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D3 - Transmission Gearboxes, diffs, drive shafts.

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Old 26th July 2016, 06:25 PM
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Unhappy Clunking in/out of 1st after Mackies Flush

My work brought me to Glasgow and I thought I'd make use of the time to visit Mackie Transmission and get the transmission flushed and the gearbox software updated.

I got a call to say the car was ready. They said they couldn't do the software update because my gearbox had the latest software. I got a cab over there and drove away a happy guy. Even from startup, everything seemed that little bit smoother and pulling away felt great. I happily drove back to my hotel... until I had to stop for the first time after the car had warmed up.

When the car shifted into first while slowing down, there was a clunk from the transmission. Pulling away from a standstill and, when shifting from 1st to 2nd, the car hesitated quite violently before shifting to 2nd and then behaving normally.

I tried calling Mackie but they had closed for the day. I emailed John but got an out-of-office.

I've decided to drive there first thing tomorrow morning and hope, pray and plead that it's something they can fix easily. I'm due in Sheffield tomorrow afternoon and, truth be told, I'm freaking out.
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Old 26th July 2016, 06:28 PM
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I hope it will be the gearbox relearning its control points but they should be able to confirm with you in the morning, what they charge you out of interest?
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Old 26th July 2016, 06:36 PM
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My goodness, I hope so Del. I've had a run of bad luck with the car recently and I'm thinking about throwing in the towel and going back to my 21 year old Volvo.

They charged me £436 for the service including the fluid and disposal of the old stuff. That was cheaper than I was quoted (£541) because a software update wasn't needed.

When I took the car in, they told me the software update can sometimes take a while because it has to be downloaded. The suspicious side of me is now wondering whether they skipped it to save some time because they said they were a little short-staffed that day.
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Old 26th July 2016, 07:12 PM
PsYcHe PsYcHe is offline
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If they put the wrong fluid in with the wrong software, it can have interesting results
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Old 26th July 2016, 08:01 PM
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You're right. I always thought the software upgrade was required to use the Lifeguard 8 fluid. There's nothing in the service history of the car to suggest the upgrade has been done before, so I wonder whether the software was needed but not done. If it can't be done, I wonder whether it's better to use the Lifeguard 6 fluid?

I don't know, my head is racing right now.
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Old 26th July 2016, 08:19 PM
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I can't offer any way of explanation, but hopefully I can offer some reassurance in that my car was done by them, but they did update the firmware as well and it's been fine in the time I've had it, they are highly rated as an outfit.

Hopefully it's just a settings issue and you get it sorted tomorrow morning
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Old 27th July 2016, 03:43 PM
Lee S Lee S is offline
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Just had mine serviced at Chester Transmissions and I asked about the LG8 fluid. They said not to bother and if it was working OK before (which it was) then leave it as is. They put the LG6 fluid back in and I have had no issues and it was about £250 or so.

I raised my concerns about auto transmissions being very susceptible to failure after an oil change and the guy said that changing oil would not cause issues that weren't underlying before or waiting to happen anyway.

Sorry to hear of your woes and hopefully whatever it is sorts itself out or Mackie's can fix it. Would be interested to hear what they say it is as sometimes my car does that 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 1st gear hesitation/snatch thing (mainly on downhill downshifts). But it always has done since I had it at 15k miles. I thought it was a "feature" !!
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Old 27th July 2016, 08:44 PM
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Thanks Lee, appreciate the good wishes from everyone on here.

I took the car back to them first thing this morning. They took it for a test drive and I rode shotgun. When the transmission was cold, it was perfect. Quiet and fluid with every gear change quick and smooth.

As soon as it warmed up, the clunking came back between 1 & 2. The transmission actually feels like it wants to burst up through the floor of the car. Worryingly, it also started clunking (albeit less violently) between 5 & 6.

The tech suspects either a solenoid, valve or the mechatronics. Whatever it is, it's going to need parts that can take between 3 and 10 days to arrive from ZF. During the test drive, he also told me that the transmission was very low on fluid when they received it - around 4 litres short! I have to say that I do wish they'd told me that while they still had the car. I know they probably didn't want to worry me but that kind of information would have warned me to be cautious with it. I asked for a ballpark figure for the repair and he guessed around £1200.

Rather than risk more damage to it, I thought it best to leave it with them, which left me a with a problem considering I was 400 miles from home. They were nice enough to offer me a lift to the airport, where I rented a car so I could get back home, stopping off at Sheffield for work along the way.

I left them my warranty details in the blind hope that the crappy warranty I got with the car is worth slightly more than the paper on which it's written.

As word broke at work about the car, I'm now facing cries of 'time to sell it'. Part of me agrees but on the other hand, it seems criminal to sell a car having spent as much as I have getting it to behave. Either way, I can't remember ever being this stressed about a car.

At some point, I'll have to catch a flight up to Glasgow and then drive the car home. I just hope they get it back before I go on holiday in August.
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Old 27th July 2016, 09:07 PM
Joe2.0E Joe2.0E is offline
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Im sure Mackies will put it right. They are expensive cars when something goes wrong but even large unexpected bills like this are only a fraction of the yearly depreciation when they were new.
It might be worth contacting the Trader you purchased the car from to push the warranty claim.
Typically 3rd party warranty firms will just give the runaround to the likes of Mackies or Yourself. They might be more co-operative with the Trader that purchased the warranty as they will be selling them policies on a regular basis.
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Old 27th July 2016, 09:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbo Tony View Post
During the test drive, he also told me that the transmission was very low on fluid when they received it - around 4 litres short!
That doesn't sound right. I doubt it would even drive with less than half fluid level.
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