Hiya chaps ,
on a real downer with the cab - so after speaking to Brett for the last 30 mins , i thought i might aswell share my misery :(
In the last few weeks , the ABS light has been on , and no idea why ( i think i posted up about it a while back ) .. anyways took the car to work on friday just to get it out and about - and i manage to loose first gear ( now its an auto - so how this works is beyond me )
So after stuggling up 9 floors on a mult-story in 2nd - i checked the oil , topped it up and left it stood for a day
Gets to the car at night , and drive it home ( without first !! )
As i got it home , first started working .. woohoooo
SO , booked it in for the MOT on Wed based on the "what the hell" - might aswell send it in with faulty ABS and if it fails on more stuff then i have a list of what to fix
So tonight , after reading the manual , i started messing around with the ABS ( you can see where this is going cant you .... ) , took off the ABS ECU and started to meter out the pins
i have continuety on all 4 sensors - so thats a start , so jacked up the back end , got both wheels off the floor , meter the pins again and im getting a voltage reading on both the back wheels - so i thought "thats promising"
The car was running on vapour , so threw in another ABS ECU and set off to to Tescos for some juice
Backed it out the drive and set off ( in first !!! ) , the ABS light was back on ( damn ! ) - but that just narrows it down to the front sensors now
Put some ££££££££££ in and drove it home , i was getting full boost in first and second , it was awesome , but as i backed off , it was holding 2nd , even at 4000 RPM .. humm strange , so foot down , full boost , and back off .. and it wouldnt change up to 3rd
So gets her home and on the drive , put the car too close to the house , so in to reverse .. and nothing .. now i know that my car isnt the best at finding reverse , so left it for 15 - 20 seconds and nothing
Then it was making a whinning noise from the front , so still in reverse ( with the hand brake on ) - i got open , popped the bonnet , nothing was out of the ordinary
The better half came out to nosey , she was in the car reving it ( in reverse ) and still nothing ( apart from this odd whine )
Even in reverse , i could push the car forward ?? How very strange ...
But no reverse , not even after 10-15 mins at tick over , IN reverse
So it looks like i have
Faulty ABS
Lost Reverse & 3rd & 4th
Not in a good mood with the car at all , esp when i just retaxed it and reinsured it at the end of May
Ideas greatly welcomed ... i have threatened to break it for spares , but Brett threatened to drive up and break my legs if i did that
A manual conversion is out the windows ( i dont think i have the skills ) so looks like a auto box swap out is in order ( still with the faulty ABS in the back of my mind ) :(
Sorry about the long post
Stu / Grinder
so is putting an another auto box in out of the question? I guess finding one could be a bit hard?
We should have a meet round your gaff and get everyone to muck in with fitting the new box!
i think its the way forward if i can find one !
Bad news mate, best of luck fixing it. I\'m sure ABS problem is an easy fix and look on the bright side... At least its not the most expensive thing to go wrong.
well having ruled out the back end - looks like its a front end issue
The gearbox is the main worry at this point :(
Its just another problem in the life of a RX7 owner !
As DtheB suggested, another autobox seems like a good idea IMO. They can\'t be mega to change on a driveway, I\'d certainly attempt it! Undo prop, gearbox - engine bolts (I guess that the top 2 or 3 will be tricky to reach though) possibly worth undoing the gearbox mounts first as that\'ll let it sag a little and get you more space. Undo, and drop. Fit new!
I\'d factor in an entire day for it as you\'ve not done it before (me neither). But 1 day in a weekend for a working gearbox has got to be worth it! All you need to do is source one now...
its the challenge of finding one now :(
Have mailed a few tuners and no one seems to have one :(
Its not looking good at the mo
tried it again last night , and no reverse , just some light whinning from the gearbox :(
Not possible to get the gearbox rebuilt/fixed? I don\'t know much about this kind of thing.
Quote from: BenRX;767552Not possible to get the gearbox rebuilt/fixed? I don\'t know much about this kind of thing.
It can be done - but it could easily cost £500-£1000 maybe more for a job like that !
Quote from: grinder;767550its the challenge of finding one now :(
Have mailed a few tuners and no one seems to have one :(
Its not looking good at the mo
tried it again last night , and no reverse , just some light whinning from the gearbox :(
I would suggest flushing the existing fluid from the transmission and replacing with some high quality fluid. it may not be able find gears due to lack of fluid. I seem to remember they use fluid to select the gears
Hi
I think rx7boy may be on the right track, also if the auto box is like most auto box\'s there should be a sump on it. If there is drain the oil, take off the sump and look to see if there are any gauze filters.....they may be blocked restricting oil flow to the pump. Blocked filters is the cause of a lot of peeps thinking the box is finished, when in fact the box has got lower and lower on fluid and then the filter doesn\'t pass enough, resulting in selection failure. Worth a try....you could look at the abs on the front at the same time when it\'s up in the air!!!
well according to the box - there is no drain plug ( HOW silly is this !! )
so you have to remove the sump to drain it .. again WTF
but i think this is the first plan to be honest
Your on to something here, alot of autos don\'t have plugs but draining the system and cleaning the fine gause on the oil pump pickup is a good (cheap) place to start.
Below is a link to all service manuals etc its a good site got it from someone elses post on here
http://www.rotaryheads.com/PDF/2nd_gen/
Cheers
Blimey only just read this (been at cadwell park). If you need a hand to get under and have a good butchers then I\'m happy to pop up and have a play. Could be a case of drilling and tapping a drain plug in the case once you have it off too !
