Thread: 300tdi auto wont change when cold

Originally Posted by justinc

Are you running the vehicle while dipping it? They can take around 5.5 litres as the pump housing empties when the filter is undone, but there is still a couple of litres in the converter that won't come out.

Idle in Neutral, check the dipstick. How far above the full line is it up the stick when cold, idling?

JC

yea im doing when cold in nuetral and its reading a few inches above the full mark been draining it out bit at a time and it looks like its coming down ill check it again now

Originally Posted by jeep_boy

done a run to good old super cheap and got some heavy duty ramps, grage creeper and funnel to fill it what a godsend they are, now i need a spanner to undo the dipstick where it meets the pan back to super again lol bloody 20k trip each way

you are dipping this with the vehicle LEVEL?

Hi, few things I learnt after having problems with mine. I got the auto box serviced in Sydney and it made it all the way up the coast to about 100km north of Cooktown when the sump pan gasket split and dumped all the fluid and burnt out the "A" clutch. The mechanic who did the job reckons it was a dud seal, the auto transmission gurus who rebuilt the box for me reckon he overtightened it causing the split. Either way dont over tighten the sump bolts and keep a bit of an eye on it for leaks!!

Not long after the rebuild I was checking the level after a short drive and found pratically nothing on the dipstick. No leaks and after a phone call the the "guru" again he told me to take it for another drive and get it up to normal operating temperature and check it again with the engine still running which I did and there it was, all ok!! I recently change the fluid again with similar results, to get an accurate reading the fluid has to be hot/normal operating temperature.

im checking it on level ground, when its cold in park, one time it reads half way up the stick the next time it reads spot on next time it reads nothing, and one side is always higher than the other,
took it for a drive got about 5ks, and up hilld it was jerking like it was momenteraly going in and out of gear, and made a few small nasty sounds, got it back home checked the level and once again, way over full clean redip perfect, clean redip nothing, clean redip overfull this is really starting to bother me, it still took ages to get out of first, im ready to take it somewhere but the car only has 130ks on it surely it shouldent have box probs this early

Originally Posted by jeep_boy

im checking it on level ground, when its cold in park, one time it reads half way up the stick the next time it reads spot on next time it reads nothing, and one side is always higher than the other,
took it for a drive got about 5ks, and up hilld it was jerking like it was momenteraly going in and out of gear, and made a few small nasty sounds, got it back home checked the level and once again, way over full clean redip perfect, clean redip nothing, clean redip overfull this is really starting to bother me, it still took ages to get out of first, im ready to take it somewhere but the car only has 13ks on it surely it shouldent have box probs this early

You would hope not but are you sure the Kms are genuine and you cant be sure how well the box has been looked after.

It sounds like a valve body problem, I wouldnt be too worried about the dip stick, sometimes they vibrate around at the bottom (with the vehicle idling) so you just take an average.

If it's holding 1st then it sounds like a govner problem, probably got a heap of crap in it but the slipping in and out sounds like either a sprag or clutch not locking completely.

How is your kickdown cable adjusted as this is critical to get full line pressure to your clutch packs and govner etc, it should have a bit of pressure on it, 5mm comes to mind so basically if you pull the pin and let the arm on the injector pump rest then set the cable to about 5mm back from that then pull the arm back (or the cable forward) and drop the pin back in.

Just play with the adjustment from there to get the right shift feel.

Be a little careful though as too much tension will break the end off the cable in the box and not enough can cause bad shift pattern and wear away at clutch packs etc.

Originally Posted by Juff

..., to get an accurate reading the fluid has to be hot/normal operating temperature.

The driver's handbook says quite specifically that to get an accurate reading the ambient temperature should be 20C. In other words the gearbox should be cold. The dipstick also has the words "check cold" stamped on it.

It also says to check the level while the engine is running in Park. Have you had any luck yet Jeep Boy?

Cheers Charlie

Originally Posted by mcrover

You would hope not but are you sure the Kms are genuine and you cant be sure how well the box has been looked after.

It sounds like a valve body problem, I wouldnt be too worried about the dip stick, sometimes they vibrate around at the bottom (with the vehicle idling) so you just take an average.

If it's holding 1st then it sounds like a govner problem, probably got a heap of crap in it but the slipping in and out sounds like either a sprag or clutch not locking completely.

How is your kickdown cable adjusted as this is critical to get full line pressure to your clutch packs and govner etc, it should have a bit of pressure on it, 5mm comes to mind so basically if you pull the pin and let the arm on the injector pump rest then set the cable to about 5mm back from that then pull the arm back (or the cable forward) and drop the pin back in.

Just play with the adjustment from there to get the right shift feel.

Be a little careful though as too much tension will break the end off the cable in the box and not enough can cause bad shift pattern and wear away at clutch packs etc.

before i changed the oil it was perfect just took a bit to get out of first when it was cold, now it still does that but up hills its like it slips into neutral for a split ceond and back into gear than nuteral...... so im thinking maybe lfuid is low and up hills its not picking up fluid, when checking why does the car have to be running, im thinking it could be a sticking govenor, as for ks im pretty sure there genuine,

Originally Posted by mcrover

You would hope not but are you sure the Kms are genuine and you cant be sure how well the box has been looked after.

It sounds like a valve body problem, I wouldnt be too worried about the dip stick, sometimes they vibrate around at the bottom (with the vehicle idling) so you just take an average.

If it's holding 1st then it sounds like a govner problem, probably got a heap of crap in it but the slipping in and out sounds like either a sprag or clutch not locking completely.

How is your kickdown cable adjusted as this is critical to get full line pressure to your clutch packs and govner etc, it should have a bit of pressure on it, 5mm comes to mind so basically if you pull the pin and let the arm on the injector pump rest then set the cable to about 5mm back from that then pull the arm back (or the cable forward) and drop the pin back in.

Just play with the adjustment from there to get the right shift feel.

Be a little careful though as too much tension will break the end off the cable in the box and not enough can cause bad shift pattern and wear away at clutch packs etc.

before i changed the oil it was perfect just took a bit to get out of first when it was cold, now it still does that but up hills its like it slips into neutral for a split ceond and back into gear than nuteral...... so im thinking maybe lfuid is low and up hills its not picking up fluid, when checking why does the car have to be running, im thinking it could be a sticking govenor, as for ks im pretty sure there genuine 130 not 13 that i put before i missed a zero, but the more and more i look at it the more and more it looks like it has had a poor service life