Hi all
As very happy owner of a 12 year old 2.5TD, I have to say that after reading through the forum regarding all the troubles mentioned on all models, I can`t help thinking that the 96-2000 models are the best of the lot! Gearboxes may well be iffy but that said, mine has done 135 000 before the need of surgery! I`ve just bought a brand new engine for it after getting some silly quotes for the repair of the blown head gasket. (No point having one head gasket changed at £750 only to have another go. By the time the third one has gone that`s the cost of the new engine!) So,before installing the new lump, I had the gearbox inspected. A very nice man called Dave at Gravesend Transmissions opened it up and sure enough ,the syncro rings had had it. that woud explain stiff action when cold and double de cluch when coming down through the gears. New syncros and ,whilst he was at it new bearings, I should now be in a state of silky gearchange heaven that my grand children will shed a tear at the retelling! ). I mentioned the chrysler forum to him and the suggested oil that everybody on here seems to recomend and he advised two possible alternatives. ATF Dextron or TRX. The latter being used by and manufactured by Renault and the former which is used in BMW M series and Porche. Both of which are reasonably cheap. Another thing which nobody seems to have mentioned on the forum is the use of additives of the after market variety rather than those already present in atf and gear oils. During my biking days there used to be some stuff called superlube ( Anybody heard of that?) . Now , this stuff was used in helicopter gearboxes during the Vietnam war, the main pupose being that bullet holes in the gearbox casing would mean getting up close and personal with Charlie , so even with an empty gearbox , they could remain airbourne for half an hour before ditching. I used this stuff in a yamaha FJ1200 and had to turn the idle speed down a touch because of the reduced friction and it doubled the life of the oil. ( still clear through the site glass many thousands of miles later). Motorycycles share the engine oil with the gearbox and the clutch and there was no clutch slip either! I don`t know why that woud be as oil on a clutch is not good! anybody have any thoughts on additives?

 

Out of interest, how much did the work on the transmission and the new engine cost?

 

Hi booke
A brand new engine in it`s crate plus water pump & all gaskets £2600 Inc Vat & delivery ( long block Engine , everything except injectors , injector pump and ancillaries). The gearbox £822 Inc vat because it was caught in time. If the gearbox is lunched then it could be over £1000. Well worth the money to keep an otherwise excellent , reliable car on the road.