Well i finally bit the bullet and had my gearbox refurbished @ 94329 miles and picked it it up today..........really pleased

Due to reading lots of stories on hear and other sites i was able to recognise the early signs before it actually stopped working. I took it in last Wednesday to JT automatics in Erith kent who have a fixed price no hidden extras and a high pressure tool to remove al the old residual oil from the pipes and cooler. I did lots of searches for places who could do this but was drawn to this place and after speaking to them they clearly knew what they were talking about and all the refurbishment is done onsite which i felt was a positive.

I dropped it off on the Wednesday last week for them to test although they were surprised i drove to them as all the RR they do are normally on a flatbed. They not only do a test drive but a contaminant test from the oil and both tests identified a problem, the drive test I knew about which is what triggered my visit due to some odd hesitating at 1500 to 1800 rpm..........They took me through all the parts they replace and I had the option to have my actual box refurbished or one they had pre done off the shelf, i chose my one and the best bit compared with the other places I have contacted is with JT I get a 2 year warranty which gives me the confidence they have done a quality job.

On the drive home today it was clear that my old box was knackered even though I did oil and filter change some months back because now it feels taught and crisp through the gears and does not hunt in the lower gears or jolt from 1st to 2nd at low speed.
Being an anorak I spent quite a while staring underneath the car at my new box all clean with shiny alloy including a newly painted sump to finish off the refurb, well impressed.........I also did not need to spend hours cleaning off any oily finger prints or grubby mechanics mess from in or around the car which again to me makes a big difference in the quality of service that can be somewhat lacking in many places I have experienced over the years,

So how much did this cost me I hear you say well it was a £1525 + vat so the total was £1830, which although a large sum to spend on any car I feel with a 2 year warranty to boot it’s a good deal .
I do have an extended warranty with Car Protect which is a subsidiary of the AA one I had before, but this breakdown insurance is crap as they rejected my claim without even sending an assessor..........needless to say I am perusing the issue with them and they have now agreed to send an assessor even with my car released to me to view the broken bits which JT will show them and help them understand it was a mechanical failure and not wear and tear as they seem to think, .......I will keep you posted on that one

nice review and a big help on the research side for other members.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Can you tell me how much you paid for the oil change on your gearbox?

If they fail anyway is it worth changing the oil?

Chris

boffhead wrote:

Can you tell me how much you paid for the oil change on your gearbox?

If they fail anyway is it worth changing the oil?

Chris

If the oil is already past its best then doing a change cant undo damage - that's WHY it's important to change the oil regularly. 

I agree with Dan UK, if you bought your car from new and actually had regular oil changes carried out on your gearbox then this may well prolong its life beyond the current average but if you bought your car second hand as most of us have then changing the oil late in the life of the box appears to not to help, although this is just my view. Luckily I did not spend too much on the filter and oil, I actually found that RJS sold their filter for much less on their actual web site than their add on e-Bay witch the cynical in me says they are using e-Bay to mark up and make extra profit .......... my filter cost me £36.96 in July 2010 but is now £48.........interesting, but e-Bay prices well you take a look and decide .......my view e-Bay is being used by some to mark up prices as people get less willing to check out actual market prices........again my view only. The oil I got very cheap found a guy selling 12 litres of the Texaco stuff and got it all for £36, lucky me but really didn’t make any difference when changed........my local garage charged me £50 for the oil change as I supplied the parts and oil, total £122.96

Aside from all of that a simple fluid change won't help that much anyway. You only get about 5L changed - the gearbox holds 12L. The rest remains in the torque converter, lines, etc. You need to do a flush - which by all accounts can help - or multiple fluid changes. But even that won't help if you're trying to save an already knackered 'box.

More info:
http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic4216.h...ansmission 
RRC 2Dr, RRC 4Dr,
P38, and 2 L322s
(wife thinks I'm nuts - prob right, too)