Dodgy gearbox?

[Canalsman]

Never had a g box wear the gears, mainly the syncro rings are first to go, esp first gear ones, this happens because folk dont put the cluth to the floor or change into first when moving to fast.

However Rog's 'van has the Comfortmatic transmission so the clutch usage is automated...

 

[trevskoda]

However Rog's 'van has the Comfortmatic transmission so the clutch usage is automated...

Could be the problem if not set up correctly, never liked any automated boxes, no one here can fix them.

 

[RoaminRog]

However Rog's 'van has the Comfortmatic transmission so the clutch usage is automated...

Nearly Chris, my box is the Quickshift 6 which I believe was designed by Vauxhall and sold to Renault. I think the Comfortmatic was a creation of Ford.
Christmas greetings to both of you.

 

[trevskoda]

On my iveco the box is slack and i can change nice and smooth without using the clutch.

 

[molly 2]

Could be the problem if not set up correctly, never liked any automated boxes, no one here can fix them.

Sound like an opportunity another tic on your CV

 

[trevskoda]

Sound like an opportunity another tic on your CV

My days are over, i have enuff medals.

 

[gasgas]

Could be the problem if not set up correctly, never liked any automated boxes, no one here can fix them.

Now's your chance, Trev. Many years ago I hired out cars. One was an automatic Peugeot 504, the most wonderful engineered cars this side of Mercedes. I hired it out for a three month hire. At the end of the hire the car broke down in Glasgow. It would drive a few yards and leave a trail of ATF before stopping. It didn't matter to the hirers, they had it for three months and were on their way to the Airport to return to BongoBongo land where they worked. They had mangaged to get the car to a garage which said the gearbox is goosed, you need a new one, ££££££££. The hirers got a taxi to the airport and I said I would go up there and collect it. I joined the AA specially because they would do a back-to-home recovery whereas the RAC would just do hops from one stop to the next, then wait for another pickup, and so on in hops.
On the day of Princess Diana's wedding I went up to the garage in Glasgow and got in the car. I drove it round the corner and parked it safely in a back street. I called the AA who came and looked, sucked air in through their teeth and said gearbox is goosed, you need a new one. They lifted me and the car back down to my house in Gloucester. I drove it up the driveway and sure enough it left a little trail of ATF. I removed the gearbox and took it to a chap who lived on the banks of the River Wye. His house was phenomenal. It was on the steep slope leading down to the river and from the road looked like a bungalow. His drive went down the hill and round to the 'front'. The ground floor consisted of five garages. In one he had a Rolls Royce, a sports car in another and a collection of valuable motorbikes in another. The last two were converted into one big workshop where he repaired auto gearboxes. Above the garages were the 5 bedrooms and above those were the living rooms with floor to ceiling sliding windows with balconies overlooking the river. When I had phoned him, he said his basic strip down and rebuild charge was £75 (this was in 1981) plus any parts necessary for the repairs. A few days later he phoned me to say there was nothing wrong with the box, he had stripped it and rebuilt it just fitting new oil seals though the old ones weren't leaking. I collected it, marvelling at his wonderful house and recalling that the tutor in my Advanced Motor Mechanics classes said that repairing Auto boxes takes a long time to learn but that once you have learnt it you can earn a fortune - because no one else can!
Back home I refitted the gearbox, filled it with ATF and reversed it along the driveway. It left a trail of ATF. I jacked it up, started the engine and put it in Drive and got underneath to look. The ATF was leaking from a pin hole in the coolant hose taking the ATF to the oil cooler in the engine radiator. I cut the hose at the pin hole and stuffed a short length of copper pipe into the two ends of the hose and fitted jubilee clips. Job done, it was fine. Garage: Nil Points. AA man: Nil Points. Money saved: ££££££££.
That's not the only gearbox mis diagnosed by garages. Another one I had was an air cooled VW Devon camper where three garages each said it needed a £3000 gearbox. When I investigated it turned out to require a new 38p plastic ball that fitted in the selector. The gearbox didn't even need removing, just a cover plate removing and the worn plastic ball removing and a new one fitting and the cover plate replacing.
Anyway the point of this rabbiting is that if you can learn how to repair automatic gearboxes, you too can own a Rolls Royce and a new Sports Car and several vintage and new motorcycles and live in a house on the River Wye that is probably worth about £2 million.
So what are you waiting for?

