Gearbox - limp home mode grrrrrr

[mannyo]

17114 is gear monitoring, incorrect gear ratio.
17117 is also incorrect ratio for 3rd gear.

Reading elsewhere the only cure maybe a transmission rebuild, choose the specialist wisely.

[ainarssems]

Oil change will most likely be waste of money. Check the oil level, if it's fine then I am afraid it's time for rebuild.

[sarg]

Originally Posted by ainarssems

Oil change will most likely be waste of money. Check the oil level, if it's fine then I am afraid it's time for rebuild.

^ this ^

the banging you describe on the change is very much a symptom of a broken gearbox needing a rebuild.

If anything, changing the fluids at this stage could make it worse

[johnny_quattro]

I've just spoken to a chap based on a recommendation from the garage which looks after my A8L. He said he'd take my money all day long with regard to my request for a fluid change - he said it would be a waste of money.

From the information I gave him, he said it sounded like one (possibly two) clutches were damaged/broken and that the drum may have gone as well. Prices ranged from £1720 to £2300-£2500 for a full recon. This is really the same price that I paid for the car originally so I am now seriously considering buying a replacement car. The guarantee/warranty offered to me was 12,000 miles or 12 months, which doesn't really compare to the 100,000 mile warranty I read somewhere else on these forums.

Even if I lived in Wales or Scotland (thanks for the suggestions for Chester/Mackies), I'd probably shy away from the £2000 cost of a recon, if I'm honest. It's a real shame as I love the car to bits.

[johnny_quattro]

Just re-read the thread and saw that it was you tintin commenting on the 100,000 warranty so thanks for that and apologies for saying I'd read it elsewhere :-)

[sarg]

Originally Posted by johnny_quattro

Prices ranged from £1720 to £2300-£2500 for a full recon. This is really the same price that I paid for the car originally so I am now seriously considering buying a replacement car. The guarantee/warranty offered to me was 12,000 miles or 12 months, which doesn't really compare to the 100,000 mile warranty I read somewhere else on these forums.

This is what I did when mine went, and have regretted that choice ever since, if I had the same opportunity again I'd definitely spend the money on a gearbox rebuild.

I bought another car, which also had its problems, so the inconvenience and expense wasn't spared. I paid about 8.5k for a replacement, then spent about 1500 bringing the condition up to my expectations, then lost 3.5 on its disposal a year later.

If I'd have just spent 2.5k on my gearbox, I'd have avoided all of that, had a car that I preferred, and one with an as-good-as-new gearbox. Everything else was in decent order - sure something else might have gone wrong, they are old cars now, but it would still have been cheaper, in the long run, than replacing it.

[David's8]

Have a look under the transmission section (where this thread should be?)stickies and there is a list of ZF service centres possibly nearer to you.

[johnny_quattro]

Sorry if I posted in the wrong section; hopefully I can plead ignorance and say that I didn't see the separate transmission section on the forum. The tears of emotion clouded my judgement and vision at the same time :-)

Your suggestion (sarg) is a valid and constructive one. I will look again at the possibility of a recon. I just saw an X reg FL on autotrader going for a tidy sum, only to be told on the telephone that the gearbox on that car was in limp-home mode. Oh, the irony.

I am now going to browse through the ZF list as suggested by David's8 and see what happens over the next few days. Something tells me I will need to speak to my bank. Having said that, the A8L is off the road so I'm saving a fortune in petrol lolz

Cheers people for all your helpful input.

[Adrian E]

It's going to be an issue with any d2 unless there's history of gearbox oil changes or a complete gearbox replacement someone else has paid for - they do crop up but it's often not mentioned in adverts in any case

Other option is to put money into a d3 which doesn't seem to suffer the same box issues being the later 6 speed. Still worth oil change but also requires care making sure the oil going in is the same as what came out (there was a tsb where different oil was recommended for a particular fault but you have to recode the gearbox or it screws it up!)

[M-A8]

There it is mate, zf centres and otherbinfo about d2 gearboxes in transmission section for d2 platform

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=24