Bingo +++ Damn thing is the bane of my life! Can't move the shifter without the key in, can't take the key out with it in neutral. Can't open the door with an 8 on the lift, can't roll it in park.

No more auto shifter = no more stupid interlock cable :yippee:

Those 3.7 insults never fail...:ROFL:

It was so predictable too eh. I may well have been doing a bit of Neil fishing there TBH

Fun for the UPS man:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1511369171

Propshaft going off to be stretched by 122mm +++

OK, I've just read through this thread and I'm, frankly, in awe. What an amazing restoration! I have two questions:

1) MJ, will you please work on a D3?

2) MJ, are you... uh... married?
*licks index finger and straightens eyebrows*

Back out of winter storage:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1590918842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1590918842

This thread got a bit distracted in the last few pages I think, but in case it wasn't posted, I bought Big Red from Dean when he found his red FE. I had big plans for her, but things haven't worked out like I planned and now I have the murple for mucking about with so in the next few weeks I will be fettling a few things which got missed when BR was in the workshop originally, getting her professionally polished and detailed, and then she will be up for sale. Much as I will miss her, better someone else gets to enjoy one of the best looking and most sorted D2s in the UK than her being a driveway ornament.

Great job MJ👍
 

A very good read, fantastic job MJ.👍

Well, didn't that come full circle and bite me on the arse a mere 10k miles later :-(

After retrieving BR from storage, I noticed a shudder in from the gearbox in D around the point where the converter clutch should lock up. Whilst studiously ignoring this and driving everywhere in S, reverse then stopped working too. Reverse was just an F125 fault as it could be persuaded to work by holding the gear stick in a particular position between R and P. I have a box full of repaired F125s so I thought I'd spend a couple of hours on Saturday swapping that over, and pretend the shudder was just my imagination.

But, as I mentioned waaay back at the beginning of this thread, the V6 is a packaging horror compared to the V8, and on the FL2 2.8, the upper cat is in the way of the gearbox mount which in turn is in the way of the F125, so the downpipe has to come off. It was about this point where everything went very very wrong:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1599168032

Yes, thats a snapped stud :( There is no way that can be repaired in the car so...

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1599168032

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1599168032

that escalated quickly :mad: At least it wasn't oily this time.

Once the engine was out I was able to safely apply some heat to the other downpipe nuts and they all came off without too much of a fight, and then I could get to the F125:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1599168032

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1599168032

The usual burnt contacts, but this time only on the reverse terminal for the TCU. This can be cleaned and recovered and put back together, but I'll use a known-good one from stock in this instance because I don't want to be taking it apart again.

Since the gearbox is misbehaving, and its now on the floor, I might as well replace it :rolleyes:

My "theory" is that the Reverse circuit is the most vulnerable in that later design F125 because it actually takes all the current for the reversing lights, rather than just an electronic signal as I guess the other circuits do.

And it's actually 2 contacts for the full circuit, but one is a continuous track with no break, so it's almost inevitably the one illustrated that will burn out.
Though there is a corresponding mark on the other track presumably from the current load.

However sods law has determined that it's the P/N circuit (starter relay, very clean on your photo) that's given up on mine......

After a quick call to our sponsors I'm having deja-vu...

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1599168657

A 100k mile 5HP19, so only 2/3rds of what the current one has on it. It was a very sensible price too, on the basis that no one (else) is daft enough to go to the trouble of swapping the gearbox in a 2.8 A8 these days :o

I'll service and re-seal this before it goes back in of course. It had never been opened since new.

Very clean inside:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1599168657

When the filter is removed with the gearbox in the car, the oil drops out of the oil pump pickup. This means that when it is refilled and started up the pump briefly sucks in air before it can pick up any oil. While it is expected behavior given the design of the gearbox, these things are so fragile they need all the help they can get so while its upside down I will prime the oil pickup and the filter with fresh oil.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1599168657

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1599168657

As Prestige no longer had the converter which came with this gearbox I sent BR's original off to JP Automatic Transmissions in Bristol. They reported back that the lockup clutch piston seals had perished and the clutch friction material was badly glazed so that has been refurbished and is on its way back.

So, there was never anything wrong with the actual gearbox in the end. But, since it had to come out of the car to get to the broken F125, and be removed from the engine to get to the worn out torque converter, I'll take reducing the mileage on the gearbox by 1/3rd for what the replacement cost.

An oil change 3 years ago may or may not have averted the converter seal failure - its impossible to know. On thing is for sure - D2s do not like sitting about. They need to be used or they will go wrong out of sheer boredom!

Well, maybe two things are sure. 'It ain't broke so don't fix it' does not apply to 5HP gearboxes. It ain't broke yet so fix it before it does break. :rolleyes: