350pete

what would you suggest dblock?

Keeping cool is proving difficult.

It's becoming clear that they are just going to blame each other. Garage says box was supplied knackered & supplier believes garage didn't put enough fluid in and then tested and caused the damage!

I tend to take the side of the local garage but on the other hand I wish they had checked the pan first and not gone ahead with the replacement. Also they won't give a straight answer to the question "how many litres of fluid did you put in?" which is giving supplier an excuse not to refund...

****

.....stuck......

Hi Andlid,

I'm planning to have a word with the supplier again tomorrow & tell them that I think they should be liable to give me a full refund and also pay/contribute to the fitting cost. Suspect they may laugh at me but I paid with paypal so may have some redress there at least for the purchase amount. I guess they can either say that the garage caused the problem (I haven't had the car back so cannot be blamed) or they may say that the garage should have noticed the fault before fitting.

Best case scenario would be for garage to offer a deal on 1st attempt on the basis that I try again and for supplier to contribute to the lowered amount. Goodness knows if my negotiation skills are up to it. Ultimately the supplier has had my money and the garage have my car!

Garage now say that they were suspicious because the little fluid remaining in the replacement box was black. Also if I ask the box supplier to prove that the box was removed from a working vehicle they may struggle..

Can't believe what a nightmare this is becoming - totally gutted!

Hi Guys - it gets worse.

Spoke to garage a couple of times today who removed the pan to find pieces of metal & friction floating around in the replacement box.

It seems like I am totally screwed now as I am £700+ down and I have a new box which is no better than the one I started with. Garage has offered me the original troubleshooting route which will cost between £1000-£1600 plus VAT and they will no doubt still want to get paid for fitting the dodgy replacement. I'm sure I can get my money back for the duff box but I feel like:

A) The supplier has caused the consequential loss of the fitting cost (Until yesterday he was still saying it was fully working..)

Should the garage has removed the pan to check before they did the swap.

Seems like my decisions and everything else are all going totally the wrong way at the minute. I am left with the choice of giving the go ahead for a job which will likely cost over two grand or buying another box for £500-600+ & having that fitted (£400) - If I go this route is it out-of-order of me to expect a deal on the 2nd fitting? No way I want to pay full price twice....

Any advice greatly appreciated. After all this I can't really imagine being pleased to get the car back - I suppose I could always sell and take the loss....

Hi Chris - sorry wasn't ignoring your advice but I read a lot of that section and it's pretty much greek to me... I can check the fluid condition and read error codes & lights on the dash but if it's a sensor, solenoid, or switch somewhere I'd have no idea what to check or how to replace parts (even if I was confident of the faulty ones)

Having another read of the manual just makes me realise how many possible external causes there might be - i get the feeling that the guys who swapped the box over have a good grasp of the internal mechanicals of the TC & clutches & lockups etc but don't have much idea about the electronics side (same as me)

if they are totally stuck I guess it will have to go to nissan on another flatbed truck but I can't even afford to get it there really let alone the diagnosis... thanks for your help - will keep you posted.

hi andlid - the guy that replaced did say that fluid from old box came out black! he doesnt seem to be suggesting that it might have been ok but maybe thinks that something external is causing the boxes to burn - i have no idea if this is even possible. thought if i replaced all the mech components i would be safe.

totally stuck at moment £750 down with undriveable car and no clue what to try next & who knows if I pay for car to be transported elsewhere if they will know what to do.....

it would help if i knew if I owned zero, one or two faulty transmissions... last auto I ever buy methinks....:-(

Hi Guys,

Not good news... gutted! HELP pls... :-(

Got a call today from transmission place to say they had replaced the box and that the replacement box has same problem. It apparently pulls in first & second and just slips in 3/4/5.

The guy seemed very unsure what could be the cause & whether the 'new' box is faulty or there is some other 'control issue' that's causing the boxes to burn out... I obviously have no idea what to do next - I was trying to avoid "hit & miss" type troubleshooting by replacing the whole unit & didn't think it could backfire like this... & neither did they seem to....

He has done the ECU reset (again) - is it worth doing the throttle position procedure - he said there was an error code flagging for the TP sensor. Anyone know what else could be wrong as I keep being told that the 5AT boxes are very sturdy & reliable.

