suprise suprise, another commo trans issue..

[Tamperer#1]

Hi all. this is my first post on this forum. infact any forum i think. Now that ive popped my cherry i'll get down to buisness.
My younger brother just scored a freebie hand me down kinda sad n neglected VP Calais 6 banger with 285000 on it. After a water pump, right rear brake rotor, side window, new headlights and a few assorted bits n peices from the local wreckers she saw the road again. runs suprisingly well considering it spent the last 2 months of its life drinking 4-6 litres of water after every 5 minute drive. my issue however, is not the motor, its the sloppy bucket of chum thats located behind it.
Just wondering if [a] if its worth having a crack at servicing the trans myself (i have a semi decent mechanical knowledge and access to a hoist n shit) and [b] if servicing it would even help with my problem. And [c] any ideas where i can get info on servicing it. Keeping in mind theres no way in hell its getting a rebuild if anything a 2nd hand trans will be slapped in if we have to.

my problem being this. when stone cold. it only engages reverse, nothing else. after u warm it up 5 or 10 mins, u get drive, however it wont grab 2nd till around 4500rpm or higher. 3rd usually happens 10 minutes down panalatinga road and only once u crack +140kmh. 4th doesnt seem to bee too much of an issue, mainly because your stuck in 2nd.

[TVR-190]

go to your local auto shop and buy a gregories, they are a how to guide for your car, it will tell you how to do a service, but by the sounds i dont think a service will totally fix it.

[levymetal]

it sounds pretty bad, but try servicing it anyway. it's just a messy job (drop the pan). not that it affects your problem of not engaging drive when cold, but how tight is your kickdown cable?

[v8_bomberdore]

try and drop the pan first and see wat the oil and filter is like it could be blocked and have a look on the bottom of the pan and see if u can see any crap like shavings or any gold flakes ,anything like this will tell u something is seriously wrong but let us know what u find

[centy]

does it have a towbar on the back?
is the trans full?
is the trans fluid brown?
does it have a trans cooler in front of the radiator?
when vp"s tow the autos die.
low oil would do this but if driven low to long damage will occur.
brown oil is a sign of heavy towing, no oil changes or slipping clutches.
the coolers realy help with trans survival.

[Tamperer#1]

thanks for the suggestions and quick responses. yeah its got a towbar, the trans is full, i dont reckon its had a trans service in a long time [if ever haha] the fluid dont look as pretty as is should. no trans cooler either so im guessing the poor thing is breathing its last breaths. as i mentioned earlier the car belongs to my younger bro and he'd rather not spend too much [if anything lol] on it, i found a few used trans between $220 and $350 but as its not my car and im tryin to sort it out with a minimum of cost i'd like to have a crack at servicing it first just to see if we can squeeze a little more life out of it.

any ideas what a service kit is worth?
if i get the time this weekend i'll rip the pan off it and take some happy snaps. im expecting some kind of a crime scene in there.

p.s. she outran a falcon load of fat bitches last saturday so we treated her to some second hand f#@%ing low pedders rear springs.
who's a good girl then

[Tamperer#1]

Oh and it slips like a bitch when it gets hot but im guessing thats cos the oil has thinned out.

[Tamperer#1]

morning peeps. todays the day we fly or fall. borrowed a trolley jack and stands from work as i didnt wanna take the car into work (waaay over the other side of town) will put some pics up of what i find but im guessing that poor trans is on its last legs.

[centy]

mate not a lot you can do to service them with out detailed knowledge.
filter kit and pump the fluid out not just drop the pan. You will need about 8-10l of fluid.
Only half that amount comes out when you just do the pan.
Clean the inside of the pan it will be realy gunky.
try and score a oil cooler and fit that aswell.

[Tamperer#1]

thanks Centy, we tackled the bastard this afternoon, and yeah, the pan had a couple mm thick layer of gunk, better yet, the magnet in it had a half inch thick layer of microfine metalic muddy like substance, the trans fluid was blacker than my soul or an after grog bog, i'll load some pics as soon as i work this shit out. anyways, after the service, we test drove it, not expecting much, good thing considering we acheived absolutley **** all, it still wont shift till almost 5 grand, didnt bother getting it hot enuff to see if it will slip. all in all it was a waste of $20 worth of service kit, 5 ltrs of fluid and 2 hours (i had a few intermittent cones to cure my mechanical rage lol) but atleast i learnt how to do a basic trans service lol. Anyhow i went to the pub with my older bro tonigh t[original owner/destroyer of this poor car in question] and he's kindly offered to sponsor a new box.. be it auto or manual!!! so yeah , anyone got a decent 5spd conversion on offer????


fcukin saaaafe as man

mmm delicous

like a bought one, notice the filter has been moving around hence the scuff marks.

[Tamperer#1]

O.K. so i might have been a little bit premature with my assumption that the trans service did nothing, today it was very well behaved, still a bastard when its stone cold but seems to engage drive a lot quicker than it was, it changed into second at 4200rpm instead of on the redline, and found third before too long. once warm it was picking second gear at 3200rpm, hasnt shifted like that in a long time. still looking for a decent priced replacement or conversion, but alteast the old mole will hopefully go a little longer while the hunt is on *touch wood*