D3 auto transmission rebuild

[chilli]

Righto I'm about to take the hit and get my tranny rebuilt. As far as I know it's going to be around the $6k to $7k mark regardless of whether I get a local tranny mob to take it out ship it over to ZF for a rebuild, put it back in or get someone to handle the whole job on their own. Also need to get the timing belts + cover done at same time so xmas is cancelled (sorry Rugrats).
Just checking in to see if anyone has cracked the code and found a cheaper way (other than doing it yourself)? Also apart from fixing the coolant leak issue is there anything I need to be mindful of.

Cheers all

[kiwirich]

Hi Chilli,
I think I remember seeing that "someone " had used a Non D3 ZF 6 speed box successfully for a transplant.
I recall that they had to use the Valve body from the D3 but transplanted the Gears, Clutches etc.

Let us know how you get on
Richard

[simonmelb]

I recon it's false economy to try and scrimp on a job like a tranny rebuild. If you search (at least on the d2 forum) you'll see good reports on reputable rebuilders like Manuel Automatics Transmission (http://www.manuelautomatics.com.au) . And the stories of problems are mostly where people have used small rebuilders of unknown reputation or secondhand units.

The removal and refit labour makes it uneconomical to try and go with many cheaper options. I'm sure there are plenty of good local rebuilders but, in my case with my d2s ZF I just copped up the $5k for a rebuild and install at Manuels and don't have to worry.

Good luck with it!

[carlschmid2002]

Isn't ZF doing a deal at the moment to rebuild for $4500 in capital cities.

[rar110]

IMHO a ZF rebuild at $4400 incl GST plus shipping to Sydney is quite economical considering you get new transmission fluid for that.

You can fit a used D3 box, swap over the mechatronic (valve body and TCM), and do a flush and refill. However, you are likely to pay $2-2500 for the tranny plus $900 for flush/fluid/filter. With a used tranny you will probably reuse your old valve body. The cost of a used tranny is likely to be $3-3500 (plus removal and refit). You will pay the same for the removal and refit with a rebuilt box, so a full ZF rebuild at $4400 sounds better to me. It sounds like you will probably pay about $1000 for removal and refit. Its also a bit trickier with a used D3 tranny due to so many different 6HP26 spec number boxes fitted to the D3. It's unknown what changes were made with later spec models. Graeme flagged a vin range which had a tranny with the downgrade lead free stator bush. So there's another risk.

I had fitted a used 6HP26 box to my L322 when the original failed due to worn output spline (internals showed no sign of problems). It's likely to have a lead free stator bush, but was a low km tranny. Also, I also needed a transfer box (input gear was also worn) which came with the used tranny, and I got both for a good price. Even though the new tranny had an identical ZF spec number (as both were for a 3.6 td) I had to use the mechatronic from the original box as the tranny was from a later L322 with different vehicle electronics.