Back where I started!

[Chris Vince]

59 years ago I started work in Jack Readers garage in Woking, Surrey, called Continental Motor Cars, it was a Fiat and Saab dealership.
Many years passed and different vehicles owned, and I now find myself back working on my own 2014 Panda TA 4x4 (bought with a gearbox noise).
I have bought many write off's for the family in the intervening years, Pandas, Punto's, Brava's etc.
Incidentally I am the bloke who devised the cure for Nissan's dreadful YD25DDTi engine that used to throw rods (usually No 3) through their blocks, during the early 2,000's there were up to a dozen being auctioned on Ebay at any one time, I bought my own 2003 Navara having thrown another rod through it's block of it's second engine at 88,000 miles! NOT one engine that upgraded to my modification worldwide has since thrown a rod.
I also used to be the only person in the UK that could repair the hologram dashboards on Lexus LS400's (for £75 instead of the £2,700 new price) and replaced their air con dashboard LCD displays, so I know one end of a spanner from the other.
Having said that, experience is the best way to learn, forums like this are invaluable, I am hoping a member will be kind enough to advise me on this forthcoming gearbox repair?
Thank you all.

 

[steveras57]

Sounds like you could MAKE your own gearbox to me!!!

 

[puntodad19]

Look at and study parts exploded views, print them off.

Do same for e learn, then join the dots....

No doubt you can and will probably have to make a special tool or two, 3 even, if you have no assistant.

Enjoy....

Looking forward to the pictures and write up.

Rod throwing, missing an oil hole ???

 

[Chris Vince]

Look at and study parts exploded views, print them off.

Do same for e learn, then join the dots....

No doubt you can and will probably have to make a special tool or two, 3 even, if you have no assistant.

Enjoy....

Looking forward to the pictures and write up.

Rod throwing, missing an oil hole ???

"Rod throwing, missing an oil hole ???"
No, Nissan bowed to the EU that had banned lead, so changed traditional lead/copper big end shells for very much softer/weak tin/aluminium, these just could not handle the thrust from a 2.5lt turbo diesel.
They also used "waisted" stretch bolts for the end caps, these deteriorated during running and turned crystalline when there was minimal end shell wear eventually snapping without any warning, NO ONE has ever heard a traditional big end knock, I even know of one dealership that changed both camshafts and followers trying to lose a very light tapping, the owner then put it into an independent garage and my mate Jimmy called me for advice, I told him what I thought, he poo poo'd it, eventually Jimmy dropped the sump and saved the owner a replacement engine.
This engine was never designed to be in a 4x4, the front diff was where the oil pick up tube ended, so Nissan built a redesigned sump with a built in pick up tube running the entire length of it, instead of a bomb proof pickup bolted to the oil pump, they made a sump to pump seal from rubber, this deformed with repeated heat cycles allowing air to enter the system, so every start up was just like an oil change the engine running "dry" until the oil had been drawn up about 500mm to reach the pump, on already weak end shells, time did the rest, I know of engines grenading themselves at just 15K miles! Although the real danger are was 40-60,000 miles.
I searched worldwide for upgraded parts, I found an end shell manufacturer in Australia that had lead/copper shells from a 1969 Nissan 1.4lt non turbo petrol engine (this is how small the YD25DDTi journals are!) that were a perfect fit, after I wrote this up on the Navara owners website ACL sold out of these and actually restarted a new production run.
I found ARP bolts from America that were good for 1500hp, a little overkill but no doubts with these!
Plus I devised a new seal for the pump to sump sealing.
All good after this work costing about £80 for parts at the time, I still have my Navara almost 23 tears now engine as sweet as a nut!

 

[Mike1alike]

Hi, Chris! Welcome to the forum!

 

[puntodad19]

May I ask please, what sort of noise ?

Input shaft bearing noise/wear/failure haS been mentioned but that maybe for an entirely different gearbox.

I would not hold my breath about some fiat parts suppliers coming up with the parts needed.

There may he quite a damming thread coming up shortly about a fiat parts supplier mentioned on here...they don't have long to save thier reputation in my eyes....

 

[Chris Vince]

May I ask please, what sort of noise ?

Input shaft bearing noise/wear/failure haS been mentioned but that maybe for an entirely different gearbox.

I would not hold my breath about some fiat parts suppliers coming up with the parts needed.

There may he quite a damming thread coming up shortly about a fiat parts supplier mentioned on here...they don't have long to save thier reputation in my eyes....

I reckon it is the input shaft bearing with a broken cage.
I wouldn't use any Fiat bearings if possible, there are just too many of these bearing failures for them to be any good!
Once stripped I will measure them and try to get some decent German or Japanese bearings.

 

[Chris Vince]

Hi, Chris! Welcome to the forum!

Thanks Mike.

 

[puntodad19]

Does epar give a bearing number or sizes ?

 

[Chris Vince]

Does epar give a bearing number or sizes ?

A bearing i.d. number is usually etched onto the outer race, failing that they are easy to measure outer dia, inner dia, and thickness then buy to this size.
Manufacturers rarely make odd sizes when a standard size can be designed into a component.