[rodw]

Decided to check diffs and T/case oil today as I am off to City View over the weekend.

The Transfer Case was dry! I had he seals replaced in April by a Gearbox Shop, looks like they left the oil out! I've done 8,000km since then, but only one 4WD outing.

I'm only guessing, but I think in 2WD, the drive is straight though, so the lack of oil is probably not that much of an issue, but could it explain why a few weeks ago at Levuka (a week after 5 inches of rain), my 4 speed auto could not put enough power to the ground up a slippery, muddy hill to turn or spin the swampers?

Hmm. I wonder what damage that did to the auto which was reconditioned by the same mob in March?

Any thoughts/feedback appreciated. What appraoch should I take when I front the repairer?

[royce]

tell em to rebuild the transfer, it will be stuffed (the bearings still turn through the 2wd output)

though if they are dumb enough to miss putting oil in they are shifty enough to get out of it, was it bone dry or still had some in it when you drained it? a little bit might of been enough to keep it lubricated

they are seperate of the auto so wouldnt of mattered in that respect, though I wonder if they thought it was one unit and simply checked the auto dipstick when they finished

[Bruce]

Agree with Roce here (now there's a first )
Get them to rebuild it. But if they forgot the oil (that's strange really when ya think of it) I would be a little worried about them doing it again. But it could of been just a one off mistake on their behalf.

Keep up up to date with the outcome.

[Sneakyzook]

Put pen to paper.

Give them a timeframe for a response.

Give them a time frame for repair

Tell them its step one of a four step process which includes the office of fair trading and the media.

SZ

[royce]

mistakes do happen (plenty of people have forgotten to refill diffs, ive forgoten a few times) so I guess its a matter of talking 1st and being reasonable and calm, after all they may have had a crap mechanic that they have since found was useless and fired.

[rodw]

Thanks guys, all good advice and along my thoughts, rebuild the thing.
The auto was done a month earlier, but was concerned about stress on it if the low range siezed up when I was off road. I saw an awful lot of clutches in that auto when it was apart. If the T/case isn't spinning, what's happening to them?

Sneaky, pen to paper sounds like a good idea, I wonder if they can actually read?

Royce, It was actually the owner who replaced the t/case, the employee is pretty good, he did the tranny, stayed back late with me holding the trouble light for him to get it back in one Friday before a 4WD outing for me, siad he'd cry if my auto came back under warranty (20,000km) cos he had a devil of a time with it...

I'll have a devil of a job proving it was dry now. What do you do if you find something with no oil on a weekend your going for a run? Fill it up of course! Did not pull the drain plug, but it took about a litre of oil which from memory is what the spec is.

Perhaps fitting some crawler gears provide by me might be a compromise...

Rod

[royce]

hang on the plot thickens

OK auto was done 1st I take it?
then the seals, and I assume the rear output seal?

whats the bet the transfer was never refilled when the auto was done and when the seal were done it was a case of nothing come out, nothing to put back in

[rodw]

Royce,

You might be onto something. The t/case came out when the did the tranny, I picked it up late one night and went to Janowen next day, the car ran like a dog, so I gave it a full service when I got home, found the engine fault (which was a leak in the air inlet), found water in the front diff (not their fault, must have been there for months), so I took it back to them 'cos I could not get the bung out to drain the front diff, The t/case was OK for oil when I serviced it. A week or so later, I saw oil coming out of the tcase everywhere ('cos the seals were disturbed), took it back to them and they pulled the t/case out again and replaced 4 seals which I saw on the bench, so I know they replaced them. Waited for the vehicle, and nearly asked them if they checked the oil. But hey, that would be an insult!

So what you are saying, they pulled the t/case, did the seals and 'cos no oil came out, they did not check the oil level once they put it back in the car, but, hey, there was oil everywhere underneath!

Wouldn't you check the oil level after you did the seals when you knew they were leaking?

I only checked the oil levels in diff's and t/case 'cos I found water there once before and I went swimmig at Levuka (had to get the back brakes done when I got home). Still well within the service interval!

[royce]

nah my theory doenst make sense then, I was thinking htey may have left the transfer in when they replaced them

[joshNZ]

if u have filled it with oil and its making no noises they wont rebuild it,what u should have done is left it dry and took it back and say its making a noise

[cj_zuki]

rodw wrote:

Did not pull the drain plug, but it took about a litre of oil which from memory is what the spec is.

The t-case takes 1.7l from empty so it must have had some in there if it only took a litre to fill it back up. You may be lucky.

[rodw]

Thanks CJ, I had not had time to look...