Re: how real are the gearbox problems?
Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:35 pm
i finally got round to changing my gearbox oil as per my earlier posts on this subject.
i can confirm that undoing the gearbox sump plug drops 3 litres of gear oil. the box takes 9.4 litres for a full refill, so my local indy well and truely ripped me off charging me £90 worth of new oil when they did a so called oil/filter change!
anyway, i changed it twice more myself (over a couple of weeks with the 5 litres i had bought) so now i know its had 8 litres of new oil added. so about as close to a full oil change as i can get.
anyway! after new oil / filter and software upgrade, the lurch that i had before, is still there exactly the same.
my gearbox immediately developed a new lurch when changing UP from 2nd to 3rd. this problem only occurs when gearbox cold and returns to normal after warming up and can be mitigated by very gingerly driving when pulling away!
the mechanic at the indy commented that the original oil he changed didnt look that bad.
i followed all correct procedures when refilling myself.
after all this my verdict is: i wish i had saved my money and left the gearbox alone!
the lurch is something i have learnt to live with and can be avoided by learning to slip the car into neutral just before coming to a dead stop in traffic or driving with the dsc turned off or driving in sport mode.
so. if thinking of having this work done yourself my recommendations would be:
if at all possible, drop the 3 litres of oil from the sump yourself and check its condition. if smelling badly burnt it might be worth changing, but if it looks ok, just put it back in the gearbox and leave well alone.
if you take it a garage to have the oil / filter replaced, take a large clean bucket for them to drop the old oil into. then when you show them its only 3 litres of oil that came out - they cant sting you for 9 litres of replacement at £20 litre!
some have reported that the software update has cured their lurch and others, like myself, have had no such luck.
hey ho, anyway, i hope my own experience might help someone else decide what to do if thinking of doing the same thing.
i can confirm that undoing the gearbox sump plug drops 3 litres of gear oil. the box takes 9.4 litres for a full refill, so my local indy well and truely ripped me off charging me £90 worth of new oil when they did a so called oil/filter change!
anyway, i changed it twice more myself (over a couple of weeks with the 5 litres i had bought) so now i know its had 8 litres of new oil added. so about as close to a full oil change as i can get.
anyway! after new oil / filter and software upgrade, the lurch that i had before, is still there exactly the same.
my gearbox immediately developed a new lurch when changing UP from 2nd to 3rd. this problem only occurs when gearbox cold and returns to normal after warming up and can be mitigated by very gingerly driving when pulling away!
the mechanic at the indy commented that the original oil he changed didnt look that bad.
i followed all correct procedures when refilling myself.
after all this my verdict is: i wish i had saved my money and left the gearbox alone!
the lurch is something i have learnt to live with and can be avoided by learning to slip the car into neutral just before coming to a dead stop in traffic or driving with the dsc turned off or driving in sport mode.
so. if thinking of having this work done yourself my recommendations would be:
if at all possible, drop the 3 litres of oil from the sump yourself and check its condition. if smelling badly burnt it might be worth changing, but if it looks ok, just put it back in the gearbox and leave well alone.
if you take it a garage to have the oil / filter replaced, take a large clean bucket for them to drop the old oil into. then when you show them its only 3 litres of oil that came out - they cant sting you for 9 litres of replacement at £20 litre!
some have reported that the software update has cured their lurch and others, like myself, have had no such luck.
hey ho, anyway, i hope my own experience might help someone else decide what to do if thinking of doing the same thing.