15 replies to this topic

[cbowers]

Well Guys... my "ticking" noise turned out for the worse! According to Symbolic of La Jolla, and confirmed by a discussion with Harry Appleby of Viking Motorsports... My Crown and Pinion Gears are broken! Anyone have a good source, or some ideas about rebuilding a tranny? My car has only 17K miles, and hasn't been driven very hard... My quotes are around $4,000 for the rebuild!!! Anyone have a rebuilt transmission they's like to part with, or the gears I need available?

Any help would be much appreciated.

My car is a Graphite 2000 V8 with upgraded tail lights...

Cheers,

Chris Bowers
San Diego

[actwon]

Well Guys... my "ticking" noise turned out for the worse! According to Symbolic of La Jolla, and confirmed by a discussion with Harry Appleby of Viking Motorsports... My Crown and Pinion Gears are broken! Anyone have a good source, or some ideas about rebuilding a tranny? My car has only 17K miles, and hasn't been driven very hard... My quotes are around $4,000 for the rebuild!!! Anyone have a rebuilt transmission they's like to part with, or the gears I need available?

Any help would be much appreciated.

My car is a Graphite 2000 V8 with upgraded tail lights...

Cheers,

Chris Bowers
San Diego

Hey Chris,

I had the same issue earlier this year. I rebuilt mine for a little under 3k. However, that was just parts as I did the labor myself. I can get a new ring and pinion for you. You may end up spending close to the same amount including a LSD. I'm not sure how much Harry will charge you for labor to put everything together. If you want a quote on parts, contact me off list.

[mamovaka]

Just out of curiosity what was the ticking noise specifically? did it sound like it was coming from the engine? How loud was it? did it go away and come back?

[Bernie]

Well Guys... my "ticking" noise turned out for the worse! According to Symbolic of La Jolla, and confirmed by a discussion with Harry Appleby of Viking Motorsports... My Crown and Pinion Gears are broken! Anyone have a good source, or some ideas about rebuilding a tranny? My car has only 17K miles, and hasn't been driven very hard... My quotes are around $4,000 for the rebuild!!! Anyone have a rebuilt transmission they's like to part with, or the gears I need available?

Any help would be much appreciated.

My car is a Graphite 2000 V8 with upgraded tail lights...

Cheers,

Chris Bowers
San Diego

Are you the first owner of the car ??? Broken tranny without hard driving ??? Is it possible a previous owner
did the hard driving ???

[actwon]

Are you the first owner of the car ??? Broken tranny without hard driving ??? Is it possible a previous owner
did the hard driving ???

Most definately!

[cbowers]

Here's the wonderful news I got today:

"We have disassembled the transmission and established the root cause of the
concern. The crown wheel and pinion have indeed disintegrated, the clutch assembly
itself has also pretty much imploded. The quote that we have compiled includes the crown and pinion and also a clutch assy along with all the necessary seals,gaskets and hardware.

The quote including parts,labor and tax is $8,236.67($1,620 labor and $6,015.16
plus tax in parts)."

Anyone want to buy a used 2000 V8 minus transmission/clutch?

I have negotiated the price down a bit from this, but it is still very hard to swallow. And yes, I bought the car used, and the previous owner probably drove the piss out of it!

Anyone have a rebuilt tranny they would like to part with?

[Kimbers]

Very harsh and we are all sorry that some plonker obviously abused the crap outta it.

My recommendation, check out the parts sale list, u might save a couple of thou....

Otherwise, sorry and good luck.

[gmendoza]

Here's the wonderful news I got today:

"We have disassembled the transmission and established the root cause of the
concern. The crown wheel and pinion have indeed disintegrated, the clutch assembly
itself has also pretty much imploded. The quote that we have compiled includes the crown and pinion and also a clutch assy along with all the necessary seals,gaskets and hardware.

The quote including parts,labor and tax is $8,236.67($1,620 labor and $6,015.16
plus tax in parts)."

Anyone want to buy a used 2000 V8 minus transmission/clutch?

I have negotiated the price down a bit from this, but it is still very hard to swallow. And yes, I bought the car used, and the previous owner probably drove the piss out of it!

Anyone have a rebuilt tranny they would like to part with?

Hey Chris is that quote from Viking? Also who's car did you buy? Pics?

[cbowers]

Hey Chris is that quote from Viking? Also who's car did you buy? Pics?

The quote is from Symbolic Motors of La Jolla CA. I purchased the car used from Motorcars of Atlanta. It drove like new when I picked it up, and only developed the problem after about 200 miles of relatively soft driving.

