Recon Gearbox? Recommendations Please.

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GrahamC230K

MB Enthusiast
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Jul 14, 2002
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Audi A3 & S4 quattro
OK, ref my gearbox problem I need to weigh up the cost of having it stripped, diagnosed and repaired and the related downtime of the car, with buying a reconditioned exchange gearbox and having them just swapped over.

So, firstly can anyone recommend somewhere to supply or even supply and fit a MB manual gearbox preferably in the south Midlands/Oxford areas or even just give me a rough idea of what sort of money to expext for supply.

thanks
 
fuzzer said:
this could be your chance to get an auto :) :p

It performs better without 3rd than an auto!

Sorry, but yesterday even in Grav's E55, the auto box seemed to be in the wrong gear, exit corner and you have to WAIT for it to kick down before you are in the right gear.

Anyway, lets not get off topic, but yes I am suprised out of all things the manal gearbox is worn, I thought it would be indestructable - obviously I thought wrong!
 
If the rest of the box is good then definately go for a repair.

A lot of recons are more con than re.

Any gearbox repairer will be able to do this job easily.

You really need the box to be examined to know what the problem is.
 
We have a gearbox specialist in Kettering, Midland Automatic Transmissions, just moved to a unit round the corner. I will give them a ring tomorrow.
 
jimmy said:
We have a gearbox specialist in Kettering, Midland Automatic Transmissions, just moved to a unit round the corner. I will give them a ring tomorrow.


Would appreciate that. I hear what Dieselman is saying, but I would like to weight both options up.
 
Just had a long chat with Midland Automatic Gearboxes, they have a branch in Letchworth that specialise in manuals, they are aware of this problem, it is quite common but they are unable to fix it, they are unable to get the parts to fix it. He said a replacement gearbox is £1300, I expect somebody somewhere has the knowledge and access to the parts.

Maybe worth ringing around some salvage yards for a low mileage box.
 
jimmy said:
Just had a long chat with Midland Automatic Gearboxes, they have a branch in Letchworth that specialise in manuals, they are aware of this problem, it is quite common but they are unable to fix it, they are unable to get the parts to fix it. He said a replacement gearbox is £1300, I expect somebody somewhere has the knowledge and access to the parts.

Maybe worth ringing around some salvage yards for a low mileage box.


Holey moley!

This is worse than the Kompressor stopping working!!
 
Just spoke to Andy Gayle. He is not aware of any issues with manual boxes - he regards them to be very good and has only every had to strip auto boxes. He also advises that in his opinion all parts are available.

I don't want to invest money in investigating a fault which is unresolvable, but think I will have to let Chris see what he can do unless I can get a 2nd opinion matching Midland Auto's.

R2D2 - can you ask you friend/mechanic Steve if he has an opinion on this?

Now it's time to call V12 anyway and see what he can do.....
 
GrahamC230K said:
R2D2 - can you ask you friend/mechanic Steve if he has an opinion on this?

...


I'll speak to Steve ASAP! He's just done his 7G training:) So he's quite good with gearboxes!
 
Can someone with a good enough rapor with George Fraiser give him a bell and ask if he knows of this problem specifically? I have never dealt with George. I would really appreciate it.
 
Graham. Ring me :(
 
OK, starting to prepare for the worst now. I have a price from V12 for a straight used gearbox - although obviously no history with it.

A search in the back of Mercedes Enthusiast Magazine and Google however hasn't revealed much in the way of suppliers of reconditioned boxes - any recommendations?

Hmmm, wonder if a 6 speed will fit........
 
GrahamC230K said:
Hmmm, wonder if a 6 speed will fit........

That was one of the thoughts that crossed my mind! :devil:

Must agree with Dieselman though - a 're-con' box has obviously failed in the past to have warranted 're-conditioning'.

Bearing in mind that you know the rest of your box is mainly ok it probably makes more sense to have your box stripped, inspected and repaired.

One thought I have considered is that because only a very small % of MBs sold are manual, plus the fact that they appear to be quite reliable I doubt that many places have repaired/reconditioned many manual MB boxes?!? :confused:

I suppose it all depends on if you can source a decent low-mileage manual box at a good price? Just purely out of interest, what is the retail on a new 5-spd manual box?

Lastly - didn't you say some while back that your clutch was starting to slip? Might be worth inspecting/replacing this whilst you are at it. ;)

Good luck, :)

Will
 
One source ('box specialist) seems to think box is unrepairable in their opinion - from previous experience, although this is the route I will be trying. Just getting prepared in case though.

I think a new replacement is about £1300, a used non recon about £400.

If I am shelling out big bucks a 6 speed conversion appeals more!
 

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