Printable Version | Subscribe | Add to Favourites
New Topic New Poll New Reply
Author: Subject: Almera gearbox issue - what to do
Slimy38

posted on 1/11/14 at 10:39 AM Reply With Quote
Almera gearbox issue - what to do

My wife's Almera has a whine that increases in tone with road speed (rather than engine speed). It also doesn't change if I load up one of the corners when turning. I've just done a gearbox oil change, 2.2 litres came out and 3.3 went in, so I suspect it's been running a little dry for a while. Second gear is the worst, it's a 'wup wup wup' noise. And it doesn't change if I push the clutch in and let the engine idle. It does accelerate ok though, and there is no wobble or vibration.

We're looking at selling it very soon, so I'd appreciate any thoughts on what I can do. I see three options;

1. Leave the car as it is until it fails. It's the easiest option, but it doesn't give us any benefit when selling, and there is a potential that it will lock when it fails (not so good for the school run).

2. Sell it now. This would give us the smallest amount of money, and we'd have to get another car pretty sharpish so chances are we'd have to take what was available instead of something that is worth the money.

3. Change the gearbox. This gets the car running properly, we'd be able to sell it for more, and take time to find a new car.

The problem is that while option 3 seems to be the best option, it's also the riskiest. A full recon gearbox isn't worth the money (£500 on a £500 car), and while I can get a scrapyard box for £150 (with another £50 for oil, gaskets etc), there is a possibility it won't be any better.

If I do go for option 3, does anyone have any recommendations for gearbox sources in the Midlands?

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
adithorp

posted on 1/11/14 at 10:52 AM Reply With Quote
Option 2.

1 You're planning on changing anyway.
2 It's worth £500 less the £200 to change (not accounting for your own time) means you're effectively only gaining £300 (and then only provided nothing else goes wrong).
3. You can get the £300 for it now and save the trouble of pissing about with it.





"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire

http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
big_wasa

posted on 1/11/14 at 11:03 AM Reply With Quote
If its a £500 car to start with I would run it into the ground and get saving now.

£150 on the box and £50 for bits, bobs and more oil leaves a £300 real return for the car. Take into account advertising it and your down to £250.

Drive it until it goes bang and scrap it will give you £100~150

My time is worth more than the little gain.

It only makes sense fixing it if your going to keep it another year with better the devil you know. But I would also change the clutch whilst the box was out.

my opinion

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Paul W

posted on 1/11/14 at 11:25 AM Reply With Quote
is it the 1.5 engine
I had 3 boxes in sons car in a year, ended up scrapping it

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Slimy38

posted on 1/11/14 at 11:41 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Paul W
is it the 1.5 engine
I had 3 boxes in sons car in a year, ended up scrapping it


Yep that's the one, and that's what I'm picking up on the internet. What happened with your sons boxes, did they just get noisier or did any of them properly fail?

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Paul W

posted on 1/11/14 at 12:03 PM Reply With Quote
they got very noisey then wouldnt select gears, I was gonna upgrade to 1.8 box but needed to change driveshafts & other bits.
it would cost too much so scrapped it

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Paul W

posted on 1/11/14 at 12:06 PM Reply With Quote
took to the old boxes apart & main bearing had totally disintergrated and chewed the casing
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
britishtrident

posted on 1/11/14 at 03:15 PM Reply With Quote
Gearboxes are the only common failure on these cars, so common it is the most common reason for scrapping them, so it is likely a scrapyard gear box is either going to be as bad as the one in the car or so expensive the repair is uneconomic.





[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Slimy38

posted on 1/11/14 at 03:33 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Gearboxes are the only common failure on these cars, so common it is the most common reason for scrapping them, so it is likely a scrapyard gear box is either going to be as bad as the one in the car or so expensive the repair is uneconomic.


Agreed, a search for 'Almera gearbox' came back with so many full cars with gearbox issues, hence the worry about a cheap box.

It looks like we are just going to assume very little money out of the Almera and press on with the car purchase. Thank you all for your responses.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
morcus

posted on 1/11/14 at 04:27 PM Reply With Quote
Last time I was in your position I bought a new car as I had been planning to swap it within a year of when it stopped working so it seemed a waste of time to fix a worthless car just to keep it a bit longer though I had the advantage of not needing it to commute or drop people off.

It depends what your considering to replace it with, you may find a dealer will give you the same trade in value now as they would with the issue fixed as assuming you've got MOT they likely won't even check (Or care) on a car this age and just give you there minimum trade value.

If you fix it what happens when the next thing goes wrong?





In a White Room, With Black Curtains, By the Station.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Non custom

posted on 1/11/14 at 06:06 PM Reply With Quote
Trust me when I say this but it's the main output shaft bearing that will be whining mate
Also own a gtir and it's a common Nissan issue

Well worth changing them if you take the box out and or keeping the car

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Slimy38

posted on 1/11/14 at 08:38 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Non custom
Trust me when I say this but it's the main output shaft bearing that will be whining mate
Also own a gtir and it's a common Nissan issue

Well worth changing them if you take the box out and or keeping the car


If it is just the bearing I might have a go, have you done it before?

I think I'd do it after we got the new car though, if it does fix the issue then I get more from the sale, if not then no great loss.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Non custom

posted on 1/11/14 at 08:44 PM Reply With Quote
Yes mate done a few they aren't too bad just time consuming
The bearing fails and soon after with all the slop it spews the whole box
Hence why you can't get good ones that don't whine

If your fairly competent then it's easy enough and surprisingly bits are still available at Nissan

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member

New Topic New Poll New Reply


go to top






Website design and SEO by Studio Montage

All content © 2001-16 LocostBuilders. Reproduction prohibited
Opinions expressed in public posts are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of other users or any member of the LocostBuilders team.
Running XMB 1.8 Partagium [© 2002 XMB Group] on Apache under CentOS Linux
Founded, built and operated by ChrisW.