Gearbox rebuild.

[Pale Rider]

I (do my own servicing etc).

Top job, there will be a lot of main dealers who would struggle with that.

At the risk of damning with faint praise, I wonder if 'I do my own servicing' has something to do with it.

Some types of this gearbox require an occasional oil change, which costs a lot because the lubricant has to be pumped in.

Inevitably, home mechanics don't do that because they lack the knowledge or special tools required.

On t'other hand, some versions of the gearbox were poorly designed.

I believe Ford in the USA lost a class legal action over it.

 

[keithmac]

Top job, there will be a lot of main dealers who would struggle with that.

At the risk of damning with faint praise, I wonder if 'I do my own servicing' has something to do with it.

Some types of this gearbox require an occasional oil change, which costs a lot because the lubricant has to be pumped in.

Inevitably, home mechanics don't do that because they lack the knowledge or special tools required.

On t'other hand, some versions of the gearbox were poorly designed.

I believe Ford in the USA lost a class legal action over it.

The USA class action is over the DCT250 iirc which is dry clutches and shockingly bad!. Fiestas etc had them (250nm max torque).

I bought the car at 55,000 miles with "full service history". Gearbox is due oil and filter every 37500 miles or 3 years.

I did the gearbox service when I bought it with Genuine Ford Oil and filter (£160 kit), did it by the book including final level setting (if you ever remove the level plug on a 6dct450 you HAVE to refill approx 0.5l, very quirky setup!.).

Many dealers have arsed this up or guessed on fill levels so I did it myself for peace of mind.

Picture below is the oil that came out at that service.

Done 40 miles mixed town and 60mph bypass driving this morning, hasn't missed a beat so back to my wife to use tomorrow hopefully!.

 

[I like Skol]

At the risk of damning with faint praise, I wonder if 'I do my own servicing' has something to do with it.

Some types of this gearbox require an occasional oil change, which costs a lot because the lubricant has to be pumped in.

Inevitably, home mechanics don't do that because they lack the knowledge or special tools required.

Just been through this with my wife's car. Gearbox oil change is devilishly tricky without having the right tools. In this case the right tools is a bottle on a hook that hangs from the bonnet catch with a pipe running to a nozzle that screws into the drain plug, it is really stupidly simple but also very application specific. You also need a computer capable of plugging in to the car to read the oil temp when setting the level.
I suspect most of the problems with poor servicing come from the dealers themselves (or demotivated, lowly paid mechanics) that simply don't bother doing such hidden servicing as 'no one will ever know' and this is an easy way to speed up the job or maximise profits. The car is most likely to have long since ceased to be the responsibility of the garage or manufacturer by the time any issues appear, leaving the poor punter to foot the bill!
This is why some of us do it ourselves, to make sure it is done, and done right.

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Few more.. View attachment 453174 View attachment 453167 View attachment 453168 View attachment 453169 View attachment 453170 View attachment 453171 View attachment 453172 View attachment 453173 View attachment 453174 View attachment 453175 View attachment 453176

Wow
Absolute legend mate
Get some beer in that is a great achievement

 

[Pale Rider]

Just been through this with my wife's car. Gearbox oil change is devilishly tricky without having the right tools. In this case the right tools is a bottle on a hook that hangs from the bonnet catch with a pipe running to a nozzle that screws into the drain plug, it is really stupidly simple but also very application specific. You also need a computer capable of plugging in to the car to read the oil temp when setting the level.
I suspect most of the problems with poor servicing come from the dealers themselves (or demotivated, lowly paid mechanics) that simply don't bother doing such hidden servicing as 'no one will ever know' and this is an easy way to speed up the job or maximise profits. The car is most likely to have long since ceased to be the responsibility of the garage or manufacturer by the time any issues appear, leaving the poor punter to foot the bill!
This is why some of us do it ourselves, to make sure it is done, and done right.

