Broken Gearbox

Anonymous · August 4, 2003, 16:07

The gearbox bearings on my 2000 W MR seems to have had it!! The car has done 37000 miles and has the full service history. I am only just out of my waranty. Has anybody else experience similar problems with there MR? any usefull contacts??

I have tried to get MR T to contribute towards the repair and they say that they may choose to contribute towards the parts as a natter of good will, if the Toyota dealer strips it down and gives a full cost breakdown. Unfortunately this is going to cost me at least £ 1200 in labour.

So any tips for twisting Mr T's arm?? or any friendly gearbox specialist contacts would be apreciated!!!

Cheers

Paul H s:(

s:(

Anonymous · August 4, 2003, 17:03

Yikes!

How do they know it's the gearbox bearings, without having already stripped it down though?

Anonymous · August 4, 2003, 21:38

i would see how much a replacement gear box is before they strip it,
you could save on labour cost and also you would not be adding new with
old parts, Mostly garage's would just replace the box as a unit, > you should get a good will out of Mr T if you push hard ( they dont like bad press)
Good luck

Anonymous · August 4, 2003, 22:02

You could push hard and maybe get something from it. I would.

BUT this car is made to have bits chucked away and replaced, its a pure chuck away racer, the vents, the dash, the engine if it was me and MrT gave me to much trouble i'd go find a dead '2 in a scrap yard with low millage.

...but i've never heard of a gearbox go on a Mk3 yet.

Anonymous · August 5, 2003, 06:54

My ex always used to say that in situations like this the Sale of Goods act would help. The goods must be fit for the purpose they're sold, and you'd reasonably expect a car to be able to do more than 37000 miles and three years without failing. So the argument goes that under the SoG, the goods weren't fit, and so you can have your money.

However the angle I see it as is that by stating a warranty, the manufacturer is essentially specifying the expected life of the product. Which obviously leaves you a bit stuck.

Not sure that there's much point arguing the SoG act with the sales/receptionist/service person, but if you were writing a letter to head office, or were about to take it to the small claims court, it might be worth exploring.

Anonymous · August 5, 2003, 08:09

Well its definately a transmission problem, Personally I thought it could have been the clutch thrust bearing. However the dealer has charged me 40 quid for the privalege of telling me me gearbox is knackered (I knew that anyway, cheers!!).

I have also got a problem aparently with the air flow sensor, as this fault code is reading. Anyone have any experience with this?

And as far as Mr T and my gearbox, I plan on calling them everyday this week, and annoying the f*** out of them.

Does anyone know whether you can use a gearbox from a dead celica? is it the same? I was under the understanding that they hace the same engine.

Cheers all

Paul

s:? :? s:?

Slacey · August 5, 2003, 08:38

The air flow sensor error is probably due to the MAF (Mass Air Flow) being dirty, it's very easy to fix by cleaning it yourself; there is an article on Spydermagazine.com on how to do this. As for the tranny, a Celica one will fit, but it needs some jiggery pokery to fit, apparently some of the bits are on the opposite side to ours, search on Spyderchat.com, a couple of guys on there (Littlerocket being one) have fitted 6-speed Celica units, with loads of pics and tips.

Anonymous · August 5, 2003, 08:55

Ive just had a call from a breakers yard in Cambridge. They can supply me a secondhand gearbox for 275 quid including delivery.

It is aparently from a Silver MR2 2001 model with 26K. I dont like the idea of using secondhand parts, but it sounds like a very cheap option. If anyone wants the details of the place for any parts they may need PM me.

Any thoughts?

Anonymous · August 5, 2003, 09:49

Quote from: "Phumbers"Ive just had a call from a breakers yard in Cambridge. They can supply me a secondhand gearbox for 275 quid including delivery.

It is aparently from a Silver MR2 2001 model with 26K. I dont like the idea of using secondhand parts, but it sounds like a very cheap option. If anyone wants the details of the place for any parts they may need PM me.

Any thoughts?

Really mate thats what i'd do, maybe i'm just used to scraping for parts for cars to be raced but this doesn't mean it has to be crap. The MR2 is made to be disposable, you blow a engine racing, fine go look for a dead Corolla etc...

I think i'm more worried that the box has gone this early and I think this time maybe MrT should be doing something.

