Autobox repair and rebuild.
Discussion
Looking for advice and possible garages for autobox repairs.
My 54 plate D3 has 141k on the clock, it got a megaflush about 12 months ago at 125k to try and help issues i was having with it.
The oil that came out was dirty, but had no burning smell to it. I bought the car with 98k on the clock. I was made aware of the need to flush the box oil through a Discovery owners club forum and had it done as soon as i could, hoping that it would help the issues.
The car has over the last 20k shown the following issues. These have slowly become worse as the miles have increased.
It pulses on the rev counter under load, sometimes by 500rpm.
It judders under load or going up hills, where it can struggle to gain speed and has to drop a gear to carry speed. This feels similar to driving on cobble stones. it can clear away with careful manipulation of the throttle to ease load etc.
It won't rev cleanly though the gears, 3rd and 4th are the worst where the rev dial jumps in stages instead of a smooth sweep, this is worse in command shift mode rather than being left in full drive.
It won't hold 70 mph any more without rev bouncing, it will however hold 60 mph.
My friends has the same issues, bar it won't hold 60 without rev bouncing, it will sit at 70 mph with no issues.
My friend s D3 is a 56 with 132k showing, also showing similar issues. He got his box megaflushed the day after i got mine. His current mileage is 132k, the box was flushed at 115k for his car. He does a lot of towing with his car, which has not helped his issues. I don't do much towing with mine but it does get used off road on a regular basis.
We have both tried a few companies to get quotes and details for what work would get carried out.
All recommend a new torque converter, a new oil filter and oil flush at the minimum. Some have said the box will need to be opened up to inspect the valve block unit, the clutch pack for wear and damage.
We are hoping to get both cars booked in later this year or early next year at the same time as he is currently working in Germany and will be till November time. Maybe see if 2 cars will bring a discount.
Mackies in Glasgow want £3404 for a new torque convertor, gearbox rebuild, new oil cooler and lines oil and filter, labour and vat.
Bristol Transmission want £2700 for new torque convertor, gearbox rebuild, new oil and filter, labour and vat.
Is there other garages i can try to contact?
I'll be keeping the D3 for a few years to come so want it done properly, but not get dry raped on the price for it.
My 54 plate D3 has 141k on the clock, it got a megaflush about 12 months ago at 125k to try and help issues i was having with it.
The oil that came out was dirty, but had no burning smell to it. I bought the car with 98k on the clock. I was made aware of the need to flush the box oil through a Discovery owners club forum and had it done as soon as i could, hoping that it would help the issues.
The car has over the last 20k shown the following issues. These have slowly become worse as the miles have increased.
It pulses on the rev counter under load, sometimes by 500rpm.
It judders under load or going up hills, where it can struggle to gain speed and has to drop a gear to carry speed. This feels similar to driving on cobble stones. it can clear away with careful manipulation of the throttle to ease load etc.
It won't rev cleanly though the gears, 3rd and 4th are the worst where the rev dial jumps in stages instead of a smooth sweep, this is worse in command shift mode rather than being left in full drive.
It won't hold 70 mph any more without rev bouncing, it will however hold 60 mph.
My friends has the same issues, bar it won't hold 60 without rev bouncing, it will sit at 70 mph with no issues.
My friend s D3 is a 56 with 132k showing, also showing similar issues. He got his box megaflushed the day after i got mine. His current mileage is 132k, the box was flushed at 115k for his car. He does a lot of towing with his car, which has not helped his issues. I don't do much towing with mine but it does get used off road on a regular basis.
We have both tried a few companies to get quotes and details for what work would get carried out.
All recommend a new torque converter, a new oil filter and oil flush at the minimum. Some have said the box will need to be opened up to inspect the valve block unit, the clutch pack for wear and damage.
We are hoping to get both cars booked in later this year or early next year at the same time as he is currently working in Germany and will be till November time. Maybe see if 2 cars will bring a discount.
Mackies in Glasgow want £3404 for a new torque convertor, gearbox rebuild, new oil cooler and lines oil and filter, labour and vat.
Bristol Transmission want £2700 for new torque convertor, gearbox rebuild, new oil and filter, labour and vat.
Is there other garages i can try to contact?
I'll be keeping the D3 for a few years to come so want it done properly, but not get dry raped on the price for it.
Have you tried Dr Tranny? My disco 3 (same age and mileage as yours) had the very same symptoms 2 tubes of Dr Tranny later and its an instant fix done over 2500k miles since and so far so good
or try Charles Butler in Forfar he wanted £2500 for gearbox build and a new (not recon) TC
or try Charles Butler in Forfar he wanted £2500 for gearbox build and a new (not recon) TC
Edited by tonto2 on Saturday 19th September 11:52
I would seriously consider going with Mackies even if they are more expensive. They specialise in auto boxes, have an excellent engineering workshop and are used by many franchised dealers to carry out warranty repairs.
I used them to do the same repair as you to the auto box in my Range Rover. They collected the car from Inverness on their recovery truck and I collected the car from their premises in Glasgow four days later. The work carried out cost £3200 including Vat and came with a 100,000 mile or three year warranty.
I did around 80,000 miles on the repaired box with no problems before I sold it.
You should go and have a chat with them at their premises, they will happily show you round the workshop and you will get an idea of the type of operation they are running. If you are anything like me you will also be quite surprised at how complex an auto box is when you see it stripped down, definitely a very specialised job to repair one.
I used them to do the same repair as you to the auto box in my Range Rover. They collected the car from Inverness on their recovery truck and I collected the car from their premises in Glasgow four days later. The work carried out cost £3200 including Vat and came with a 100,000 mile or three year warranty.
I did around 80,000 miles on the repaired box with no problems before I sold it.
You should go and have a chat with them at their premises, they will happily show you round the workshop and you will get an idea of the type of operation they are running. If you are anything like me you will also be quite surprised at how complex an auto box is when you see it stripped down, definitely a very specialised job to repair one.
My Indy spoke of the place in Forfar.
Mackies has a lifetime warranty of torque converters and 3 years on the box itself.
May go in and have a chat with them. Been doing internet searching for both places.
Would be interesting to see where that oil cooler will go as I have removed the stock intercooler and fitted a much larger RS500 one in its place.
Mackies has a lifetime warranty of torque converters and 3 years on the box itself.
May go in and have a chat with them. Been doing internet searching for both places.
Would be interesting to see where that oil cooler will go as I have removed the stock intercooler and fitted a much larger RS500 one in its place.
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