persistent clutch/gearbox problems despite being 'fixed'.

[hants86]

Hi.

Firstly i' like to say thankyou for reading this. I appreciate this is my first post on this forum however my experience says that forums are a great source of information when troubleshooting and my lodger (who's not tech savvy) is desperate for help.

Issue: gearbox is leaking oil and clutch is slipping despite both the clutch and gearbox being replaced by a garage very recently.

Car: 406 estate Hdi 90 - 5spd manual - 2003

Background: my lodger/friend owns the above car. Before Christmas the clutch started making funny noises. He took it to a garage who said that the clutch was probably going but to hold off until it went (allowing him to save for the repair).
Clutch went about 2 weeks later and this was replaced by the garage. I believe the flywheel was also changed. For about a week all was good until he found an oil patch under the car after it had been left standing overnight on the drive.
Car went back to the garage and eventually the garage said the gearbox had cracks in the housing. My lodger reluctantly agreed to have another gearbox put in but stated that there had been no previous issues with leaks. Gearbox, clutch and flywheel were replaced and another week down the line the gearbox was leaking! My lodger said the garage told him to keep driving it as "it may seal itself". Well what a surprise the clutch is now slipping badly again and the box still leaks.

Any ideas?

[steve_earwig]

Hi there, welcome.

Any ideas?

Umm, this *garage* are a bunch of incompetent halfwits who have somehow managed to break 2 gearboxes while fitting them. Do not go back there unless accompanied by a solicitor.

It's had, not one, but two flywheels as well? If it is a 90 then it has a single-mass flywheel, so they shouldn't need changing, unless some fool has suggested to keep on driving it until the rivets have scored it past machining.

Is that what you were after? Anything else involves sourcing another gearbox & clutch plate and finding someone with more that 3 braincells to fit it all. These gearboxes seem to be quite reliable, they may eventually wear out synchronisers but they don't seem to crack up for no good reason, er, ever.

[hants86]

Thanks for the reply. This does help. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some common issue which may cause the leak although i suspected incompetence all along. Just to note they changed the clutch and flywheel the first time then transfered it to the new gearbox when they did the swap.
I was just baffled that two completely doferent gearboxes could have the same fault. H's gone back this morning to complain so will see how that goes. Cheers again

[jasper5]

I would think that if one gearbox had a leak....probably from the clutch release bearing sleave/first motion shaft oil seal which would cause oil to leak onto the clutch and therefore slipping....and the car still has the leak after (allegedly) having another gearbox fitted then either the same seal is leaking on the second gearbox or the alleged other gearbox was an invisible one.

[DaiRees]

....the alleged other gearbox was an invisible one.

Haha, that's just what I was thinking John!

So what did the garage say today hants?

[Doggy]

Indeed. I was wondering if it might actually have been the crank oil seal like Kelvin's was?

(Guess you should be able to tell the difference between used engine oil and gearbox oil, but maybe not everyone can)?

[Welly]

Sounds like the crank oil seal is leaking engine oil and contaminating the clutch? it's advisable to change this seal whilst you have free access to it (and for what little it costs).

I've not heard of a single gearbox failure on a 406, even if owners neglect to change the gearbox oil they still don't give any trouble.

What colour was this oil leak? if it was a reddish colour then that is gearbox oil, black is engine oil.

Has anyone actually seen gearbox No.2 from looking in the engine bay? a second hand one is likely to have yellow or white marker pen written on the housing (this is how dismantler's identify parts). Perhaps the issue can be taken up with whoever supplied box No.2

I doubt it was a brand new box as that would be ££££££'s (they're probably not even available anymore?).

[steve_earwig]

Oddly enough they are, £2,426.26 or £2,394.46 exchange (err...)