 

[trevskoda]

Now's your chance, Trev. Many years ago I hired out cars. One was an automatic Peugeot 504, the most wonderful engineered cars this side of Mercedes. I hired it out for a three month hire. At the end of the hire the car broke down in Glasgow. It would drive a few yards and leave a trail of ATF before stopping. It didn't matter to the hirers, they had it for three months and were on their way to the Airport to return to BongoBongo land where they worked. They had mangaged to get the car to a garage which said the gearbox is goosed, you need a new one, ££££££££. The hirers got a taxi to the airport and I said I would go up there and collect it. I joined the AA specially because they would do a back-to-home recovery whereas the RAC would just do hops from one stop to the next, then wait for another pickup, and so on in hops.
On the day of Princess Diana's wedding I went up to the garage in Glasgow and got in the car. I drove it round the corner and parked it safely in a back street. I called the AA who came and looked, sucked air in through their teeth and said gearbox is goosed, you need a new one. They lifted me and the car back down to my house in Gloucester. I drove it up the driveway and sure enough it left a little trail of ATF. I removed the gearbox and took it to a chap who lived on the banks of the River Wye. His house was phenomenal. It was on the steep slope leading down to the river and from the road looked like a bungalow. His drive went down the hill and round to the 'front'. The ground floor consisted of five garages. In one he had a Rolls Royce, a sports car in another and a collection of valuable motorbikes in another. The last two were converted into one big workshop where he repaired auto gearboxes. Above the garages were the 5 bedrooms and above those were the living rooms with floor to ceiling sliding windows with balconies overlooking the river. When I had phoned him, he said his basic strip down and rebuild charge was £75 (this was in 1981) plus any parts necessary for the repairs. A few days later he phoned me to say there was nothing wrong with the box, he had stripped it and rebuilt it just fitting new oil seals though the old ones weren't leaking. I collected it, marvelling at his wonderful house and recalling that the tutor in my Advanced Motor Mechanics classes said that repairing Auto boxes takes a long time to learn but that once you have learnt it you can earn a fortune - because no one else can!
Back home I refitted the gearbox, filled it with ATF and reversed it along the driveway. It left a trail of ATF. I jacked it up, started the engine and put it in Drive and got underneath to look. The ATF was leaking from a pin hole in the coolant hose taking the ATF to the oil cooler in the engine radiator. I cut the hose at the pin hole and stuffed a short length of copper pipe into the two ends of the hose and fitted jubilee clips. Job done, it was fine. Garage: Nil Points. AA man: Nil Points. Money saved: ££££££££.
That's not the only gearbox mis diagnosed by garages. Another one I had was an air cooled VW Devon camper where three garages each said it needed a £3000 gearbox. When I investigated it turned out to require a new 38p plastic ball that fitted in the selector. The gearbox didn't even need removing, just a cover plate removing and the worn plastic ball removing and a new one fitting and the cover plate replacing.
Anyway the point of this rabbiting is that if you can learn how to repair automatic gearboxes, you too can own a Rolls Royce and a new Sports Car and several vintage and new motorcycles and live in a house on the River Wye that is probably worth about £2 million.
So what are you waiting for?

If i was young again i sure would work on jobs other could not sort.
Back in the day working on sodas a big garage in belfast phoned me with a problem trying to set the carb on a estelle, they have 2 screws, one air small one pilot mixture, they said we just cannot get the idle down below 1500 rpm and been working on it almost 2 days, well i was with a customer
And said ph me back in 15, by the way the problem is in the braking sys.
20 mins later they were on the blower, how can a carb problem be in the brakes, so i said remove the green vacum pipe at manifold and place your finger over the pipe hole, a few mins later i could here the revs drop as they adjusted the carb, this happened to all skodas with the vacume pipe along with crap fuel and heater bypass old green hoses, simple replacement sorted them all out, which i always did before selling them on.

 

[Robmac]

If i was young again i sure would work on jobs other could not sort.
Back in the day working on sodas a big garage in belfast phoned me with a problem trying to set the carb on a estelle, they have 2 screws, one air small one pilot mixture, they said we just cannot get the idle down below 1500 rpm and been working on it almost 2 days, well i was with a customer
And said ph me back in 15, by the way the problem is in the braking sys.
20 mins later they were on the blower, how can a carb problem be in the brakes, so i said remove the green vacum pipe at manifold and place your finger over the pipe hole, a few mins later i could here the revs drop as they adjusted the carb, this happened to all skodas with the vacume pipe along with crap fuel and heater bypass old green hoses, simple replacement sorted them all out, which i always did before selling them on.

I seem to remember on Julie's Estelle Trev that there was a fuel line dangerously close to the manifold which I made a heat shield for. Does that ring any bells with you? I did replace all of the hoses eventually.

I would love to own that car now.

 

[trevskoda]

I seem to remember on Julie's Estelle Trev that there was a fuel line dangerously close to the manifold which I made a heat shield for. Does that ring any bells with you? I did replace all of the hoses eventually.

