Astra VXR

[spazman]

Ohhh i do like that, is it still wrong wheel dirve?

[[GSV]Trig]

Yeah FWD instead of 4wd

[slingers]

don't even think about 4wd, last time we did that, transfer box's that were made from plasticine. nuff said

[Spunkey]

[[GSV]Trig]

don't even think about 4wd, last time we did that, transfer box's that were made from plasticine. nuff said

No, the maintenence routine wasnt documented and most Vaux Technicians are 18 year old muppets that look at cars like mine n start climbing over eachother to take it out on a test drive..

All cars have specific ways to treat them, look at the R5, there known for going pop and having crap engines, well yes as most ppl that know feck all about them get in them tunr up the boost n wonder why they go pop...
I know of original TXB's with way over std power going thru them that still work due to being looked after properly...

Not digging at u but as u work at Vaux and you think the boxes are made of chocolate just proves my point....

[Richie]

don't even think about 4wd, last time we did that, transfer box's that were made from plasticine. nuff said

Uh-huh.

Familiarise yourself with the transfer box and its functioning first before blaming the box design

[Zak33]

weelllll....the viscous box we made used to leak gearbox oil into the silicon.

So they broke....very very fast

I had a Cav 4x4 and a Calibra 4x4 (not turbo...original red tops) and both killed viscous tranfer boxes.

The gear kits were strong...never shagged a gear box, or a drive shaft *looks at rally car, and shakes fist* but on full lock the rear wheels locked up like a handbrake was on.

Think what Slingers is getting at is as follows:

We see things go wrong every single day.

Ask any Corsa punter....you have a 1 in 10 chance of them needing a new steering rack in the next 6 months

Slingers new Astra 1.8 Design has the worst gearbox I have ever driven

the only car we trust right now is his Nova rally car and my Astra rally car...and THEY break shafts

[Lowe]

That Megane looks mental!

[XTR]

That Megane looks mental!

LOL.... looks very similar.. shape of the side windows.... slightly smaller arse! similar front end...

[Richie]

I hear what you sayin Zak but I know for a FACT that the viscous couple TXB as put in the Cav and Cally Turbos failed because of the OWNER and not because of bad design.

A simple matter of rotating the wheels every 3000 miles (back to front and front to back) will mean a TXB lasts almost forever. All you need to then do is change the TXB fluid every 20K or so and keep it topped up as well as change the accumulator every 50K ? (I forget now )

I know of a TXB that lasted over 186,000 miles simply because the owner changed the tyres as stated above. It only failed cause he didnt change or top-up the fluid


The Nissan GTiR has the same requirement for rotating tyres. The only difference is its STATED in the owners manual to do this so the owners knew.




The viscous couple TXB designed by Steyer-Daimler-Puch was pretty amazing given the restrictions imposed by GM and its floorpan design. Its a FAR more flexible unit than the TXB used in the VAG group allowing the power to be split more effectively.




Dont take this the wrong way Zak cause I know you are pretty knowledgable about Vauxhalls as a general rule of thumb but it is VERY rare to get anyone in Vauxhall that knows about the TXB.

weelllll....the viscous box we made used to leak gearbox oil into the silicon.

Not possible as the only silicon unit within the TXB is the viscous coupling itself which is an entirely sealed unit. PAS fluid used to leak into the TXB fluid tho as the pressure plate seal failed.

As I say, dont take it the wrong way... Its just to highlight what Trig says.

If you DO want to find out everything there is to know about it then have a quick gander here -

Main 4WD info Page

Transfer Box Specific page

[Zak33]

PAS fluid used to leak into the TXB fluid tho as the pressure plate seal failed.

The Power Assisted Steering Fluid you mention I presume is the GEARING LUBE? that lubed this assembly?




cos if so we should point out to people that the fluid is the same as PAS fluid but not actually IN a power steering arrangement in this case.

Is that right?

[slingers]

ok then, so why is it obvious to other manufactures, to put in there handbooks to rotate the wheels etc, and vauxhall finds it acceptable to exclude this info? all i'm saying is that whenever vauxhall venture into somthing more complex than lego, they only attempt things half heartedly, in my opinon?????????? i guess what i'm trying to say is, why does it seam to be vauxhall all the time, is it because they try and cut costs, and ask suppliers to work to a budget, ie vauxhall budget £500 and say nissan £1000, quality of parts etc? might be the same name on the outside but what is on the inside? gotta have some bearing?

[Richie]

The Power Assisted Steering Fluid you mention I presume is the GEARING LUBE? that lubed this assembly?

The gearing lube is a special oil but NOT power steering fluid. I forget the part number but it comes in a 0.6l container (have a look on the EPC catalogue at Vauxhall)


The PAS fluid comes into play to operate the pressure plate assembley. This is what squeeeezes the clutch rings together and engages the drive to the rear wheels and is supplied from the PAS reservior via the accumulator assembley.

Reason for accumulator is to keep a reservior of PAS fluid and apply it at a constant pressure because the PAS pump cannot do this (pressure varies with revs). Constantly changing pressure results in the clutch rings slipping and wearing.....

When this happens, the pressure plate doesnt sit "square" any more and so the seal starts to fail and the PAS fluid leaks thru into the gear section and becomes mixed with the fluid here....

Of course, attached to the top of the box at this section is a little breather pipe which ends up just beside the coolant tank. The PAS pump then helpfully pumps the entire PAS contents from the PAS reservoir out this hose


This is what happens when accumulator fails but the same result can come from tyres fitted out of spec (not rotated)... It just happens in a different manner.



There is a link on that 4WD section which starts to list what goes wrong and how to stop it.... I just never got around to writing it all in

[spazman]

Wernt we discussing something else? lol

[[GSV]Trig]

Yes, people that just post in threads for the sake of posting, oh hang on that was a different thread

[Zak33]

Richie....that is a TOP TOP description.

I learned summit from it, and that is what it's all about.

Cheers fella

Respect.

Still think you're brave having one tho. I had three as company cars, 1 normally aspirated and 2 turbo.

All three locked there back wheels up when going tight right round mini roundabouts, and 2 of them had to have transfer box work under warranty.

None of them had more than 3000 miles on. All got driven gently for 1000 miles and then monster warp speed after that.

In the same way as Slingers, I dont trust all of our products because we've been let down by them so badly in the past.

Find me a 10 Subaru or Mitsu owners who had the kinda of arse ache we got from our cars cos their troubles are few and far between in the first years.