact) and when the filters clogged with debris I have has this type of fault frequently. Its the oil pressure thats dropping due to the restricted filter. When u drive off it will drive normally then after a period of time (usually not long) it starts to slip and in some cases will completely loose drive. With the stuff i'm working on u can usually hear the pump struggling for oil and can actually airate the oil.

 

 

Before you changed the box did u drop the sump and check the gauze strainer for debris. Currently whats the oil condition/level like.

 

I know the bigger boxes I work on are not a Zed but the basics with all these are the same.

 

Also with regards your fault it sounds like a problem with a clutch thats common for 1st gear as when u say restarting the car changes normally, what happens if u drive the car somewhere in 1st gear without trying to go up the box. Does it loose that gear through time/heated gearbox.

 

Cheers John

Yep check the filter aint full of rubbish and check the TPS voltage. I believe that this can cause some problems.

 

Ivan

well it happens in a couple of ways.

1, Sometimes it happens when after stopping at a set of traffic lights and i go to accelerate when the light goes green. I dont even rev very hard and yeh the car wont change gears.

2, It also happens while i am slowing down for a set of lights but dont come to a complete stop. Ill slow down to around 20 kmph and then as i accelerate i lose gears. This is happening randomly though while im driving. Ive been driving the zed like a granny atm so i havent been pushing the revs at all. I havent checked the oil level yet might have a look when ive got time and report back here.

 

As for switching it off and on again ive noticed once ive done this the car will shift normally immediantly. As i said the problem occurs randomly, I dont think ive had the auto slip after ive switched it off and on again but im not driving long distances atm. Fuel saving bill thing im doing atm.

 

Also just recently ive noticed sometimes after switching the zed on after the car has cooled down i can here a loud buzzing sound coming from the box for like 30 secs and then it disappears. its a pulsing buzz too. dunno if that has anythihg to do with it.

 

Thanx too guys i reall appreicate all the help and advice your giving me on this problem, i know its kinda hard to know exactly know whats wrong with my auto from what im trying to descirbe to u guys. its probably the oil or the clutch as people have said but yeh will find out once ive taken it to an auto specialist soon.

You are right its really difficult to say exactly whats happening. When u say it looses drive when u sit at lights, well it will be in 1st gear so there is a possibility that with the heat generated a clutch in the box is worn out and thats why it looses drive. Or it could be electrical.

 

Best to start with basics. Whats the oil condition and level. Are there any leaks. Then if the oil is ok, carry out a diagnostic check on the box to see if there are any electrical fault codes relating to the problem. Then hopefully after that you will be pointed in the direction of the fault. Burnt/poor oil well there is only 1 answer to that. There was a link somewhere for an online manual that you could use to carry out a diagnostic check on the box but I cant find it. I was gonna e-mail it but its 23Mb.

 

Cheers John

http://www.twinturbo.net/ttnettech/autodiag/autodiag.html :)

 

Alan..............

http://www.twinturbo.net/ttnettech/autodiag/autodiag.html :)

 

Alan..............

 

 

Cheers Alan I couldnt find it.

 

John

No worries.

 

Alan...........

ok before i went to work i tried doing a auto diagnostic as you suggested, but i couldnt get the diagnostic to work. I followed the guide excactly but no flashing lights occured so i dont know why its not working. I tried for about 15 mins and yeh nothing.

 

I even tried when the auto played up while on the way to work but still nothing. Now i decided to see how the car would go when i used the O/D switch turning it off at low speeds and turning it on at high speeds & using 4th gear. I actually found the auto shifted alot better and more consistantly and without the need for me to take my foot off the accerlate to shift up a gear.

 

Also i checked the oil now i found 2 things which im not sure about

 

1, the oil level was at the top of the metal marker so im guessing plenty of trans oil.

2, The oil colour was either a very clear pink or a very clear light brown colour. couldnt tell it was more a clear colour then anything. I also did the smell test and from what i could tell it smelt burnt but then i dunno what burnt oil is surpose to smell like. I guess im hoping my auto is burning oil thats why i dont want to admit it could be.

Are you sure that the Mechanic drained the old fluid out of the box and replaced it. How many miles have ya done since the replacement? The fluid colour should be transparent Red.

A blocked filter can often buzz. And oil can ofen smell burn even when new. Have you checked the oil warm, engine running in park or neutral?

 

By the way, every time you loose drive you are probably damaging something soft, like clutch plates, in your box.

The buzzing noise is probably the box struggling for oil. I have attached a pic of oil I removed from a box that was meant to be 100% with full history etc but it kept loosing drive. As can be seen its not red and in this case it smelt like cats piss as it had been slipping for ages. The oil as stated before should be red and clear. If its brown and has a very strong burnt smell more than likely your box is nachered. Look and see if there are any sparklies of metal in it as well .When you remove the dipstick put the oil thats on it onto white paper.