Shaun
Quote from: grinder;767597well according to the box - there is no drain plug ( HOW silly is this !! )
so you have to remove the sump to drain it .. again WTF
but i think this is the first plan to be honest
The Merc auto boxes are sealed from the factory with no dip stick....
its silly it really is :(
not sure why they thought it was a good idea not to add a drain plug !!
Just seems iffy trying to remove a sump with 4+ litres of oil with no way to drain it first ( and there is a total of about 7 litres in the sump and box )
plan is to get the sump off , have a look , refil with clean oil and just see what happens .. if at that point its a no-goer .. its back to a rethink
and thanks for the link about the manuals .. already got a copy here on the PC at work ;)
Humm just wondering now ....
1 - i lost first gear last friday .. was this a cause of the oil getting low ?
2 - at this point has crap been drawn into the filter and blocked it ?
3 - so even though i put about 400-450ml of ATF in .. it wouldnt matter as the filter is blocked
Hummmmmmmmmmm ??????????
Sounds plausible mate. Fingers crossed for you and an easy fix. I like them!
Can you suck most of the fluid out of the fill point ? Might make less of a mess !
Shaun
Its a proper pre ford-infected Mazda, so it was built properly, so it might be something uber simple :)
I think you use a big syringe type thing with a plastic hose on the end to suck it out of the full tube,I\'m sure you can get them at machine mart.
Cheers
hi
The best way is to jack and support the front of the car. start taking out the sump pins from the rear of the sump and work your way to the front of the sump leaving two pins in at the front , oil should start running out of the back of the sump ,You may need to tap it with a hammer to break the gaskets seal then slowly undo the two front pins to let most of it drain. there should only be 4 or 5 ltr in the pan the rest is held in the converter and cooler.
to refil put 5ltr in box start engine select r n d then back to p then top up to level with engine running.
looking at whats in side the sump and your old oil is a good indication on the condition of your auto box
if your oil level is ok you have drive but you have lost reverse totaly
its most likely gota come out to be fixed, sorry.
Hummm not really the answer i wanted .. but you could be right .. who knows ??????
the dip stick has to be the worst idea ever .. when you dip it - it just smears oil everywhere , so it could be over full , just on the stick etc... - its really is a dark art trying to get a accurate figure :(
if the box is coming out .. then it wont be going back in - i can tell you that for a fact :(
But if it does come out .. what the hell do i put in its place ( well a gallon of petrol and a match is my first idea that comes to mind ! )
Brett Single ... have you worked on a FC auto box before ??
hi
it will be easy to set the level when its warm ,it is harder to get a good mark when its cold plus it expands when its warm so if you get it bang on when its cold it will be over the mark when its warm.
i have not worked on a auto in a FC but on the same box which was also fitted to a fairway taxi cab but with a different bell housing.
im pretty sure your box is a JATCO 4L71A or B have a look on the side of the box there will be a tag on it.
Don\'t feel to bad having the same unit as a taxi the skyline 34GT uses the same auto unit as a LTI tx1 tx2 taxi cabs
Hiya Brett ,
i dont feel bad , dont worry about that bit !! LOL
i have always checked the oil when its warm .. still a pain to do though
Car is still sat on the drive at the mo - not worked up enough courage to get it jacked up yet ! LOL
How hard is it to change the filter? you could pull the fluid out from there and replace with fresh !
Shaun
filter is rumoured to be in the sump .. so thats not easy either ! LOL
the REV thing sounds like its still in neutral
,, i would be taking off the selector rod and physically trying each position on the gearbox with the T bar disconnected
methinks the selector may just need adjusting,, it may be that gearbox mount has sagged and it is pulling on the adjustment
else these boxes ( jatco 4n71B ,, s4 ) sometimes get issues with the pressure modulation solenoid
,, or issues with the vac kickdown solenoid hose filling with fuel,,, or tranny fluid ( busted solenoid )
the usual issues i have seen with these boxes it has been selector adjust,, or holding 2nd gear ( holding out drive,, not 1st )
and flairing under HP above 4000 rpm
ok if its still hard to get a mark try cleaning up the end of dip stick with some sand paper, you will find that either side of the dipstick will have a different level just go off the lowest 1
If you want to check what jumpstart says about the selector cable position just put your ignition on select reverse and check your reverse lights are on if they are the selector shaft is in the correct position
If you want to have a go at it then as soon as you remove the pan the filter is there at the bottom but its not that easy to change!
one of the pins on the filter goes all the way through the valve body and has a nut the other side so if you take it out you wont get it back in with out removing the valve body.
if you leave the pin out you will also have a lose nut left in your box so you have to remove the valve body to change or clean the filter(if its blocked)
if you remove the valve body you have to take out the vac modulator on the side of box first, this has a small pin which goes in to the valve body to work a valve.
so remove vac mod and pin then you can remove valve body to work on filter.
still feel up to it?
honestly no :(
and i can confirm that the reverse lights DO come on when you select reverse .. not looking good is it !
/\\ depends,,, depending on the car and model of 3N/4N 71B,, some have the selection position switch on the T bar,, and others have them at the box
( i have a box and T bar here from different cars and both have a switch ! )
BTW s4 are all bar linkage
,,,, if you have a cable with cable select brake you have an s5 auto and it is not a jatco 4N71b
the effect of a fault on types with a T bar switch
is that the T bar and dash ( and rev lights ) may indicate the correct position
,, but that is not necessarily so at the lever directly on the box
it is easy to take out the split pin and drop the linkage to test it
be sure the rear wheels are in the air while you test in case it does select a gear while your under it