Aye that was it, something about the change having to be done at a certain oil temperature.

Beyond the reach of most home mechanics, so it's a good effort from you and @keithmac to do the job correctly.

 

[keithmac]

This was 1st oil service I did, car had to be level, oil has to be at 40 Celsius for final level setting.

Many dealers add the gearbox service as an "Option" which I was gobsmacked about when people mentioned it.

And as people have said, SOME main dealers can't be arsed and it's all about getting cars in and out as fast as possible which is a real shame.

We are Piaggio/ Vespa/ Aprilia main dealers and I've seen some service items that weren't done when they should have been from other dealers..

 

[keithmac]

Just been through this with my wife's car. Gearbox oil change is devilishly tricky without having the right tools. In this case the right tools is a bottle on a hook that hangs from the bonnet catch with a pipe running to a nozzle that screws into the drain plug, it is really stupidly simple but also very application specific. You also need a computer capable of plugging in to the car to read the oil temp when setting the level.
I suspect most of the problems with poor servicing come from the dealers themselves (or demotivated, lowly paid mechanics) that simply don't bother doing such hidden servicing as 'no one will ever know' and this is an easy way to speed up the job or maximise profits. The car is most likely to have long since ceased to be the responsibility of the garage or manufacturer by the time any issues appear, leaving the poor punter to foot the bill!
This is why some of us do it ourselves, to make sure it is done, and done right.

Was that a VW/ Audi/ Skoda DSG gearbox?.

Good work and nice to know it's been done properly!.

 

[I like Skol]

Was that a VW/ Audi/ Skoda DSG gearbox?.

Good work and nice to know it's been done properly!.

Even worse, The Audi CVT box, but effectively the same procedure from what I have seen.

 

[keithmac]

Even worse, The Audi CVT box, but effectively the same procedure from what I have seen.

Never knew Audi had a CVT, normally a Honda thing!.

I deal with them on the scooters but they're rubber/ kevlar belts rather than metal (would you call it a chain?).

Amazing how much grip there is with metal to metal bathed in oil.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wD-RRym500

 

[Drago]

Yep, they're called chains, although I wouldn't necessarily agree that all of the various types are actually chains as such.

 

[Salar]

My Subaru AWD Boxer engine with CVT chains whined so much I sold the car, it was driving me bonkers.

 

[Pale Rider]

Never knew Audi had a CVT, normally a Honda thing!.

I deal with them on the scooters but they're rubber/ kevlar belts rather than metal (would you call it a chain?).

Amazing how much grip there is with metal to metal bathed in oil.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wD-RRym500

My Raleigh stepthrough moped was driven by a car fanbelt, which in turn drove a traditional chain to the rear wheel.

It had what we called a centrifugal clutch giving it 'twist and go' operation - no drive at tickover, but drive engaged as it gained revs.

It all worked well enough, as I recall.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

The mopeds/scooters of today still use the same centrifugal process although they have changed the arms & clutch material to a ball type process.

 

[keithmac]

Scooters have a weight driven variator on the front (normally 6 rollers) a sprung torque driver on the rear and normally a 3 shoe centrifugal clutch on the back to decouple the rear gearbox at idle.

It's an art setting them up, stiffer puck springs for higher revs when setting of from stationary, the ratio between rear torque driver spring stiffness and front roller weight for setting the "powerband".

Worked on an Aprilia Mana 750 a while back, motorcycle with a stepper motor controlled variator CVT transmission. It had 4 "gears" or full auto. Very smooth!.

A fun and games!.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

Well done that's really impressive. I haven't read all the thread, but I'd be tempted to get shot of that car if it was me. It just shows what robbing tw*ts some places are, probably why people have lease cars as modern cars are complicated. When I was looking at Ford's ages ago, I read to avoid the Focus C-Max CVT as the gearbox was a complete POS. I had a MK1 auto Focus but that was a torque converter box. Pretty old fashioned but never messed up.