ST-R auto gearbox issue

[confusis]

driving home from the meet today i was cruising through the karangahape gorge when i lost all drive.

now the car whirrs when in any auto mode but won't move. (whirrs in p, r, n, d, tiptronic). fluid was an inch up the dipstick when we checked, then topped up auto fluid with another litre of, no change in operation

what could be wrong? i dont think the gears are blown as it still whirrs in neutral and park, and i haven't even been thrashing the poor thing!

[elnevio]

Torque converter failure? I don't know enough about the auto internals to give you other suggestions. Hopefully someone like Brad might have an idea on the problem, and whether or not it is simple fix.

[confusis]

arg i just lost my job too... bad timing!

how many litres of atf does the auto hanging off my v6 take? if it just dumped itself through a blown seal while driving i'll need to buy enough to refill it once the seal's sorted..


if its the converter would that mean there would be metal fragments through the box as well? so will need converotr and a new box :/

any difference between st-r and vr4 autos?

[wintertidenz]

Hopefully you shouldn't have any metal through the transmission... sounds like your clutch packs are gone to me, but the experts on here will be able to tell you for sure what is wrong.

Trans will take about 12 litres of ATF, make sure that you get the MM-SPIII otherwise you will damage the box.

Brad will be able to answer if the trans are different between the VR-4 and the ST-R.

[bradc]

Thats no good at all, didn't you say something about it stuttering a bit at 50kmh when you were at my place?

If you've lost all drive then the torque converter splines might have gone. It is a very common problem on the UK V6 auto's which are only 2wd, but I'm not sure if the same problem applies with 4wd 4 speed auto's.

When you rev it slightly in drive, does the speedo go up at all? Asking because that will help determine where the fault is.

[bradc]

Yeah transmissions are completely different, VR-4's are 5 speed for a start.

Do a search around for torque converter splines, you'll see lots of UK V6 n/a guys have had the problem and how they've fixed it.

[confusis]

i've run it towards 3-4k rpm with no movement at all in both drive and reverse.

splines? how big a job? just need a new converter or is it part of the box?
it stuttered at 45-50 kph and then again around 70kph but that may be due to dirty fluid.

[bradc]

I have no idea, I've never looked into it! I think it sounds like that problem though.

[confusis]

the car's parked at a friends place (the tow car driver!) am i right in thinking the trans code is f4a42? just browsing for a new box :S

im guessing when the input shaft's gone it's a hard job replacing it, easier to replace the box?

[OnBoost!]

That sucks,seems like it was running ok when you followed me to brad's then suddenly it fails without warning...

[confusis]

my partner said she heard a slight whirring earlier in the day (she's on the trans side of the car so that makes sense) so guess it wasn't so sudden.

for those of you who have driven through the karangahape gorge you will know how unlucky we were to break down there (tight winding roads with little room to park on the side in emergencies. luckily we made it to a small bay on one side.

[bradc]

w4a42 = 4wd version

[OnBoost!]

Oh i see,yup i have been through there,really tight...lucky you managed to get a tow too.

[confusis]

the tow rope we used was a piece of garden rope left behind in the car by my dad.. working load 280kgs... didn't snap on the hour and a half tow. we doubled it up and the pack stated breaking strain is 6x working load.. so technically it could have handled 3360kg.

ok w4a42. thanks so i will need box and converter to repair this? will need to get my local mechanic to do the work as i don't have the experience and i cant get the car to auckland for you guys to help

[bradc]

You will need a torque converter and possibly the input shaft, I'm not 100% sure. You may need an entire gearbox as well, and in fact that might be the easiest thing to get.

[aboo]

Sounds like torque converter.

Thats what happend to my V6 sport just lost drive with out any warning.

I was over £500 for labour only. You have to drop the box.

Unlucky mate I feel for you. Its allways in the back of my mined with the Leggy.

[crazydriver81]

Confusis, the same happened to my gearbox. It's most likely that the torque converster has gone (at least it was the failure on my auto-box).

This means that the sprocket from the torque converter has been torn out of it. Means in the eand, you have to replace / refurb the torque converter. In Germany there is one company, offering the refurb of Mitsi gearboxes. So it cost me about 1000 EUR for the refurb instead of 1600 EUR for a new converter...

Maybe someone (VR4WGN or bradc) from your area has a spare auto-box. This is the best way to go IMO.

Stefan

[bradc]

I don't have one, but vr4wgn might have one.

[confusis]

easiest solution seems to be drop the old box and converter out and replace it with working items, not worrying about refurbing things.

would a rvr box work? same box code but i assume just need to change bellhousing over?

i understand the vr4 box is different, but would the converter be the same as the st-r?

[pbaron]

Happened to my ST-R, I got a replacement convertor from PickaPart for $19. It was a mission to remove the auto to remove the convertor but the price was right.

My auto was working fine right up until it just stopped driving. I purchased the auto and transfer case from the same donor legnum at PickaPart for an extra $235 to have as a spare, but as the condition of these items was unknown I decided to stay with my originals.

PickaPart in Mangere I think has a few legnums listed at the moment, if you are up that way.