Euro Auto Transmission Repair Place

[Eurofan]

Guys, Is there any good mechanics, work shops that any of you could recommend, who has the expertise to undertake complete overhauls of Transmissions / torque converters and valve body's of european cars? Mainly ZF and GM boxes

Some advise would greatly be appreciated.

Hope this does not violate any forum rules

[mishiran]

Yeah... One & Only Bruce Nigel...!!! He's currently on 2 Job's in your Category... Contact Bruce: 0772256655

[rangerover]

I have heard of a place in Kelaniya or Kandana also specializing in these transmissions. A friend of mine who got his gearbox overhauled there mentioned that he was doing a lot of work on Peugeots and Audi's.

[techlove]

RS Automotive at Kandana. Name is Rajeeve 077 732 0550 Have heard a lot of possitive comments about him.Once called him on the phone,sounds very proffessional and very friendly.

Auto gear boxes are all what he does.

Edited February 18, 2012 by techlove

[nano31]

Nilwala motors, Nugaegoda. His name is Chandana.

According to him, those euro repair kits costs a lot comp to jap so that very rarely a customer doing such a repair but they do repair euro boxes.

[VVTi]

Nilwala motors, Nugaegoda. His name is Chandana.

According to him, those euro repair kits costs a lot comp to jap so that very rarely a customer doing such a repair but they do repair euro boxes.

errr... I wouldn't take a Budu Ras motor GB to him mate.... I drive past his garage many times a week, and sometimes you see some cars stripped for weeks on end. I asked him once if he can fix the BMW GB I had the issue with, his advice was to drop a Jap Engine and Gearbox. He is the man for the masses, not for gearboxes. Good for those hora idam oppu mudalai type Prado and Pajero owners.

[rangerover]

. I asked him once if he can fix the BMW GB I had the issue with, his advice was to drop a Jap Engine and Gearbox

What?! I wouldn't know how to react to such a dumb suggestion!! Haha

I have heard good reviews of R S auto. Guy does gearbox rebuilds for large euro trucks as well.

[Bugatti]

I did a complete re-build on my ZF auto box... Parts are more freely available compared to any Japanese.. trust me.. I know. I did it at a small garage in Rajagiriya.. got the repair kit from Thailand and some of the parts were stripped off a ZF box. You get the repair kits for each of the bands.. (if you know what I mean) 'O' rings and valve body packing kits too..

Make sure you use the ZF or specified ATF after the build. DO NOT use M*bil on ZF boxes.. (tried and tested and failed)

[rangerover]

Ebay has the ZF valve body repair kit for around $180 without the solenoids. Solenoids can be the expensive bit, could cost about $600 for all the solenoids of the valve body for a 6HP19. The repair kit for the same gearbox including the stuff Bugatti mentioned can be purchased for about $400. Its best if the D-G drum is replaced if you are going through a rebuild. Especially in the early 5H19 boxes, build quality issues resulted in the infamous "no reverse" issue associated with the early E46 steptronics.

Anyways, the newer LCI e90's comes with GM boxes. I doubt if the repair kits are freely available as ZF Kits

[carboy2011]

Sadly thats the case with most of the garages i know of 2 cases in 2 garages where they took the owner for a ride and through utter unprofessionalism damaged the distributor cap and burnt the coil (G-m -n- Garage in Nugegoda and A-a-a-i-g e Garage in Maharagama)

errr... I wouldn't take a Budu Ras motor GB to him mate.... I drive past his garage many times a week, and sometimes you see some cars stripped for weeks on end. I asked him once if he can fix the BMW GB I had the issue with, his advice was to drop a Jap Engine and Gearbox. He is the man for the masses, not for gearboxes. Good for those hora idam oppu mudalai type Prado and Pajero owners.

[harshansenadhir]

In the process of re-building an AL4 gearbox. So far spend around $700 for parts including valves minus oil. That will cost around $300 if purchased locally.

It can be troublesome to re-build and go through all the hassle than dumping a used auto tranny from Delkanda. But the driving pleasure and auto adaptive shifting of these boxes cannot be matched.!!!

