T5 gearbox oil seal woes.
Discussion
I drove my '97 Chimaera to Italy last month & had the car serviced beforehand. At 60k the clutch was condemned, although still working fine. A complete new clutch was fitted & the T5 input & output oil seals replaced. The rear seal had slight weeping but nothing serious. 1200 miles later & just outside Milan doing 130kph on the A4, the rear seal 'popped' out ( as I later discovered, but only suspected at the time) distributing ATF all over the exhaust & road. Fortunately the cloud of smoke that entailed alerted me to the problem & I hit a layby on the hard shoulder almost immediately. As luck would have it the only TVR repairer within a 1000 miles, UK Racing of Milan were only 80kph away & we travelled home by air whilst they diagnosed the problem & awaited a new seal from Racing Green.
Not having a TVR dealership any more means I have had to resort to using my local garage who look after a number of TVRs & specialises in prepping race & rally engines.They fitted the rear seal with a smear of oil & drifted it in as normal, which is why it popped out. John Reid at Grantura says this is not unheard of & he ALWAYS fits the rear seal with Loctite which acts both as a lubricant for drifting it in, but also sets anaerobically to bond the seal in.
Has anyone else been caught out like this? Note that the downloadable Tremec manual only mentions the seal in passing & gives no fitting instructions.
The original servicing/clutch costs totalled over £1k, I spent over £1k on hotels & food etc whilst awaiting diagnosis. The RAC will pay for our flights home & one flight back to collect the car, otherwise that would have been another £400. The repair will cost €500. RAC also covered other transport costs for recovery & delivery to Milan.
The chances of recovering anything from my garage are almost certainly nil but I would be interested to hear of any expert views as to liability, or if I was just plain unlucky!
Not having a TVR dealership any more means I have had to resort to using my local garage who look after a number of TVRs & specialises in prepping race & rally engines.They fitted the rear seal with a smear of oil & drifted it in as normal, which is why it popped out. John Reid at Grantura says this is not unheard of & he ALWAYS fits the rear seal with Loctite which acts both as a lubricant for drifting it in, but also sets anaerobically to bond the seal in.
Has anyone else been caught out like this? Note that the downloadable Tremec manual only mentions the seal in passing & gives no fitting instructions.
The original servicing/clutch costs totalled over £1k, I spent over £1k on hotels & food etc whilst awaiting diagnosis. The RAC will pay for our flights home & one flight back to collect the car, otherwise that would have been another £400. The repair will cost €500. RAC also covered other transport costs for recovery & delivery to Milan.
The chances of recovering anything from my garage are almost certainly nil but I would be interested to hear of any expert views as to liability, or if I was just plain unlucky!
maintel said:
I drove my '97 Chimaera to Italy last month & had the car serviced beforehand. At 60k the clutch was condemned, although still working fine. A complete new clutch was fitted & the T5 input & output oil seals replaced. The rear seal had slight weeping but nothing serious. 1200 miles later & just outside Milan doing 130kph on the A4, the rear seal 'popped' out ( as I later discovered, but only suspected at the time) distributing ATF all over the exhaust & road. Fortunately the cloud of smoke that entailed alerted me to the problem & I hit a layby on the hard shoulder almost immediately. As luck would have it the only TVR repairer within a 1000 miles, UK Racing of Milan were only 80kph away & we travelled home by air whilst they diagnosed the problem & awaited a new seal from Racing Green.
Not having a TVR dealership any more means I have had to resort to using my local garage who look after a number of TVRs & specialises in prepping race & rally engines.They fitted the rear seal with a smear of oil & drifted it in as normal, which is why it popped out. John Reid at Grantura says this is not unheard of & he ALWAYS fits the rear seal with Loctite which acts both as a lubricant for drifting it in, but also sets anaerobically to bond the seal in.
Has anyone else been caught out like this? Note that the downloadable Tremec manual only mentions the seal in passing & gives no fitting instructions.
The original servicing/clutch costs totalled over £1k, I spent over £1k on hotels & food etc whilst awaiting diagnosis. The RAC will pay for our flights home & one flight back to collect the car, otherwise that would have been another £400. The repair will cost €500. RAC also covered other transport costs for recovery & delivery to Milan.
The chances of recovering anything from my garage are almost certainly nil but I would be interested to hear of any expert views as to liability, or if I was just plain unlucky!
When you play around with T5 Boxed racing cars you do get very adept at putting the seal back. Often happens after spirited driving and as advised by one of the best T5 box builders around... A smear of loctite around the seal before tapping it into a clean tailshaft housing usually stops it happening.Not having a TVR dealership any more means I have had to resort to using my local garage who look after a number of TVRs & specialises in prepping race & rally engines.They fitted the rear seal with a smear of oil & drifted it in as normal, which is why it popped out. John Reid at Grantura says this is not unheard of & he ALWAYS fits the rear seal with Loctite which acts both as a lubricant for drifting it in, but also sets anaerobically to bond the seal in.
Has anyone else been caught out like this? Note that the downloadable Tremec manual only mentions the seal in passing & gives no fitting instructions.
The original servicing/clutch costs totalled over £1k, I spent over £1k on hotels & food etc whilst awaiting diagnosis. The RAC will pay for our flights home & one flight back to collect the car, otherwise that would have been another £400. The repair will cost €500. RAC also covered other transport costs for recovery & delivery to Milan.
The chances of recovering anything from my garage are almost certainly nil but I would be interested to hear of any expert views as to liability, or if I was just plain unlucky!
I don't think you can hold your usual garage responsible since they fitted the rear seal in the way you would fit 95% of all gearbox rear seals.
What it shows is the benefit of using a specialist who knows your car and its quirks!!
N.
Edited by heightswitch on Tuesday 12th July 18:46
Oft repeated, never untrue but hindsight is a truly wondrous thing. And a lesson learned - yet again. Upon return it' s going to Grantura & in fairness to me, it only went in for a service & when a garage says they can do the work & it's a bog standard T5, you kindqa assume they can, given their pedigree with Cossies etc.
It's only after that they admit they've only ever done a couple & had to break 5th gear to strip them (not true, jsu needs experience & a special tool apparently).
Anyway, I put this on the forum to warn other T5 owners, regardless of marque.
Thanks for your opinion, gratefully received & a few more would be welcome, be they Yays or Nays
Come on peeps, your posts please.
It's only after that they admit they've only ever done a couple & had to break 5th gear to strip them (not true, jsu needs experience & a special tool apparently).
Anyway, I put this on the forum to warn other T5 owners, regardless of marque.
Thanks for your opinion, gratefully received & a few more would be welcome, be they Yays or Nays
Come on peeps, your posts please.
Gassing Station | General TVR Stuff & Gossip | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff