Thread: auto gearbox 1999 td5

I would start with a filter and fluid change, can be done at home for half that price.

Originally Posted by worane

I have doubts about my auto box. For some time now I have at odd times a vibration that arrives suddenly and if I back off the throttle the reaccelerate it goes away.
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Does it do it at specific speed, or engine speed(eg. 2000RPM) and does it make a difference if torque converter is locked up or not?

had vibration issues with brother's TD5 that were hard to trace, and the immediate reaction was to check front prop shaft.
Front prop was fine(nice and tight all round) so the search went on.
Turned out it was a rough running engine that was masked by the torque converter. When TC locked up (@ 80k/h) the vibration then came on strong.
Engine finally sorted for rough running, so now that it's running smooth, when the TC locks up no vibrations at all.

The major issue was the ephemeral nature of the rough running engine, slightly down on power at the same time .. it would sometimes do it and other times not.

If your vibration is not consistently there, I'd be less inlined to blame the auto, or any running gear and trace any faults to the engine.
As you said vibration is at odd times .. if you could explain that more clearly or accurately it may help to diagnose issues.
eg. does it vibrate when cold/hot? does it only vibrate when TC is locked up or not? does it only come in at a specific speed, does it disappear if you go faster .. etc.
I'd have thought that if the trans was on it's way out, and therefore vibrating, it'd be more consistent in it's vibration. Like a loose propshaft would be.

With my brothers issue, it seems to have come to either an ECU loom problem, ECU itself with intermittent issues, or possibly fuel injector seals(will check this last one out one day soon).

If the auto hasn't been serviced for a while tho, it's a good idea to do so as soon as you can get it done.
About mid $200's sounds about right too.

Thanks for the replys guys.
It certainly does it at about 80 ks (lock up time) but has done it at higher speeds I think.
I live in the country so it is always running at normal highway temps when it does it.
It goes for days without doing it sometimes it will do it several times in a day.
I have noticed it taking longer to go into reverse as I go to leave the shed it lives in at night.
I have pulled the plug to check for oil with the engine running and got lots of oil gushing out so I put the plug back in. Could it be over filled?
Regards, Nick.

Originally Posted by worane

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I have pulled the plug to check for oil with the engine running and got lots of oil gushing out so I put the plug back in. Could it be over filled?
Regards, Nick.

Sounds like for the trans?
Possibly.
The fill procedure is to have engine running and fill till trans fluid is 'running' out.
Rave does also specify that gearbox must be cool as well.
Did you check when auto was cold?

For the vibration:
Next time it does it again, try manually pulling back into 3rd gear and accelerate a bit(doesn't have to be hard) maintaining speed between 80-100.
Yeah, revs spin up to 3K +, but this is the point! Depending on your road conditions, there must be an easy area for you to test the vehicle with minimal engine load at those revs and speeds.
As you back off the loud pedal(ie. minimal engine load) does the vibration disappear?
if so, it's more likely an engine issue.
This is what my brother's did for a while, the vibration would come and go as it pleased, but as time went on it became more the norm than the exception.

Nanocom threw out various errors too.
He'd changed MAF, MAP sensor and injector loom.
Then he gave me the car to check various items where I changed the wastegate solenoid thingy, but drove it for a short while with a bypass bodge.
replaced wastegate modulator, and the TD5 finally felt good. Had it for about a week or two(didn't drive it, as I prefer my D1 in many ways) but did just use it on the odd occasion to go to shops and kids to school.
Still felt fine.
The day I drove it back to his place tho, on the freeway section it started to do the vibration thing all over again. Got to his, we went for a quick drive on the freeway vibration now gone!
OK, no problemo .. we had a plan to go away for the long weekend coming up at that point.
The time came top head off, his fuel pressure had a very slow leak. Better to fix now(12PM on the Friday before we head off). Even if a 2-3hr delay no issue, 'we had the time' .. famous last words!
Entire weekend then got wasted trying to get his TD5 to drive at over 60k/h. It just refused too and the very brief moments we could get it to 80-ish with TC lockup, vibration was always present.
But this was very brief and the car would shut down.
Changed FPR, changed fuel pump, filter blew air through lines, inspected bottom of tank for crud(zero!).
Abandoned it after two days of heads against walls(walls broken through! )
Brother finally made the decision to take it to an expert as it had us beat.
No more errors on the nanocom but car not 'going'. So it sat from Monday night to Friday morning we did nothing to it.
I drove it Monday night with no traffic around and the only anomaly was the readings from the nanocom on the injector balances. Don't really understand them, other than they should be in the lower + or - 0-5 range.
On this Monday night I'm, seeing them read -20, to +15 and everything in between.. which I thought odd. TD5 just refused to run well, and it just would allow driving over 60k/h to now. On a few sections of downhill I could get it to 80k/h lockup and it would vibrate.

