[Mantis]

I'm hoping somebody could help me out here, I'm very new to Jimny's and auszookers, but have a sound mechanical knowledge, so I'll be tackling the fix myself. All help much appreciated.

I had just changed to fourth doing about 60kph, so the engine laboured a bit, but that was what I was after as I had just replaced a coil pack wanted to make sure it got rid of a splutering problem I had, which it did.. Anyway, when I changed gear and as the engine laboured a really loud grinding sound (gears with no oil???) could be heard. I was only about 10km from home so I limped it back. Upon inspection I discovered the obvious, gearbox oil right through the tunnel and a ripped up rubber boot that appears to normally be housed directly under the gearstick ball joint.

My question is, where has the gear oil come from? The boot doesn't seem to be a pressured seal to contain fluid, it appears to be more of a dust cover, but it's situated about 20cm back from the gearbox? anything further forward of the boot doesn't look like there is any gear oil there.... Is there a oil seal in the back of the box somewhere? maybe where the prop shaft comes out of the box?

Sorry about all the questions, I'm just after answers, so far we've only had the Jimny 4 days and already had to get a wheel alignment and balance (no more wibble wobble), replace a coil pack (today) and now it appears its dumped gearbox oil and I haven't even had it off road yet!! grrrr

Go easy on me, I'm a n00b...

[BAZZOOK]

this is the rear of a G13BB box. you can see the red oil seal on the output shaft. that's about the only place it would leak. It's pretty easy to replace. As for the grinding noise. Sounds like a box out job. make sure it's not the transfer case.

[SkIpAi]

I have the same issue with the oil leak. Instead of the grinding noise I have a rattle in second. I think the oil is coming out of the bell housing and running down the box during motion. Possible crank seal. Although I have not checked the g box oil level.

Also possible stump gasket.

Cheers

[zukenutter]

The gearbox in VVT Jimnys is a bit susceptible to bearing failure. Does the noise sound like teeth jumping?

Shifter boot removed, no oil could come from here.



2006 VVT Jimny gearbox at the back in the pic below for your reference. If the oil is only at the rear it's probably the rear output seal, easy fix. If however it comes from the bell housing and smells like gear oil then it'll be the main input seal which on a VVT Jimny means dismantling the box.

As you mention the oil is at the rear which is where the bearing that failed on our was. I'd suggest it's quite possible that the bearing has disintegrated letting the output shaft jump around damaging the rear seal.

[zukenutter]

Some more pics of the 2006 VVT box



The left end of this gear shaft is where the bearing failed. The resulting movement of the shaft caused the gear teeth to bounce.



After repair, the box leaked from the input shaft, there's no access to it from here.

[Scales]

that rear seal, how hard is that to change on the car? think i might do mine soon. Ill have the jackshaft out for UJ change anyway... would it take more effort than that?
sorry to hijack.

[zukenutter]

it can be a bitch to get the old one out without the serial tool. Getting the new one in is not hard.

[Mantis]

Thanks to everyone for their input. I have been reading your responses, however the past couple of days have been pretty hectic for me, sorry for not responding earlier.

zukenutter, I have a feeling my problem is exactly as you described, I've decided not to carry out the task myself, so I'm sending the jimny to a gearbox shop today to get a specialist to go over it. If it were just the seal that needed to be replaced, then I'd tackle the job myself, but with the uncertainty of internal damage to the gearbox, I think it's best that someone in that area of expertise completed the job, though it does feel reassuring that all gears can be selected and used with no dramas at all, maybe I've been lucky......

Thanks again everyone, your help has been very much appreciated.

[zukenutter]

you're welcome. I hope it's something less complicated than ours was because it wasn't cheap

[Mantis]

OK, so I got a call from the gearbox place about an hour ago..

Turns out that the seal is part of my problem and needs to be replaced, the noise I can hear is the 4wd system trying to activate itself, he said something about the solenoids etc and for the meantime he has just disconnected it until I can take it somewhere else to be checked out..

I haven't done a search on here yet, but if anyone could point me in the right direction for a fix, that would be great.


Cheers!

[Mantis]

As described in this thread on bigjimny, this is the exact problem I'm having.

http://www.bigjimny.com/index.php/forum ... hing-noise

[zukenutter]

Yeah I've heard of someone else on here having that problem too. Can't remember the fix though. Sorry

[Scales]

on the topic of seals, anyone know the dimensions of the seal so i can just goto a bearing shop and ask for it by size? or even a generic part number.

I try to avoid SGP due to the retards doing the ordering never get it right and charge a motza!

[zukenutter]

Scales wrote:

on the topic of seals, anyone know the dimensions of the seal so i can just goto a bearing shop and ask for it by size? or even a generic part number.

I try to avoid SGP due to the retards doing the ordering never get it right and charge a motza!

Just order online from these guys, haven't stuffed any of my orders yet

http://www.suzistore.com.au/shopdisplaycategories.asp?id=790&cat=Four+Wheel+Drives

[Mantis]

OK, I'm still having problems with the leaky box and it's really starting to shit me!!

So far I've had the seal replaced twice and that hasn't worked. The mechanic that replaced the seals said when the second seal was installed, it was noticed that there is a little bit of wear in where the seal fits and couldn't make any guarantees.

I'm going to call him back this morning to try and sort out options. I've only had the car a month and I'm chomping at the bit to get up the beach, but don't want to go up with a leaky gearbox and have to deal with sand stuck everywhere.

