Cold gearbox

[teenmal]

Hi John,
The filter in the auto box might be needing a clean.

Cheers Malc..

[bigdaddycain]

It stays in 3rd til warm - a pain in the arse and I really can't see a point to it

Well.... I'll be f****d! (clever sig)

[dandywarhol]

It stays in 3rd til warm - a pain in the arse and I really can't see a point to it

Well.... I'll be f****d! (clever sig)

I was wondering when the sig would be twigged................

[missfixit70]

A long time ago I miss the dyslexic dog

[bigdaddycain]

It stays in 3rd til warm - a pain in the arse and I really can't see a point to it

Well.... I'll be f****d! (clever sig)

I was wondering when the sig would be twigged................

I actually worked it out a little bit sooner than kirsty..cos she is a girl n' all that.

I clocked it a while back, but only just remembered to mention it...

[bigdaddycain]

A long time ago I miss the dyslexic dog

How does a dyslexic dog spell?.... Terrybull.

[mikeonb4c]

It stays in 3rd til warm - a pain in the arse and I really can't see a point to it

Well.... I'll be f****d! (clever sig)

I was wondering when the sig would be twigged................

Whale Oil Bead Hanged. And I was on the point of asking Dandy what on earth his new signature was about. Crafty old codger that he is

[John]

An update on the gearbox story. I got the gearbox checked by a local mechanic who I use a lot and who like working on the Bongo as he has never seen one before. He said the gearbox was fine and the ATF was fine but it was a little low. He topped it up with Dexron 3 as one post suggested (the workshop manual suggests using simply Dexron but he did not have any of that and Dexron 3 is better stuff used in Mercedes auto boxes apparently).

It seems to have made a difference. The Bongo seems to change up a little sooner when starting from cold and also seems to run a little quieter. He did not find a filter like a recent post suggested! I guess there should be one?!

A small improvement - thanks for the tech advice.

[missfixit70]

The filter is inside the autobox, you have to empty it & drop the pan off the bottom to get to it. It's not like a nice simple screw on easily accesible engine oil filter unfortunately.
Sounds like topping it up did the trick though

[francophile1947]

It's amazing what a difference a fluid change makes. The ATF in mine looked fine, but the changes were a bit jerky - new fluid made one heck of a difference

[Trouble at t'Mill]

John.

Dropping the gearbox sump pan and cleaning it out - along with the magnet and filter - is a straight-forward DIY job, so should be an absolute doddle for a mechanic!

If your fluid has never been changed (and very good chance it hasn't) then do your car a really big favour and have it done. Shouldn't be costly - an hour's-ish labour, around 5L D3 fluid (yes, use Dexron 3) and that's your Bongo happy for a few more years. Ditto with axle oil; easiest-peasiest DIY job in t'whole world, and even the best quality fully synth fluid is cheap (not much required...)

Gearbox and axle problems all pretty much come down to lack of servicing - they tend to be treated as fit and forget items while the engine gets its regular oil changes. They only need doing every few years, so is a cheap and very worthwhile task.

[wonkanoby]

just done mine this afternoon

could not believe how much gunk in there and metal on the magnet

by the dipstick it looked clean but its not

[Trouble at t'Mill]

Wonkanoby, did you jack up the car or (as I did...) just crawl underneath?!

Was it plain sailing? Any points of note to help others facing this task? How long did it take?

Cheers.

[z00non]

I presume theres a sump plug, & also how much fluid did it take??

[dandywarhol]

No plug - fluid amount depends on the box you have fitted - details in factsheets I think