Anonymous · August 5, 2003, 14:04

I have written a nasty letter to Mr T highlighting my displeasure about my broken gearbox. I await a reply.. I cc my email to lettera at top gear magazine and to autoexpress just for a laugh.

In reality Im fairly sure they wont help. So I have found a second hand low milage box, (and at the same time a drivers side door as ive got a little parking dent). From now on i wont go anywhere near a dealer unles its for a service and i want my book stamped.

The future looks bright!!

Thanks for all advise and help

Paul H

Anonymous · August 5, 2003, 14:48

I don't blame you, Toyota UK pisses me off more and more each day.

Anonymous · August 5, 2003, 19:31

Have you phoned MrT at there head office yet
if you are going to get anywere with a claim then customer service are the ones who desides the out come.
your local dealer would need to speak to them to get the go ahead any way
and some time's the dealer may get the full claim BUT say that as agood will MrT will pay for parts and your foot the bill and you pay for labour
(so thay can get dubble bubble on the labour if you know what i mean). The dealer wont do anything unless he is going to get payed By you or MrT.

PS
If you get on well with your dealer He might find a mr2 that is still in warranty to claim on it for you ( shame on me) But it dose Happen, a
demo that might have knocking about, HE He lol

s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:

Anonymous · September 8, 2003, 16:39

You arn't the only one !! MR2 just done 50,000 serviced a week before going to France - geabox broke up 5th gear wreaked the casing. I had extended waranty Thank God ! But it took 3 weeks to get the car back It broke on 10th Aug. near Paris I am awaiting a decision on a new box or re-build but in the meantime have no car - the warranty only allow 5 days at £ 45 per day hire. Then iti is up to the dealer to lend a courtesy if your lucky !

Jap GT300 · September 9, 2003, 11:09

MJ Autos, West Thurrock specialise in Japanese Salvage, they have 2x MR2 gearboxes at the moment. I would see how much they would charge you for it.

I got a steering rack from them Toyota quoted £750 + VAT. I got one at MJ for £75. You can't go wrong at that price.

Any mechanic could fit one in the 2'

Anonymous · September 15, 2003, 14:42

I eventially found a second hand box for 350 quid from a low milage 2002 model, then cost 200 to fit it.

There seem to be a lot of 2's in scrappers if you look for them..

Cheers for the advise

Paul

Comer · September 15, 2003, 14:54

Quote from: "Phumbers"There seem to be a lot of 2's in scrappers if you look for them..

Any of them with black leather interior?

Anonymous · May 25, 2004, 16:05

Sorry to drag an old post up but i thought i'd add some input.

MrT just replaced the Input Output Bearings on my '03 and also a central bearing which was found to have a manufacturing defect when they stripped it down.

Said it took the 8 hours for the labour alone.......they charge £75 P/H Which makes £600 JUST FOR THE LABOUR, luckily it was under warranty.

Anonymous · May 30, 2004, 17:16

Noticed a sort of knocking noise on mr MR2 just after 30k miles. After a short test drive with with the gearbox specialist at Ron Brook (Mansfield) he confirmed that the bearings were shot s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Anyway, under warrenty they stipped the box down and replaced the bearings. Apparantly min of 8hrs labour although i didnt think it was as much as £75/p/hour as someone else mentioned earlier in this post. Either way tho 8hrs labour isnt going to be cheap. Guy said that he had never heard of this problem in an MR2 -

Personally id push for the work to be done by Toyota even as a good will gesture, theres no way this problem should occur so early on in a gearbox's life. Mention about other people having similar problems - maybe theres an underlying issue here.

Hope you get it sorted

GSB · May 31, 2004, 11:12

Quote from: "mattmr2"Guy said that he had never heard of this problem in an MR2

This is the 4th one we've seen here I think, so its not completely unheard of...

Anonymous · June 30, 2004, 12:16

Guess what? Just had a call from Millway to confirm that it is the internals of the gearbox which have fried rather than a mounting or linkage s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

Given it's fairly hard driven I think a replacement second hand box might be worth it over having the old one rebuilt.

Anyone know if there are any roadsters in breakers?

I'll check out MJ Autos in case they have any.

dave

SteveJ · June 30, 2004, 20:55

You may want to talk to Martin (mph) - he has a complete gearbox that I believe is surplus to requirements (albeit with an SMT selector shaft, but that can be swapped from your gearbox)