Author Topic: What is wrong with my gearbox? I need a third opinion.  (Read 2436 times)

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Offline ashman01

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Recently i needed a new clutch. Everything eles in the car was working relitivly well. SO i asked arround and ended up getting an Exedy HD clutch and i got a mechanic to put it in. Great guy, cheap and good service so im not knocking him at all but i went to pick up my car and he said it was all working good when he drove it earler in the morning so money was exchanged and i went to drive off in it.

Started the car, clutch was perfect but put it in 1st and went to take off and all that happend was the car made an extremly loud and bad sounding crunching noise. Imagine the worse crunch u have heard then make it louder and thats what it sounded like. When the car crunched it thru the shifter out of first and back into neutral. Mechanic came out and had a look at it and he ajusted a few things but it kept on doing it majorly. I cringed every time i heard it. He came to the conclusion that my gearbox was fucked and the onl way to take off is in second or if u physicly hold the shifter in place and drive it. This only worked once on the way home and i had to take off in second the rest of the time.

Thing is that everyother gear is fine, and once ur in first it doesnt come out again and it drives fine. Told my gf's dad who was a mechanic for 30yrs and he said it sounds like hes fucked somthing in the gearbox. He told me yes ur gear box was dying but there is no way it would die like that.

Does anyone know whats wrong and if so what to do about it?
DO i just get another gearbox?
Do i get it looked at my a gearbox mechanic?
Can it be easily fixed or am i up for the big bucks?

Im alittle annoyed because the car drove well before the clutch was replaced and now its not drivable at all. (cant take off on a hill). Is this a case of the mechanic has fucked up and he should fix it or is it just old age and the changing of the clutch just was the last straw of the box and it finaly gave out?

thanx for ur help. If any other info is needed then please ask as i hate my trx not to be working.

Offline Xedus101

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Re: What is wrong with my gearbox? I need a third opinion.
« Reply #1 on: Jun 11, 2006, 08:09PM »
"just old age and the changing of the clutch just was the last straw of the box and it finaly gave out?"

I think perhaps the heavy duty clutch has made an underlying problem worse. Because a shitty old slipping clutch will let you get away with a lot of gearbox issues whereas a new HD clutch won't. I would take it to a gearbox specialist and ask them what they think. Then weigh up the costs of getting it fixed or if a new box is needed.

Offline Kranzy

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Re: What is wrong with my gearbox? I need a third opinion.
« Reply #2 on: Jun 11, 2006, 08:24PM »
Id have to agree with Xedus replacing the clutch shouldnt have any effect on the gearbox as you dont need to pull the box apart so the box should be as it was when it was taken off.
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Offline ashman01

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Re: What is wrong with my gearbox? I need a third opinion.
« Reply #3 on: Jun 11, 2006, 11:22PM »
"just old age and the changing of the clutch just was the last straw of the box and it finaly gave out?"

I think perhaps the heavy duty clutch has made an underlying problem worse. Because a shitty old slipping clutch will let you get away with a lot of gearbox issues whereas a new HD clutch won't. I would take it to a gearbox specialist and ask them what they think. Then weigh up the costs of getting it fixed or if a new box is needed.

But apparantly my clutch wasnt in that bad of condition. Granted it wasnt new but he said it still had abit of wear to go.

I also forgot to mention that he fixed a few problems with my gearbox including some seal and a bearing (cant remember off the top of my head which ones.)

This isnt that urgent of a problem because i found out last week that my mum is getting a new car soon (98 subi liberty) and i can have the festiva for free as a run around car. So the trx can be off the road for some time untill i get things sorted.

My next step is whether to get a reco'd gearbox or just source a second hand 1 and wak it in? Price is a factor but as i want to keep this car forever id rather do it right first time.

Offline speedshed001

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Re: What is wrong with my gearbox? I need a third opinion.
« Reply #4 on: Jun 12, 2006, 01:20AM »
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Offline TasPintara

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Re: What is wrong with my gearbox? I need a third opinion.
« Reply #5 on: Jun 12, 2006, 10:06AM »
Had a similiar thing happen to me.  I couldn't use first gear and when i took off in second it was making a winding noise!  Sounded sick, in the end i couldn't even use second gear.  So i decided to get a second hand gearbox from a Jap Spares Parts in Hobart for $450 with 3 months warranty.  Put my car in the garage and decided to change it myself.  It isn't hard at all, you just have to have a go.  I did make a couple of minor mistakes though, when i got the old gearbox out i left the dowes in the old gearbox.  Also i replaced the two main CV Shaft seals, but when i put the LEft Hand side CV Shaft in i pinched the seal and it is leaking a little now.

About 4 weeks later i had to replace the clutch, put in a PBR Heavy Duty cost me $370 installed ($270 for clutch and $100 to install with my help).

I am not completely happy with new gearbox as it is a little noisy when in neutral, bearings the mechanic told me!  Anyways it is still going.

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Offline dave-trx

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Re: What is wrong with my gearbox? I need a third opinion.
« Reply #6 on: Jun 14, 2006, 06:54AM »
Fair chance its first gear synchro mine had it done. My mates uncle rebuilt the box, cost me a carton of VB.
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Offline DeathPlaza

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Re: What is wrong with my gearbox? I need a third opinion.
« Reply #7 on: Jun 16, 2006, 12:03PM »

I also forgot to mention that he fixed a few problems with my gearbox including some seal and a bearing (cant remember off the top of my head which ones.)


i would find out exactly what he changed and find out if its possible that he installed it wrong, i dont know if your 1st gear synchro can magically grind itself to nothingness.  although hell its not surprising that a 15+ year old car needs a tranny rebuild,

 i would say dont even mess around with getting a used tranny, who knows what the hell the previous owner did to it.  (could explain why their tranny ended up at a junker).  my friend got a used tranny, had to trade in his core, turned out the one he got was worse!
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Offline noss

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Re: What is wrong with my gearbox? I need a third opinion.
« Reply #8 on: Jun 16, 2006, 02:10PM »
i had a similar problem in my trx.. the first gear was pushed off the shaft from hard launches the previous night.

if a bearing and seal was replaced i'd check that everything was reassembled correctly. although i dont know a whole lot about the insides of gearboxes. your best option rather than getting opinions from forum go-ers or the mechanic that did the work would be to go to another mechanic and just ask if they can pull the box out and suss it out.

your gf's dad is a mechanic, i'm sure you could trust his opinion more than anyone else, throw a few dollars and a carton of his favourite beer his way and get him to pull out the box and have a look see and get his honest opinion. that way you can find out if it was the fault of the previous mechanic or if its just bad luck.

also if you get another box.. reco it before you put it in. it'll save you a lot of expensive pain down the track.

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