[gmendoza]

That car looks familiar but I don't remember from where.

That type of damage is caused by hard launches or stabbing the throttle while the car is at low speed decelerating.

I still don't see how that damaged the clutch though.

Edited by gmendoza, 23 December 2006 - 05:46 PM.

[mamovaka]

Jesus man I almost bought that car.. I mean literally.. I had a bad feeling talking to the salesman about the car, they didn't seem to know much or anything about the condition of it.. Therefore I passed.. Sorry about this man.. just put it on a credit card or something.. once this problem is resolved the car should be doing just dandy! Still seems a bit expensive though..

Edited by mamovaka, 23 December 2006 - 08:34 PM.

[fmxa]

FWIW Symbolic are always on the high side and personally I wouldn't take my car there - shop around .....

The quote is from Symbolic Motors of La Jolla CA. I purchased the car used from Motorcars of Atlanta. It drove like new when I picked it up, and only developed the problem after about 200 miles of relatively soft driving.

[joeyoesprit]

Here's the wonderful news I got today:

"We have disassembled the transmission and established the root cause of the
concern. The crown wheel and pinion have indeed disintegrated, the clutch assembly
itself has also pretty much imploded. The quote that we have compiled includes the crown and pinion and also a clutch assy along with all the necessary seals,gaskets and hardware.

The quote including parts,labor and tax is $8,236.67($1,620 labor and $6,015.16
plus tax in parts)."

Anyone want to buy a used 2000 V8 minus transmission/clutch?

I have negotiated the price down a bit from this, but it is still very hard to swallow. And yes, I bought the car used, and the previous owner probably drove the piss out of it!

Anyone have a rebuilt tranny they would like to part with?

WOW... sorry to hear this.... have you called Motor Cars of Georgia and ask them whether they knew about this issue with the car BEFORE they sold it to you? After all according to Lotus Cars USA they never had a complaint about service from this dealership. I guess I was the first!!!

I'm not sure what happened but it would not surprise me that the Lotus dealership did not do a through inspection of the car before they sold it to you. I would think a good Lotus dealership/technician would have found this problem.

I'm already complaining about the service I received at Motor Cars of Georgia and have already sent a letter to the UK and Lotus Cars USA. Lotus UK sent me a nice reply and is monitoring my situation. But so far Lotus Cars USA has not replied back to me... and they are only 1 hr away from me and Motor Cars of Georgia.

I would review your documents very closely; if you purchased the car "AS IS" in Georgia then I think you will have to pay to get the car fixed. Sorry... that is Georgia Law. I guess you should have had the car insepcted by a Lotus technician... BUT THAT WAS PROBABLY ONE REASON WHY YOU BOUGHT IT FROM A LOTUS DEALERSHIP!

What really upsets me is that you purchased this car at a Lotus dealership so in my opinion you should not have a major problem with the car especially only after 200 "light driving" miles after your purchase. I would notify Motor Cars of Georgia, Lotus Cars USA and Lotus UK about your situation. I'm not sure it will help but maybe Lotus will keep a closer eye on their dealerships and technicians and things will improve. someday!

If you want the addresses let me know.... I have them all!

JoeyO
2001 V8

PS. I went to Motor Cars of Georgia yesterday to pick up a bottle of tranny fluid (wanted to top off the tranny fluid level) and the "parts kid" had no idea what I was looking for and after 10 minutes he came back with a bottle and asked me if this is what I needed! They also charged me $28 for the 500ml bottle six months ago it was $21!

Also Motor Cars of Georgia quoted me a price of $7000 just to replace the clutch, flywheel and minor transmission seals on my car. Which I believe is too much!

Edited by joeyoesprit, 27 December 2006 - 05:52 PM.

[Bibs]

I believe the factory are rebuilding some gearbox's at present and they will be inspected by Renault and sold 'as new'. That seems very expensive, I'm not sure of the price Lotus will charge but I can't see it being more than that quote you've got which seems enormous!

[glynherron]

I believe the factory are rebuilding some gearbox's at present and they will be inspected by Renault and sold 'as new'. That seems very expensive, I'm not sure of the price Lotus will charge but I can't see it being more than that quote you've got which seems enormous!

Hi Bibs,

Do you know how are these g/boxes being made available?

I may need one !!!

Glyn

[Bibs]

I can see that there are these items in the January sale!

Gearbox (UNI028) - GT3 - Was £6,526.28, now £1,650.00

Crown & Pinion - GT3 - Was £1,481.42, now £450.00

Any good?