I would love to own that car now.

Yes you change all the fuel lines, and green heater hoses, esp the one from rad to matrix which run up the drivers side wing under the hood, also fit a weller thermostat and fill the sys 50/50 antifreeze, & 10/40 engine oil every 5000 miles, good car and easy to work on when and if required.

 

[gasgas]

I seem to remember on Julie's Estelle Trev that there was a fuel line dangerously close to the manifold which I made a heat shield for. Does that ring any bells with you? I did replace all of the hoses eventually.

..

Aren't you confusing that with the Ford engines where the fuel line ran alongside the rocker cover, immediately above the exhaust manifold?

I recall a Ford that wouldn't start because the starter motor stuttered strangely. The battery was OK. I got someone else to operate the starter while I stuck my head under the bonnet. They turned the key and multitudinous sparks sprayed all over the engine. The earth strap from engine to chassis had fractured so the starter current was trying to flow along the metal rods of the accelerator mechanism. Each ball joint was trying to weld itself up. Good job I didn't have any petrol carrying parts disconnected. . . . . . or on the other hand I could have done the world a favour by disposing of another Ford. YUK. I hope the owner got home without the gearstick coming out in their hand . . . .

 

[Robmac]

Aren't you confusing that with the Ford engines where the fuel line ran alongside the rocker cover, immediately above the exhaust manifold?

I recall a Ford that wouldn't start because the starter motor stuttered strangely. The battery was OK. I got someone else to operate the starter while I stuck my head under the bonnet. They turned the key and multitudinous sparks sprayed all over the engine. The earth strap from engine to chassis had fractured so the starter current was trying to flow along the metal rods of the accelerator mechanism. Each ball joint was trying to weld itself up. Good job I didn't have any petrol carrying parts disconnected. . . . . . or on the other hand I could have done the world a favour by disposing of another Ford. YUK. I hope the owner got home without the gearstick coming out in their hand . . . .

No it was definitely the Skoda.

I must be one of the rare people who actually liked Fords. My dad would have nothing else and taught me to drive in his Mk2 1600E and I remember later borrowing his Mk3 1600 to go on holiday in my courting days, the gearbox on that was like silk. The only problem I ever found with them was that just about any key from another vehicle would start them.

 

[RoaminRog]

In the ‘good old days’!

 

[trevskoda]

My ford kit jeep had more engines and g boxes plus diffs fitted than i care to remember, i gave up in the end and went back to the skoda.

 

[trevskoda]

I seem to remember on Julie's Estelle Trev that there was a fuel line dangerously close to the manifold which I made a heat shield for. Does that ring any bells with you? I did replace all of the hoses eventually.

I would love to own that car now.

There was a heat sheild from new, pipe ran from carb down to fuel pump, this was a green hose which should have been changed from new, good dealers sorted them before sale, all hoses and clips changed.

 

[Nabsim]

Never had a g box wear the gears, mainly the syncro rings are first to go, esp first gear ones, this happens because folk dont put the cluth to the floor or change into first when moving to fast.

No clutches changing Trev, used to do it on the bike quite a bit

 

[Nabsim]

No it was definitely the Skoda.

I must be one of the rare people who actually liked Fords. My dad would have nothing else and taught me to drive in his Mk2 1600E and I remember later borrowing his Mk3 1600 to go on holiday in my courting days, the gearbox on that was like silk. The only problem I ever found with them was that just about any key from another vehicle would start them.

I liked my 3 litre Ghia Capri but that was only Ford I liked that I had, The granadas and scorpios weren't a patch on Saab or Volvo, ad Vector over Mondero any day

Its was easy to work on the old Cortina's though, rebuilt a 1600 engine in a carpark lol

 

[trevskoda]

No clutches changing Trev, used to do it on the bike quite a bit

Never used a clutch on a bike except for starting and stopping as they are constant mesh and made to work like that.

 

[trevskoda]

I liked my 3 litre Ghia Capri but that was only Ford I liked that I had, The granadas and scorpios weren't a patch on Saab or Volvo, ad Vector over Mondero any day

Its was easy to work on the old Cortina's though, rebuilt a 1600 engine in a carpark lol

1600 was the last engine fitted from a new green motor from a place here that rebuilds them, lasted 40th miles before giving up, oil pump falour as normal.

 

[maingate]

1600 was the last engine fitted from a new green motor from a place here that rebuilds them, lasted 40th miles before giving up, oil pump falour as normal.

I rebuilt quite a few of the pre-crossflow 1200 cc Ford engines. With only 3 Main bearings you were lucky to get 40K before they failed. Luckily it was an easy job, just like an adult lego set.