rusteee 52 Report post Posted January 15, 2015 Hi Guys Does anyone know a reputable (as in MTA assured, not going to piss around) gearbox workshop? Have already had the car into a good workshop with the problem, but they could not find any fault. Car has been scanned completely, and no fault codes stored at all. Suggested internal gearbox fault. Symptoms are, slight clicking/grinding under load once warm, and will randomly go into limp mode while on the motorway (or going through Kopu Hikuai as it happens) without warning, yet no check engine light or warning lights come on at all. So the car is now useless sitting in the carport as is unreliable. I'm out West Auckland, so anywhere around the city or even over the shore. It seems like it may be a tricky one, so hoping someone knows or has had good experience with a place that can diagnose these odd sort problems. Cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hotwire 352 Report post Posted January 15, 2015 Maybe touch base with a few specialist transmission repair businesses to get some feedback on possible causes for the symptoms. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
B.M.W Ltd 950 Report post Posted January 15, 2015 Auto Trans in Auckland Ph: 3092538 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rusteee 52 Report post Posted January 15, 2015 Thankyou for the replies. Will give them a call today. Yeah thats not a bad idea, but from what the workshop said, may be a tricky one to diagnose as there are no Codes etc which seems odd. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FIAT 131R 223 Report post Posted January 15, 2015 KAYNE BARRIE MOTORSPORT IS THE MAN FOR ME FOR GEARBOXES AND DIFFS TOO Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rusteee 52 Report post Posted January 16, 2015 Cheers for that. Taking it in next week, did ring around, but most came to the conclusion that the box is knackered as they seem to think that its not actually going into limp mode as it will still change down to 2nd and 1st as you slow down, suggesting a crack or something in the valve body Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rusteee 52 Report post Posted March 27, 2015 (edited) Just thought I'd update. Finally got the car back yesterday after 5 weeks of frustration. Anybody suffering from this problem, check or replace the gearbox oil cooler first!!! They mis-diagnosed (or didn't diagnose in this case) and went straight for the gearbox rebuild without doing any thorough testing, as it did have a small section missing from the A drum, which again according to ZF usually happened within the first 60K of the gearbox life, hence why they changed the design in the later models. 4.8K later, much to my disappointment the car came back with the exact same problem. Basically another month on from that, I now have the car back in my possession and working correctly. They replaced the radiator, and drove it with an air lock in the system causing it to piss coolant all over the engine bay (assures me it didn't over heat), and its still a mess of dried coolant under there. Ended up playing around with the gearbox oil cooler for a week or so, before finally replacing it, which fixed the problem completely. Tried to hand me an invoice for a further 1.2K including for petrol and tow which of course was argued and dismissed bar the radiator. Doing the research, it seems to be common in these 540's and the range rovers, causing them to get hot and lose the 2 top gears as a safety mode, or get really harsh on downshift in traffic, mine of which suffered from both symptoms. There is a lot of info and DIY pages online that are are pretty helpful regarding cleaning out the cooler. Very disappointed with this "highly recommended", MTA assured workshop considering the fact they have possibly over heated the engine as well. Otherwise I'm very happy to get my car back, and running fine Edited March 27, 2015 by rusteee 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rusteee 52 Report post Posted March 27, 2015 (edited) Sorry, hopeless at adding pic Edited March 27, 2015 by rusteee Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeffbebe 1559 Report post Posted March 27, 2015 Man, you haven't had much luck with this one, eh, Russell? Glad it's sorted and I guess the silver lining is that you have completely rebuilt trans - albeit an unnecessary rebuild. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rusteee 52 Report post Posted March 28, 2015 Tell me about it, worst luck with cars considering I was so picky when I purchased it. Had a good run to the airport this morning so was a good test for it, nice and smooth with all 5 gears haha small luxury. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkonsta1 109 Report post Posted March 29, 2015 Are these the guys from Auto trans in Auckland or a different workshop? Cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hybrid 1043 Report post Posted March 29, 2015 Yeah I had a bad experience with auto trans as well .. They just wanted to walk away from the job despite spending north of 7k with them at the time. Long ass story but was less than impressed with the outcome.In the end I work through my problem at the time myself ... and learnt a lot in the process. Turns out they stuffed the valve body putting it back in which cause mine to thump. (on my e46 330) As for 540i trans .. the source of all evil is cooling issues. The EGS will hold gears when the system is running over 138 degrees. Live data will show this. Unfortunately a lot of generic trans shops dont have the proper software to read the data stream in an EGS. Blockages are a problem in the 540 trans. its not a great design ... works great when its working .. but not when its not.Also, what helps sometimes is if your EGS apaptions are reset .. in warm or cold weather periodically this can help calm things down a bit on a older trans. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeffbebe 1559 Report post Posted March 29, 2015 works great when its working .. but not when its not. Great insight, Josh 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkonsta1 109 Report post Posted March 31, 2015 I am preparing my transmission for preventive maintainance as well. Thinking of taking it to kaspa transmissions in otahuhu. Any experience with them? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkonsta1 109 Report post Posted March 31, 2015 Forgot to mention 150k on the clock and runs well apart from the odd kicking very occasionally. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rusteee 52 Report post Posted April 2, 2015 (edited) Yea I was pissed off because they had all the diagnostics, which they assured me they were going to take it for a long drive to see what it was doing as they figured it was temp related. (Used $120 of gas I put in when I dropped it off, plus tried to charge a further fee for more gas lol) No proper testing happened till AFTER the rebuild and finding it made sweet F A difference, which all seems a bit backwards. Definitely do some research yourself, if you feel capable enough to tackle the problem. There is a lot of good info out there, in this particular case it seems the range rover forum was very good as they suffered this problem a lot, but did use a slight different cooling system through the radiator and still seemed to suffer the same blockage problem. Edit: Oh sorry Dimitrios forgot to answer your question. No it wasn't that outfit. Only other places I've taken it to are like BM Workshops, which all seem to be very good. Edited April 2, 2015 by rusteee Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