 

Cheers John

torque convertors and auto boxes are notoriously difficult to clean out ,there is prpberly some old oil from the replacement tc in the box i would go to a specialist auto transmision place and get them to power flush the box and tc to remove all the old crud out and replace/clean out the strainer that may be all thats needed ,

torque convertors and auto boxes are notoriously difficult to clean out ,there is prpberly some old oil from the replacement tc in the box i would go to a specialist auto transmision place and get them to power flush the box and tc to remove all the old crud out and replace/clean out the strainer that may be all thats needed ,

 

Ok lets see

 

Distance well ive done about 1500 km with the box so far.

 

The oil from the old box was a yellowy gold colour and it smelt fine when i inspected it before purchasing. I know the mechanic changed the oil as i did check the oil colour and level when i got it back home the day i got it fixed.

 

The colour of the oil atm isnt that brown like i said very very clear. What im going to do is get my dads opinion on the oil colour and smell as he has probably experienced before whereas i havent.

 

Also ive been driving with the O/D off/on for about 140 kms yesterday and i tell you what the auto performed alot better then just driving with O/D on all the time. Im doing this as a test to see if it will happen again with the O/D off when accelerating but this is not how i like to drive so i will still be going to a auto specialist and get them to check it. Do u guys think they will need to drop the box to fix this as thats what im savcing up for incase it needs to be done.

With regards all the symptoms and things happening with your car, Best to get the car checked properly so u can decide what the next step is. This is very difficult to diagnose and probably best for you to take it to the garage to get it checked out properly.

 

With regards buying a 2nd hand auto box its gonna be difficult without knowing its history how its gonna perform. I would have dropped the sump to check for debris/check the strainer before I fitted another auto box.

 

The auto box in my car has almost lost 3rd gear and I have ended up buying a donor manual car to convert my car to manual. Maybee this is another route for you to go rather than buy another auto with the same outcome.?

 

With regards flushing the box I have in the past changed oil 2 or 3 times (change oil, run till warm, change it, run till warm again, change it again, then give it a final change) to get fresh oil in the torque converter and cooler but oil isnt cheap.

 

All the best.

 

Cheers John

two days ago my one lost the D but not completly ... is still the same now but it lost the reverse complete plus if i put it into neutral it will still go foward ,not sure what is is but i had a simiar problem long time ago and i've changed the tc and clean the oil filter and changed the oil and it was ok till now ,but in my opinion was just the oil filter really dity,what i will sugest is to check the oil filter or even change it,is only about £25,and change the oil ,that what i'm gonne do tomorrow ,order the filter and get new oil. As soon as i get the filter and change the oil i'll let you know how it went but i'm 90% sure thats the problem

The reason it still goes forward when in neutral is most probably because the clutch has wrecked itself and welded itself together.

 

Changing the filter, you have to ask yourslef why it needs doing. And almost always its because the box has had it, sure you are delaying the day, but its coming.

ok...last week i've changed the oil filter + oil and no change ,still the same ,took the gear box off and changed just the tc just to see exacly if is the actualy gear box or something else but still no luck.To be honest i was hoppig to be the filter cos was very dirty and then i was sur is the tc but it wasn't,now i've got new oil filter ,new oil changed twice ,millers ,different tc that i'm sure is working and the box is still not working..i've got 1,2 N,R,and P but no D,if i press o/d th car moves but just a bit or if i put it in D keep the brake pressed and press the accelation it looks like gos in the gear them jumps from the gear .i don't know...i've got another gear box but before i'll take it off again and want to make sure the box is f****d and not just a sensor or something else .Olso i've donne a diag for the box and it came up with 1 long at the begining and 10 short same ones . Any ideeas please guys

filter and the magnet in the pan...

Sometimes you have to face the obvious (from here it is anyway). If you had any idea how a tourque converter (TC) works you would not have wasted your time. No disrespect meant. :-)

 

If you carry on trying to "repair" what you got you will throw even more good money after bad, it sems to me. But good luck anyway.

well its been 3 months since i got the blown auto replaced and ive continued to have this auto slip problem since then. Living with the problem knowing im not doing any damage to the box, (as far as i know) i have tried diagnosing the problem manually using the tech guides on the net but i couldnt get the diagnosis program to run (= no flashing lights on the dash).

 

So at the start of this week i promised myself that if i had another slip in the auto while driving i would take it to an auto specialist asap. For the first few days of this week ive had no problems but on thursday while on the way back home after picking my sister up, i began hearing a very bad metal grinding sound coming from what i think (pretty sure) the box with a slight buzzing feeling as well in the car, and it sounded like the same sound i had when my torque converter broke off and destoryed my first box when all this started.

 

The rattling sound occured whenever i gentle put my foot on the accelerator. If i put my foot down the sound would only last a sec before going away.

 

So i rang one auto specialist i was recommended from the asu300zx forums, who pretty much gave me the doom and gloom scenario (box is ****ed) from what i told him, which im not finanically equipped for atm (full rebuild).

 

Now my brother knew of a auto place closer to me and we found out they do free pickup, free road test, free diagnostics, so i decided to give these guys a call and they said they have had alot of experience with Z32. So the car is currently at their auto shop now. Im hoping they will be able to fix my auto problems for good. Im also hoping that i can afford whatever their solution is whether that be a full rebuild or a minor fault.

Hmmm..