Automatic gearbox problems

[jimbo59]

Hi all

I'm throwing this one out there in the hope that any members might be able to help and advise me.
I have a mark 2 3.4 auto 1965. On the last two three outings the car has struggled to get into 3rd gear although once there it seems to settle there quite happily.
I checked the transmission fluid and the level was fine but, shock horror, the oil was no longer a nice pinky red colour but black. The oil was changed about 3 years ago.
My first port of call was to phone the technical helpline of this club and spoke to a really helpful chap and, to cut a long story short, he thought the torque converter was probably the culprit and suggested I speak to Martin Lowe of Birmingham who specialise in gearbox repairs. This I did and the upshot was that they prefered the car to be taken there and the cost could be around three thousand pounds.
Now I'm not very mechanically minded but I have a very capable friend who works on my car so my questions are:-

Are there any other scenarios that could cause this problem?
If it is the torque converter that's the problem is this a doable job to replace or is it best left to the experts?
Are parts readily available and if so are they new or would they all be reconditioned?

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys(and ladies?) can give me and please be gentle with me when getting technical.

Many thanks

James

[Tilleyjon]

http://transmissionrepairguy.com/torque ... r-problems

Take a look here, I would not necessarily suspect the convertor, I assume it's a BW35 box as this is the only one with a separate torque convertor.

The torque convertor is straight forward enough to change, but it does involve engine out with box attached ! Not a five minute job, and 1/2 ton of cast iron and metal to move.

A rebuild will not be cheap, you could consider converting to manual, spares and availability are much easier.

good luck

Jon

[RichT]

Hi

I don't know if you managed to get the problem resolved

I have a mk 2 with the dg gearbox. Discolouration of the oil could also be due to the friction material in the gearbox breaking down.

Before getting involved in taking things apart it may be worth just draining the gearbox (don't forget the separate plug on the torque converter) dropping the sump and cleaning it and the filter fom all the gunk etc and refilling with the correct fluid for your model box and see if that makes a difference it could just be a stuck valve. The gearbox oil from my local farm supplier morris gear matic is about £16 quid for 5 litres so 2 of them is worth a punt

Obviously if you find cogs etc in the sump that's your answer

I thought I had killed my gearbox yesterday as it started making an awful noise fortunately it was just the cowl under the torque converter had got bent up and was helpfully engaging with the starer ring gear

I thought I would have to go the manual route which would be a shame as the automatics are just so easy to drive and the intermediate speed hold on the earlier box does allow a certain amount of excitement if you seek it

Good luck

Regards

Richard

[jimbo59]

Hi Jon and Richard

Thanks for both of your replies and I apologise for not getting back to you sooner.I watched this thread for a couple of weeks or so and as there weren't any responses I'd kind of given up on it and this is the first I've logged in since then.

To cut a long story short,I bit the bullet and ended up having to go the expensive route.
I took the car for a comprehensive road test and the poor old girl was really struggling.It wouldn't shift into 3rd gear at all and there was a real loss of power-I couldn't reach 50mph and it was revving so high that I knew it wasn't doing the car any favours.When I got back I checked the oil and it was extremely hot with a very burnt smell to it.So.....

Car taken to a recommended auto specialist. Gearbox out.Stripped down.Torque converter(which appeared to be the culprit)sent away and reconditioned.Pay the nice man lots of money and take a big box of worn and heat distorted components back with me.

Richard. I did toy with the idea of changing to manual but that really would have been in the hands of a good friend of mine who does most of the mechanics and he couldn't take on a project like that for the next year or so and I needed my baby back on the road.

So, thanks again to you both for your input and advice. it really is appreciated.


Regards James