I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
 

Ok, so it was 400 miles exactly (200 each way) not 500.

And I didn't walk, I drove.

BUT, I did drive 400 miles (to drop the car off) and I did drive 400 more (to collect it).

And since the song is by a Scottish Band I figured it was an appropriate title ;)



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So I picked the car back up yesterday. I think it took a dozen hours or so to get there in the Vauxhall Astra courtesy car and about 10 mins to get back in my S8 ... or at least that's how it seemed.

I have a stack of photos to post (kindly provided by Alan at Mackie's) of the re-manufacture process, which I'll post soon, when I have more time.

More info soon but for now just wanted to say what an excellent job Mackie did. The transmission behaved flawlessly on the 200 mile drive back home last night. In fact, in the 6 years I've owned the car and the 15+ years I've owned A/S8s, never have I known the transmission to work so well. Gear changes are smooth as silk now and much quicker too; the shift-down to overtake is almost instant now, making the car feel much more responsive and even more pleasurable to drive. :)

Good to hear that Mackies have done the job to your satisfaction. +++ You should have said that you were coming and the Scottish mafia might have turned up to give you a Scottish welcome - i.e "Git a drum an' beat it!" :ROFL:

haha that would've been braw! +++


I would've actually liked to have spend some time driving around Scotland while I was there .... must be 20 years since the last time I was in Scotland. But, due to work commitments, it was straight to Mackie and back, both times.

Did they carry out a specific repair, or was it a 'full gearbox rebuild'?

I'm very tempted to have mine done as a precaution before we move - which is looking like fairly soon as we're all being made redundant today and we've already had an offer on our house (a bit low, but at least there is some interest).

I'm also very tempted to do the same, to get the old girl fully fettled.
Mark, as Jim asks, what exactly did you have done and (dare I ask) ball-park costs?

Jim, sorry to hear about the redundancy, or is this a "retirement bonus"? And where are you moving to?

Sorry to hear about the redundancy too Jim. Hope you've got something else lined up.


I'll post the photos soon, but it was a full re-manufacture. Didn't seem worth doing anything less and, as it turned out when they stripped it down, a re-manufacture was definitely needed.

It's something I'd always planned for but, coming just weeks after spending 2.5K on a very thorough and major service (including preventively replacing the notorious oil cooler pipe), I had to do a sanity check and decide whether the car should just go. I even started looking at some D3s/D4s for sale online, which did nothing for me, so I eventually came to the conclusion that I had failed the sanity check and should pour some more money into the D2.

I don't like doing things by halves so I also had them replace the 'F125' range sensor/switch and check the entire drive-train, including a rear diff oil change. To recondition the box and torque converter cost £2,100, removal and refit was £480 and the ATF was £85 (all +VAT). With the F125 switch and a few other bits, the total was £3.5K, including VAT.

I probably could've bought a small house with the amount I've spent on this car since I bought it 6 years ago. Which is ironic, because if I spend much more on it, I think Lyn will make me go live in it! :D

Almost exactly what I'm thinking of doing. :cool:

Sounds like a plan.

And don't commiserate about the redundancy guys! I'd planned to retire this year anyway and was just sitting tight to get a pay-off.

We're planning to move back to Leicestershire or maybe just across the Linclonshire border, but not too far from Melton Mowbray.

mmm, now I fancy a pork pie.

melton mowbray ...for the pork pies or the stilton?

have you considered oakham ?