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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Carbonisation has now killed my gearbox!


vvteye

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After a terrific rebuild by MKIV store I toddled about doing the 1000 mile run in and then it went back to Martin. With a number of other jobs lined up including RLTC fiting, it was taken up to speed before it's final rolling road tune.

 

Then came the dreaded phone call. The car had apparently lost all drive. Changing the torque converter saw no improvement so the gearbox was opened to reveal..... the same bloody mess that my engine was in, complete with metal shards etc. :cry:

 

Now apart from cancelling Xmas and selling the house to fund this 'reliable' car, I am about to be given a bunch of options

 

Recon gearbox

2nd hand gearbox (with no guarantee)

or some others I haven't guessed yet.

 

It makes it harder as this is a tiptronic box in a vvti which may make a BL box a non option as I am unsure whether they make 'em.

 

One more thing... I really feel for Martin as the bad news / good news ratio has been about 4 to 1 at the moment! He is generously offering to make no money on the gearbox but the labour is gonna add to my financial woes!

 

Any advice guys? :helpsign:

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Isn't the VVTi gearbox the same one as the regular autobox? I thought it was just the ecu control that made it tiptronic. Not 100% sure on that though.

 

Swapping the box is not a huge job. It's slightly less work than changing the torque converter.

 

 

Try Fenland Breakers for a 2nd hand Tip box. They had Rob Oldham's rolled car there ages ago. I had the engine but they probably still have the box somewhere.

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It will be hard to find a second hand gearbox I would think. If I could choose I would swap to manual.

 

Thanks mate. Going for the most expensive option then...

 

Having just spent over £4K on the engine I am looking for a cheaper out than that.

 

You are probably right on the second hand front though. I would have thought these are rarer than hen's teeth!

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i am led to believe that the internals are the same as the regular auto's but there is an extra plug or something

 

I bought Rob Oldhams gearbox for my car and it was with Dude as he was getting someone to build it to hold more power for me, unfortunately with what happened to him i havent been able to locate it and havent had the chance to go and see him yet

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Isn't the VVTi gearbox the same one as the regular autobox? I thought it was just the ecu control that made it tiptronic. Not 100% sure on that though.

 

Don't know either - would be easier of this is correct though... brings in the boost logic option?

 

Swapping the box is not a huge job. It's slightly less work than changing the torque converter.

 

Shame they changed the Torque converter first then... where's that Till smiley!

 

Try Fenland Breakers for a 2nd hand Tip box. They had Rob Oldham's rolled car there ages ago. I had the engine but they probably still have the box somewhere.

 

Thanks Jake. I've sent an email to Fenlands

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It looks from the EPC that the tiptronic is different, as it has a different part number (the bottom one).

 

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/4345/picture1ra1.png

 

Toyota supply rebuilt autobox's according to the EPC, which may be worth looking into, here are the part numbers for the rebuilt boxes.

 

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3815/picture2vo3.png

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Nightmare :(

 

I've never heard of a Supra so uncared for service wise and abused. (I know not by you)

Do you think maybe someone used the wrong fluids in it? Opportunity for a 6spd converstion? Maybe there's some being broken in Japan? Is there still room in Jurgens crate?

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It looks from the EPC that the tiptronic is different, as it has a different part number (the bottom one).

 

Toyota supply rebuilt autobox's according to the EPC, which may be worth looking into, here are the part numbers for the rebuilt boxes.

 

Thanks for the info and research Nic..

Really appreciated...

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A shocking sequence of events for your motor ... feel for ya mate :(

 

As an aside, are you the first UK owner of this car? Did you get any service history either in Japan or here?

 

 

I bought the car in Plymouth. It was registered in 1999 in the uk so had done virtualy no miles in Japan. 1 previous owner so we know where the fault lies!- but he traded it in and I bought it from Torque imports with a 3 month waranty (about 6 months in and the problems started. They of course said that as the warranty was over, there was nothing they could do. (in fact suggested I could have done all this)

 

Once this is over i am going to send them pictures and selected threads from this forum to let them know the kind of support they are likley to get from us in the future!!!

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They would get my support , Not a single problem in over 15 months, saw the VVTI there. There are plenty of people who have bought from there and are happy.

 

3 months warranty is 3 months, not 6.

 

I really do feel for you, that you bought a duffer, but a garage cannot strip every cars engine and gearbox down to check internals before they sell it.

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They would get my support , Not a single problem in over 15 months, saw the VVTI there. There are plenty of people who have bought from there and are happy.

 

3 months warranty is 3 months, not 6.

 

I really do feel for you, that you bought a duffer, but a garage cannot strip every cars engine and gearbox down to check internals before they sell it.

 

 

True, True.

 

That said whenever I phoned them about other issues early on they promised to return my call but never did.. I had to do all the chasing. Nice guys though, not pushy... but getting any info out of them was like pulling teeth. I think this is what makes good car salesman... the silence.

 

Teach me next time to negotiate a longer warranty even if it adds to the price.

 

I assume you went back early this year to see the vvti. I don't think it was there 15 months ago was it?

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