Well Hello There Fellow Hivers And Technicians
It has been too long since I made a post in the #hivemotors community! Simply far too long!
In my defence I only started with work on Monday and well it has been a confusing week so far, like one of those dreams where you run but you're not really running as if something pulls you back?
Well the longest stretch of the week is over and the weekends are catching up, now I can not wait for that.
Anyway.
I've seen a few weird things, you know silly shit people do to their cars and then end up not fixing shit.
This is one of those moments that I will forever remember and cherish.
The Problematic Problem
So, where do I start, we booked in this BMW 318 ti, I think it's a 2002 model. Well it's a total wreck, and I mean a wreck! Immensely worn interior of the vehicle, most of the electric buttons isn't working and well, the motor theirs that, the motor is dying. The transmission though, it's supposed to be dead but somehow it's still alive and kicking,
What I mean by this it's still functioning, maybe not as it is intended to but you can still drive it from one point till the next. But it was bad!
The Plan
So the owner of the vehicle asked us to check what might be wrong, this wasn't suppose to be a big spend job by the looks of it, who would have thought. The whole vehicle is a mess.
However, the first thing we tend to do is let the vehicle idle and check how the fluids levels look on the vehicle. It depends from vehicle to vehicle though but if a vehicle came in driving we just tend to pull it up.
This vehicle is not supposed to be moving at all, okay it's not as if it didn't have any oil in it, I'd say around two liter in a transmission that takes 8 liters, it was starving and transmissions that starve tend to burnout as well!
Sorry for the blurry photo.
We then informed the client that a major repair would be needed eventually, replacing just the oil and filter would help but only for a time, and it's not a means to an end. But it was insisted on only a oil change and filter so here we go.
Okay a few might say "But look how clean the inside of the transmission is" well yes that's true, and all thanks to the formulas added to ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid) that prevents the grimey stuff in side the transmission to stick to any metal related parts.
I didn't get a nice photo of the oil but if you look closely, the dirty ox blood coloured drops, it's supposed to be a see through cherry red. This was very dirty oil!
Now the great thing about these transmissions is that they most tend to have a re-usable sump oil pan gasket, but the problem with this job is that. "How many times has this specific one been re-used!"
That's the question to ask!
I mean it has so much old mud and grime on it, these will have to be washed before we can refit them!
Well, the magnets do work properly, add a magnet to the sump pan and it will pull out all of the metal shavings that might end up in the oil.
This one in particular had so much, I should have stuck my finger in it to give a picture of how it might have looked.
Seeing that the magnet has way too many metal shavings in it, this filter will be going to the bin for recycling!
Get outta here!!
After cleaning most of the parts, ordering and fitting a new filter along with the liquid gold that this transmission needs!
The refitting went surprisingly quick, but the truth be told, this vehicle was a wreck, we had to fill up the motor oil levels as well, you know what this means?
Well when both the motor and the transmission needs to be topped up, you know there are oil leaks in bound! Some worse than others!
As sure as the sunrise this morning!
Okay let me explain what you're looking at.
Automatic transmissions use a lot of oil and well it has more parts moving at the same time than manual gearboxes and well friction creates heat and a lot of it. This heat needs to be cooled.
What better way than both water cooled and air cooled at the same time? This means the transmission has oil piping connected with the radiator of the vehicle and flows through the lower channels, also separated from the motor oil of course.
These oil pipes tend to be part metal and part rubber, some times they are full out metal piping. Now these pipes aren't suppose to be pressing against each other or against any thing for that matter, and well friction forces the metal away causing the piping to become thinner at one spot and eventually it will grind through slowly over time, this vehicle has been doing this for very very long!
All in all the oil and filter replacement was all for nothing, the client has a serious problem here. So now we need to remove the piping and fix the problems, replace it and wait for the next oil leak.
This vehicle is going to keep me very busy indeed! Stay tuned folks, there's a big chance of me sharing more on this vehicle!
Connecting the people of #HIVE across South Africa. #hive