Thanks

Pete

car and box now at transmission place (recovery truck needed!) - fingers crossed it all goes OK....

hi zman, i did think about replacing the fluid but it's brown & smells burnt & would probably cost close to £100 in new fluid. plus i'd have the dilemma of do I flush the system or just try to drain as much as possible. from reading online it sounds like mech fail & i didnt want to waste money on new fluid in a ruined box. - could be the wrong decision but now car doesnt run its difficult to do anything trial and error so opted for full replacement...

also i don't think its failsafe mode as when really bad i cannot get any drive at all in any gear - plus no a/t light on the dash..

could be done on thurs/fri so will post with results..!

hi chris - no i haven't - when the problem got so much worse i decided it was best to assume worst case scenario. the new box was a good price and available there and then.

plus the disassembly & troubleshooting labour was going to be so expensive and the overhaul kits/parts were hundreds I am hoping I will have made the right choice. am thinking i could sell duff box on ebay as spares for other 5at owners

peter

will do

bought the new auto box this morning - fingers crossed it all works. arranged to get delivered to a local transmission place who say they'll do the job for £330plus VAT.

Fingers crossed - lets see what happens next week.

Thanks all for your advice

received & understood. ta

sorry - who were you thinking of in particular?

true but if all the work involved in fitting a manual (which must be plenty) can be done for £1k then it doesn't seem totally unreasonable to expect that I can get someone to do my direct swap for a working AT unit for £500 - no...?

plus I am wondering if my usual mechanic may be able to do it now the job doesn't require totally dissassembling and refurbing the trans - in my mind I'm thinking it should be a much easier/quicker job...?

actually £999 seems fairly reasonable - gives me hope that I can get a straight swap done for half as much.

I assume that was a joke (i actually enjoyed the auto - briefly!!) but anybody know of someone who has done this... Is it even possible to change 5at to 6mt...?

bought from a dealer but no warranty... :-(

I don't know of any Nissan specialists locally & auto tranny places seem to be few & far between down my way. Problem now is its difficult to get the car anywhere to be looked at and even harder to take it elsewhere if I don't like the answer...

gutted...

Hi Dblock,

Yeah that was my thought (no history/warranty) but no way I can afford to shell out £1500+ & I'm thinking if I can get a replacement box for a good price 300-400ish then my theory was that the labour to fit the replacement is likely to be less than dissecting & overhauling my AT... don't know if this is true.? 800-900 would still be a serious PITA but do-able...

Have pm'ed Lee to see what he thinks on supply/install.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies - it's an 03 JDM.

I have been using it in normal mode, problem got much worse today - didn't think I was going to make it home, getting slip in all gears & tip with any amount of throttle Was very difficult to move the car today. Have been in touch with a couple of mechs who have basically said it sounds like burnt clutch linings/bands and will need a total transmission rebuild/overhaul. Not sure where is best to take the car (if I make it at all) & figures like £1500+ have been mentioned.

I am thinking maybe I should buy this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2761.l1259

and then just need to find someone who can fit it for me!

Hi all,

I am the new owner of an 03 JDM Auto Zed.

Unfortunately it has a gearbox issue which I'd like to get some advice & tips on. The upchanges are sometimes very jerky (maybe it's me or I need to get used to it) but the showstopping issue is that if you floor the throttle to wot I get loads of revs but no acceleration.

The box seems to change down in D but whatever gear or speed if I hit the pedal I just produce noise & no acceleration at all. I can only make progress by accelerating very calmly & carefully.

I have checked the ATF fluid level and there seems to be enough of it - it has gone brown but doesn't smell burnt.

Can anyone on here give me any ideas what they think it could be and I'd be interested in a worst case scenario cost-wise...? Has anyone had to have a new auto transmission here?

Also any suggestions on where to take it (I'm in Norfolk) would be handy - I want to avoid driving it too far in current condition but also want someone who knows what they're looking at & I guess the local dealer may not...

Thanks

Pete

Anyone who can supply please give me your price. It doesn't have to be new just in working order (and the cheaper the better as im a student)

hi waseem - would you accept £140?