the big bang from gearbox

[haz69]

Hi i have a 96 vr4 jap import auto with triptronic

the problem ive had is i changed up threw the triptronic into fourth and then it banged banged into third itself. after this the neutral light started flashing and wouldnt change out of third. after this there was a bang and no drive. now i can put it into drive and all im getting is a grinding noise. ive jacked it up and had a look but theres nothing obvious standing out. the wheels are tight to move on the front when jacked up. there is no drive in auto reverse or triptronic but it sounds like its selecting the gear. any ideas would be appreciated

[chris g]

Sounds bad, time for new gearbox probably...

[haz69]

first galant ive had so feeling my way about in the dark here! i take it that it cant be stripped and fixed then Chris?

[Gingerfish]

Stripping and fixing an auto-box will be very costly and time consuming. You can pick up a second hand g/box and ecu for as little as £100.

Re-con g/box's done by a specialist can run into 4 figures! Last time I had a quote, I was left stunned when they gave me a piece of paper with £1200 witten on it!

I couldn't give you a diagnosis for your current box, however it does sound rather catastrophic.

[haz69]

ok so im needing to source a 2nd hand gear box and ecu, let the fun begin!

[exevoowner]

there couple of cars being striped and i know of someone who has autobox up for sale you need to have gearbox ecu aswell as gearbox to match unless your lucky enough to find one the same as your orignal

[horndog]

Also - there were differences fl/pfl with different sensors I think
Wodjno started a thread with all the info in

[Chris.W]

Where abouts in Scotland are you?
I'm in the north east (Lossiemouth -between Aberdeen and Inverness) and have an auto box with ecu. Will have to strip it off the car which I should be getting back to the workshop next week.

[Davezj]

before you start pulling the gear box out you need to verify that it is the gear box that is at fault. It does sound like the gear box is goosed but it is worth checking.

right assuming it is the gear box, you should be able to do the following,

1. jack the front of the car up, put the gear box into park, try turning the front wheels they should not turn if one of them does with a grinding noise, it could be a drive shaft that has stripped the splins off it. you should be able to the shft turn without the cup on the end turning.
this happened to me.

2. put the gear box into neutral see if the front differential still works, turn one wheel forwards the other wheel should spin backwards.


if these 2 thing work as normal then it probably is the gear box, but not so fast, there are still some other test you can do.

3. up the diagnostic codes fro the gear box to see if tells you anything.

4. it could be the torque converter that has failed. not 100% sure how to test this. Antone else got any suggestions as to how to test the torque converter.

[Nick Mann]

Dave, the front diff should operate even in park. Park locks the gearbox before the centre diff, the front diff is in the transfer box.
It sounds to me that a planetary set has stripped it's teeth, but it could be the torque converter or a drive shaft. If a drive shaft then the speedo will still work even though the car doesn't go anywhere. Torque converter and gearbox issues both require a box removal anyway.
As your n light flashed you should have a diagnostic code to check. That is worth doing.

[Davezj]

Dave, the front diff should operate even in park. Park locks the gearbox before the centre diff, the front diff is in the transfer box.

Fair enough, that is worth remembering.

[elnevio]

Where abouts in Scotland are you?
I'm in the north east (Lossiemouth -between Aberdeen and Inverness) and have an auto box with ecu. Will have to strip it off the car which I should be getting back to the workshop next week.

This will be an excellent match of gearbox and ECU. Probably not even a need for the ECU, but as it's there, it's worth using. Both 1996 models with TCL/ASC/AYC so no mismatch issues to worry about.

[Davezj]

as long as it is the original auto box. quite a few of the auto boxes have been replaced at some point.