[The Don]

In the process of re-building an AL4 gearbox. So far spend around $700 for parts including valves minus oil. That will cost around $300 if purchased locally.

It can be troublesome to re-build and go through all the hassle than dumping a used auto tranny from Delkanda. But the driving pleasure and auto adaptive shifting of these boxes cannot be matched.!!!

Didn't realise your AL4 had developed issues as well? I am curious can you eliminate what kind of looks like a design fault via a rebuild of these boxes?

[harshansenadhir]

Didn't realise your AL4 had developed issues as well? I am curious can you eliminate what kind of looks like a design fault via a rebuild of these boxes?

Ah, the AL4 in 406 runs solid as it's still a low mileager!!

The 307SW tranny gave up shifting while we were returning from Kataragama. From Ratnapura to all the way to Piliyandala my brother drove it in the limp home mode. That was it and after that it didn't move.

The design fault of AL4 boxes are the solnoid valves and known as stuck valve issue. The solution comes with an upgraded solenoid valve set (two main valves) and a software upgrade to cope up with the new valves. Going a step further, we decided to replace all 7 pistons, brake bands and what not. Still it's being re-assembled and will keep the forum updated about the results.

attached document may help for whoever concerned on AL4 related tranny issues.

edit: upload quota exceeded.

Dear Mods can anyone help to upload this document either to this thread or on a pinned thread.

Edited February 21, 2012 by harshansenadhir

[nano31]

@VVTi,

Bro, thanks for advise.

I have no contacts with him and not promoting him! but few of my friends from Colombo have had their auto box repaired and all had good comments about the service and durability.

One of my friend got it repaired 3 auto boxes + 1 CVT and it is from him I got these info regarding euro box.

Yeah I too shoot him if I was advised to swap euro engine + gear box to a used jap engine and gear box!!!!

I too got my auto box repaired (CE110) but by a person from Gall since I am from down south they replace all the internal rubber parts+ worn plates + filter/strainer+ bell housing + toyota oil; full cost was Rs25,000/= with 18 months warranty.

Edited February 21, 2012 by nano31

[VVTi]

@Nano, for me, a mechanic gets only one opportuinity to impress. Its my money,. my asset, and my life on the line. They will not get a chance to experiment and learn new tricks on my time and on my car. Hence why I try to do most of the work myself or with a few trusted people.

I prefer to deal with people who leave their ego aside and be honest about their inabailities rather than those maka baases. No offence to this guy, I am sure he had my best interest at heart,... or a saw an opportunity to sell an engine and GB...

[Bugatti]

@VVTi,

Bro, thanks for advise.

I have no contacts with him and not promoting him! but few of my friends from Colombo have had their auto box repaired and all had good comments about the service and durability.

One of my friend got it repaired 3 auto boxes + 1 CVT and it is from him I got these info regarding euro box.

Yeah I too shoot him if I was advised to swap euro engine + gear box to a used jap engine and gear box!!!!

I too got my auto box repaired (CE110) but by a person from Gall since I am from down south they replace all the internal rubber parts+ worn plates + filter/strainer+ bell housing + toyota oil; full cost was Rs25,000/= with 18 months warranty.

Why did you need to change the Bell Housing?? 25k seems a very reasonable charge.

[nano31]

@Bugatti,

There was a old hairline crack at a mounting point that is why I had to replace it with a used one. But the gear box problem was mainly due to hardened internal rubber seals though the worn plates/shift valve/manual valve too replaced

[rangerover]

Ah, the AL4 in 406 runs solid as it's still a low mileager!!

The 307SW tranny gave up shifting while we were returning from Kataragama. From Ratnapura to all the way to Piliyandala my brother drove it in the limp home mode. That was it and after that it didn't move.

The design fault of AL4 boxes are the solnoid valves and known as stuck valve issue. The solution comes with an upgraded solenoid valve set (two main valves) and a software upgrade to cope up with the new valves. Going a step further, we decided to replace all 7 pistons, brake bands and what not. Still it's being re-assembled and will keep the forum updated about the results.

attached document may help for whoever concerned on AL4 related tranny issues.

edit: upload quota exceeded.

