1997 2.1 Td Auto Estate, Dodgy Gearbox

Any superbrilliant thoughts on my auto box problem please-the selection system has failed so that when put into Drive it jumps from 1st to 4th which is never good It works fine using the 3-2-1 selection positions but if I wanted to play gears I would drive a manual (SO lazy). Very silly prices quoted locally for new box (£1900) so I'm soldiering on but a bit worried it will fail completely soon(very temperamental about going into reverse already). Drives beautifully on motorway etc in Drive mode. Very frustrating! Thanks for reading. Cheers, Donna.

Hi Donna,sounds like governor failure,as manual selection is ok.This does not require box removal and can be done in situ.Get to an auto box specialist. Mine cost £315 to have the seals replaced and took them (John Mackie of Glasgow) an afternoon.

Hi Donna, we have some very knowledgeable people on the forum but I don't think there are any who dabble in the black arts of the autobox. As Robert said, it will probably be quicker, safer and cheaper in the long run to take your car to an autobox specialist.

Derek

I'd throw the piece of junk gearbox away and put a proper one in..... I'm going to do that to my XM if I can just find a gearbox somewhere that fits

seeya,
Shane L.

Thank you so much for your thoughts, I will make enquiries about local specialists (East Devon, if anyone has any recommendations). Donna

Don't get listening to that Shane, Blondie. I think my auto box is great!

Andy

Personally I'd not buy an XM with a stinky manual box. Doesn't suit the laid back nature of the car and although the auto isn't wonderful it does help give you that old school Rolls feeling of one flowing movement from point 'A' to point 'B'.

yep spot on gents, you have a manual box in a lotus or a caterham, a driving car.
An xm is not a race car by any stretch of the imagination, i cant see anyone on here complaining that the auto box knocks a second or so off there 0-60 time because in the real world it doesn't matter, a manual creates the need for you to exert pointless effort while going to the shops round the corner or being stuck in horrible traffic on the A34 getting clutch leg . Yes its not a fantastic box, but it does its job and if they are looked after will go for 100k easy many outlive the car.....nuf said

D

I still haven't found a proper gearbox for mine Talk about ssssssslllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww off the mark with the air-con going full bore.... God it's sh!tful, a 2litre deisel off boost at 800rpm, trying to turn an air-con pump and move a 1.5ton off the mark. it just doesn't work. With a proper gearbox you could just rev the motor to 2000rpm and let the clutch out !

seeya,
Shane L.

I couldn't agree more.

Give me an auto box any day.

You have to make allowances for Shane, he's spent all his life living upside down and the blood has rushed to his brain.

He does have a point about performance though. With my two Series 1 2.0 autos it was embarrassing to have to switch the aircon off if I wanted to overtake! They also taught me the art of manual changes on an autobox.

Autos are the best option for the XM so long as you have enough power to push through them (IMHO of course).

Derek

I couldn't agree less. My 2.1TD auto is plenty quick enough from standstill. Without wanting to insult anybody, I fail to see what some of you are complaining about. 0-60 in 12 seconds or so is plenty quick enough in a big luxury car. And when on the move, it's actually quite quick.

Interestingly my father misfuelled the 2000 year 2.1TD auto a couple of days ago;
not what you think with unleaded but with so called 'premium diesel'. He grumbled
to me later about how the cost of diesel was still high but in working out what he'd
paid I realised he's used the posh stuff Shell sells and that the car actually did seem
very VERY peppy in it's performance!!

The latest Xantia 24v v6 seems to like the expensive Shell Unleaded too.

Damned fussy cars - should be happy with the boggo stuff....

Andrew

I couldn't agree less. My 2.1TD auto is plenty quick enough from standstill. Without wanting to insult anybody, I fail to see what some of you are complaining about. 0-60 in 12 seconds or so is plenty quick enough in a big luxury car. And when on the move, it's actually quite quick.

I.m sure it's fine.............................................So long as you don't want to pull out into fast moving traffic from a standstill...... It's quite good ......................Once it's finally moving !!

I have no complaints about joining traffic from a standstill whatsoever.

Actually, some time ago, I *had* to drive a Pug 307SW HDI (manual) for half a year. My XM is quicker from standstilll. If you would push the accelerator on the HDI, it would "take some time to consider your request, and get back to you later". The 2.1TD just responds to the throttle quicker, it starts moving the instant you decide it's time to move, not half a second later like some diesels.

Some will argue that the HDI is more efficient, but I don't see that reflected in fuel economy - the 307 was about as thirsty as the XM is.

I don't know... Renard says it's due to the Epic pump, which he thinks is excellent - he says it makes the car much more responsive than the Bosch. And I still fail to find the auto box restrictive when it comes to getting the car moving from a full stop. It's not a ferocious as the Skoda TDI I had, but then again, the Skoda was a manual and a fair bit less bulky.