Friday morning now, not having touched the TD5, I drove up to LRA to have it booked in for a proper checkup. On the way I noted it felt less lethargic. To be sure, I got it up to 80k/h just prior to getting to LRA to make sure it'd cut out so that they could assess the issue.
It not only sat at 80 for more than a few seconds, it also then got into TC lockup and no vibration.
Didn't stop at LRA, so continued on along a freeway, got it up to 100k/h and it felt perfectly fine(as it did just after I replaced the wastegate modulator) kept driving about on various freeways and it ran fine.
About 2 hrs later with various stops to just switch it off and restart it, I felt confident that it 'sorted itself out' between Monday night and Friday morning with no input from myself or brother!

Help from here has been along the lines of injector seals, but I'm thinking more along the lines of the injector/engine look around the front of the engine(from injectors/MAF etc) to ECU.
I then sprayed all connections with contact cleaner tugged on plugs and wires and pulled ECU to check for oil and or mucked up internals in any way.
Nothing.
Engine running since then(about a month now).
Now that engine is running fine, zero vibration from car. Nicer to drive than my D1 too(but I still don't trust it as much as the 300 Tdi! )

Only scanned the replies, so apologies if all or some repeat.
Check the engine mounts first, these definitely wear out, if you look from underneath and don't see a gap of about 5 or 10mm in the hole to the rubber then they are gone. If rubber protrudes, then 100% gone. Vibration at idle (quite bad) can be a good sign, at speed not sure but certainly possible.

Check the front harmonic damper, every chance this might be causing an issue. Not seen it myself, but the rubber section separates and can cause squeals and rough running and vibration.

Gearbox mounts might then be worth checking.

Propshafts, front double cardan wears out. Check the wheels and let the handbrake off when doing these checks, the tension in the drivetrain can make you think it's OK when it's buggered.

After that you are getting into gearboxy stuff. The torque converter adapter plate can crack, you can try and get a look at this from the inspection hole, this could cause vibrations.

Anything more internal than that gets a bit serious, a filter and fluid change may help - but not too certain.

Bearings on wheel, jack a wheel and try and move it at 12 and 6, anything more than a few mm and the bearings are suspect. Get someone to hold the foot brake on and try again, if it disappears - bearing.

Gentlemen (and others)!
I took a lot more notice of my d2 whilst driving through Geelong today and I have to say it vibrates at ALL speeds.
This beast has had new engine mounts new front propshaft and new engine injector harness etc. It has had one replacement hub too.
The rear propshaft seems to be sound.
I have noticed in the last few days, a delay and solid clunk as it goes into reverse but only sometimes.
I don't have any solid ideas but hope this further contact with you knowledgeable folks may bring further advice.
It does seem a little down on power but I can't think it is the cause. Would timing be the problem? It seems smooth enough at all times except on a very cold morning start, a slight roughness is heard and felt in the first few seconds after which it smooths out.

Originally Posted by worane

Gentlemen (and others)!
I took a lot more notice of my d2 whilst driving through Geelong today and I have to say it vibrates at ALL speeds.
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and engine speeds?
This was the telltale for my brothers.
say on a freeway or other road that allows 80k/h and hence the torque converter to lockup, when it locked the vibration was infuriating. drop to third(unlocked) and engine to about 3000 RPM and basically under the same other conditions the vibration would go away.

if you don't get that same effect then as steve_a commented .. maybe check the flex plate(or the adapter plate as he called it) for cracking.

Have a very close look at the rotoflex. Mine looked good at a glance, but was completely rooted.