Dear Mods can anyone help to upload this document either to this thread or on a pinned thread.

@'harshansenadhir - What was the mileage of the 306 when the gearbox problem developed?

Most gearbox issues related to hard down shifting or late up shift is generally related to the valve body and the solenoids.

[harshansenadhir]

@'harshansenadhir - What was the mileage of the 306 when the gearbox problem developed? Most gearbox issues related to hard down shifting or late up shift is generally related to the valve body and the solenoids.

307sw it is and was relatively a high milaege car when we bought it. Was reading 146k and I've put on another few thousands before it gave up.

True the rough shifting issue is sticky solenoids and also the seized operation (vehicle doesn't move) also can be due to sticky solenoids or faulty pistons. When we dismantled the engine, it was evident that the brake bands were the culprit. Didn't wanna take any chance as we're planning to keep this as a family tourer (7 seater that is) for sometime.

[rangerover]

True the rough shifting issue is sticky solenoids and also the seized operation (vehicle doesn't move) also can be due to sticky solenoids or faulty pistons.

You mean faulty pistons of the valve body? Also, did you do the rebuilding at R S auto or some where else?

[harshansenadhir]

You mean faulty pistons of the valve body? Also, did you do the rebuilding at R S auto or some where else?

Valve body has solenoid valves which operates different pistons in the gearbox. There are 7 electro valves and out of these two were suspected to be faulty and replacing. The pistons are not in the valve body but in the gearbox and hard to find out which ones are faulty, so have to replace all.

[MadMMX]

Anyway you really can't be too care ful with Euro Boxes. Referring to a manual E46 Self Adjusting gearbox on a BMW E46. I recently had some maintenance to do and gave to car in to the agents (P**T**E). Gave the a brand new BMW genuine part clutch kit that I got from England. Was very surprised when they called me to say that they were having problems fitting it. Went over - happened to have another genuine clutch plate handy as well - got fed this bullshit story by the mechanic and the Workshop Manager about how sometimes BMW part numbered products for the UK are slightly different to the Asian varients ..etc. They couldn't fit the second plate as well to the existing Pressure plate and advised me to buy their original kit for some 100K + price. Thanked them for their effort - they actually charged me 9000 bucks not to fit it !! and said no thanks to their kit (thay had acually fitted it on the car to demonstrate that it worked !!) got them to fit my old clutch back and said I'd get it sorted out with a replacement from UK. (Brought from a main dealer there) After consutation with my friend got down the self adjusting fitting kit + the centering tool and found that not only had the agent disarmed the sac assembly but also jammed the SAC springs as well. Reset it with the tools I got down and took the car to a friend in dehiwela who does race Subaru's and got him to hoist it up and pull the box off - had the BMW procedure and dismantled the whole thing with them. Fitted the new kit according to the BMW instructions and it all came together like clockwork. Absolutely no issues and the clutch is like silk now. Can only figure that the agent was trying to stiff me into buying a clutch kit from them !!! Made a written complaint as they hadn't assembled my car back right either - their were bolts & clips missing !! but wasted half a day getting a couple of replacement bolts put back !! They didn't have some of the clips that they had lost as they claimed not to have stock of them !! Got those down from my friend in UK for a few pounds and re-fitted everything back. Car is fine now. I can't believe some lame ass mechanic / technician trid to take me for a royal ride and stiff me for some heavy dough !!! I don't know if he was just incompetent or was a crook !! Mind you thus far I've never had any issues with the agents !!

Bottom line - try your utmost not to leave your vehicle their unattended !!!

Mind you the good thing about BMW is that every little nut and washer has a part no and can be ordered for peanuts if you have access to a dealer. !!!!

Cheers,

MadMMx

[chan5]

@VVTi,

Bro, thanks for advise.

box!!!!

I too got my auto box repaired (CE110) but by a person from Gall since I am from down south they replace all the internal rubber parts+ worn plates + filter/strainer+ bell housing + toyota oil; full cost was Rs25,000/= with 18 months warranty.

can you give ME the contact of that place mate .

Edited September 1, 2012 by chan5