Attention anyone that knows a lot about these gearboxes.
I'm having a nightmare with getting my e21 getrag 245 5 speed overdrive rebuilt.
This time last year I sent my 5 speed off to be rebuilt by a UK company who specialises in them. The gearbox was crunching going into second, and the bearings were very noisy.
After a great expense it came back looking good. Though once fitted in the car it was leaking oil badly.
The company where very apologetic and after a few months they sent me another rebuilt gearbox and I posted back the leaky one.
I had to pay my local mechanic a second time to swap the gearboxes. This time the gearbox was almost perfect, no noise, no leaks and would change into every gear smoothy except 5th. The 5th gear would not only be a struggle but would pop out of 5th when the car wasn't on load. You would be cruising in 5th, lift off, and it would pop out. I would hold it in 5th with my hand when driving on the motorway.
So once again, the company was apologetic and again, after a few months, they sent me out yet another gearbox. I've had to pay my mechanic to swap them a 3rd time.
This gearbox is the worst yet, its noisy and vibrates massively. Though at least it does go into gear, and stay in gear.
I've obviously given up on the company. And after a year and a great expense, I don't want them to send me out another one.
So heres my plan.
I have yet to send back the 2nd gearbox with the popping out 5th gear. As this is the better than the latest one, I want to take it to another gearbox specialist. I want to use the 3rd vibrating one for its parts to help fix the 2nd one. Then I can send back whats left of the 3rd one to the original rebuilder and hope for a refund.
As the next company I'm going to use is a general gearbox rebuilder, they are unlikely to work on many classic car gearboxes. So I would like to give them as much info as possible. It would be good to be able to tell them what the likely cause is.
So if you had a rebuilt gearbox, that pops out of 5th gear when not on load, then what would be your likely diagnoses? Thanks.