Does anyone have any ideas? Two options I have thought of, is replace gearbox all together, or give up on the Jim and get a SWB NS Paj.

If I just replace the whole gearbox, how much should I expect to pay for one and also is there a certain code / model of gearbox I'd be looking for a 2006 Jimny? Does anyone know of one lying around somewhere??

I'm really starting to regret getting the Jimny, we were really looking forward to some good times, but so far we've had nothing but headache after headache.


Cheers, Shane.

[zukenutter]

It may be that the mechanic is just over-filling the box. I can't see how there can be wear where the seal fits, maybe some damage where he levered it during removal but the only place it would wear is the mating surface on the intermediate shaft.
I'd say he's just over-filling. Mine kept leaking so I replaced the seal but over-filled, it kept leaking until the level was right.

It is probably not that bad of a leak, just looks bad because the spinning shaft throws the hot, thin oil everywhere. Think of it as rust-proofing ;P

As for swapping to a Pajero, who's to say it won't have similar problems??

[SkIpAi]

Have they checked that the breather is not blocked? If its blocked the case will over pressurise and push oil past the seals.

The little box only takes 1.3L of oil.

[Jimny1]

Did you get to find out where the oil was leaking from?????????

[Mantis]

Sorry for the delay, I only just got the car back last Friday after about five or so weeks at the workshop..

Long story short, $630 and five weeks later, it's still leaking.

However, I have found that around town up to around 70km/h it doesn't leak, it's only leaking when at higher speeds. I have also noticed that on my receipt I was charged for 2L of gearbox oil, I have spoken to the mechanic about it and he claims they just fill the box until it's full to the fill hole?? As somebody said earlier, if they only have a capacity of 1.3L, could over filling be the issue now? He also said to take it back and they'll replace the gearbox breather to a easier flowing one, as it sounds like it could be a pressure issue.

Diagnosis from the last fix was that there was significant wear in the rear gearbox extension where the tail shaft slides in, so they had an engineer machine up a sleeve and fitted that.

Any other thoughts would be much appreciated.


Cheers, Shane.

[303zuke]

Mantis wrote:

I'm very new to Jimny's ... but have a sound mechanical knowledge, so I'll be tackling the fix myself.........

Sorry for the delay, I only just got the car back last Friday after about five or so weeks at the workshop..

Did you find it necessary to get a workshop to replace a seal and fill the gearbox oil?

[Mantis]

303zuke wrote:

Mantis wrote:

I'm very new to Jimny's ... but have a sound mechanical knowledge, so I'll be tackling the fix myself.........

Sorry for the delay, I only just got the car back last Friday after about five or so weeks at the workshop..

Did you find it necessary to get a workshop to replace a seal and fill the gearbox oil?

If you read the whole thread you would have noticed that the issue was bigger than just a seal which is why it ended up at the workshop.

Everyone else has posted useful, informative information, then you come along with your useless post that contributed nothing whatsoever, oh and the eye rolling smiley got me shaking at the knees in terror, you're pretty tough.

[SkIpAi]

I reckon over filling could cause it to leak as the pressure increases with heat it would be pushed past the seals and or out the breather.

As I stated earlier I had a leak. After I dumped the oil and put exactly 1.3L I have not had any issues now.

[Miki]

I have a leak from my rear seal too, but my 4th gear pops out too.

the other gears are as tight as usual and don't crunch...
and another symptom is I can't hear any other rattling or grinding noises...just the popping out of 4th issue when accellerating

no obvious leak from the top when the shifter boot was removed...
Jimny 2006 vvt
Zukenutter your explaination was amazing, any ideas on this one, could the rear seal broken and low oil cause the 4th gear popping out problem, or it it likely my 4th gear problem (maybe sleeve near front output shaft- sorry new to learning inside gearbox prob said this wrong) has caused the rear seal leak?

cheers to anyone who replies
Miki

[CHRISABYSS]

This sounds like a common problem. i have just bought 06 Jimny as well, and it's flicking oil all over the tunnel and on the exhaust, which is a sickening smell to put up with. i have only owned it 2 weeks and bought it off a dealership, which obviously just washed everything down and sprayed over the lot with body deadener. It cost me 10300 with just over 100k on it.. i have rang the dealership but have had ne returned calls yet.. if they fail to sort it out, i will name and shame them, as they said it had a full mechanical inspection ( A Gerni and the black under body deadener i'm sure)... If the box has to come out i think i will fit a 1.5 swift engine while i'm at it, as they are cheep enough to but at the moment...

[Critta Inch]

have you physically looked at the output shaft/flange yourself and felt where the seal has worn?
as i have seen wear on output shafts before that have been overlooked/missed/payed off due to the minimal wear but have been the underlying factor, not for a major leak but a leak nonetheless.

also another thing to check would be the axial free-play of the output shaft as too much can cause sideways movement that while not enough to leak at lower speeds, may possibly be causing the problem at higher speeds when there is more load
i haven't disassembled a jimny box before either but i am assuming they run a plain bearing to support the output shaft which can wear creating the free-play.

hope this helps.

[Scrawny]

As you can see in the first photo, at the top of the thread, there is no flange. It runs a slip joint on the end of the drive shaft

[zukenutter]

Don't know if this has already been said but a leak in a vvt gearbox rear output could be a sign of the output bearing starting to fail which is what caused my gearbox to eat itself.