After telling everyone how reliable the old Paj is, the Auto is now playing up, slipping badly in second. First is OK, and 3rd plus OD appears fine. Problem worsens when cornering and of course up hill, so low fluid was supected. But the fluid level is fine. Fluid is discoloured but not badly and does not smell burnt.
Talked to an AT Shop and nearly died when he told me the cost of a re-build - 4-5000 dollars, or half the value of the car. I'm rapidly going off Mitsu's and thinking about A Almighty Mean Intensive fire sale.
Question: is it worth dropping the pan, cleaning the filter screen and re-filling with new ATF? Have seen other posts that suggest this may work
PS has anyone used one of those replacement imported "low KLM" autos? I have sourced one in Qld for $660 plus 6 months guarantee - which seems very cheap? A local Tas wrecker wants $1500 by comparison.
Any advice would be appreciated.
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NJ Auto Slipping
Moderator: -Scott-
NJ Auto Slipping
Nice gq swb ute chop with a huffer for the good times
...well the silence can mean only one thing, no body has had any problems with Paj autos, and this seems to be true from what I've been told. Anyhow, box and TC nearly out now so it will be interesting to see what's amiss. Easier to remove than I thought, but nowhere near as easy as the disco was to drop and refit - Paj is far more constrained with bit a pieces jammed in everywhere.
In case anyone is in the same basket one day, the NJ auto unit (V4AW2) is interchangeable with earlier models eg., 03-72L and with later ones (eg, V4AW3), up to NL - which uses a completely different unit. Getting one in good nick has proven very difficult and prices range from 660 to 1700, and most seem to be in sunny QLD. God they must have been popular up there.
Going to strip the box myself and see what's going on. Could be interesting! Hopefully it's just a clutch pack or something obvious, and cheap.
In case anyone is in the same basket one day, the NJ auto unit (V4AW2) is interchangeable with earlier models eg., 03-72L and with later ones (eg, V4AW3), up to NL - which uses a completely different unit. Getting one in good nick has proven very difficult and prices range from 660 to 1700, and most seem to be in sunny QLD. God they must have been popular up there.
Going to strip the box myself and see what's going on. Could be interesting! Hopefully it's just a clutch pack or something obvious, and cheap.
Nice gq swb ute chop with a huffer for the good times
Update
pulled out the tranny and started to dismantle, but got cold feet and took it to a tranny shop. They advised that the tranny was worn but easily fixable. Diagnosis - lack of servicing, use of older style oil (Dexron II) and some 'abuse' - eg., a bit of off road work and towing (more likely the latter cause we tow over 2 tonnes of super back and forth. They don't like it up them apparantly, they get hot and this cooks the oil turining it to varnish which blocks the filter (a crude unit on these trannies so they said), which starves the guts of oil, burn the clutch packs, wears the shims/seals etc etc.
Interestingly we took a 5 year warranty and pre-paid servicing when the veicle was bought. WARNING, on pre-paid service/warranty deals people like Motors in Hobart don't even look at the tranny during the warranty/service period - unlike the Mitsu dealer who follow the book - and charge accordingly. They only do the motor, to save costs and so for 5 years, the tranny was never serviced, and the same for another 2 or so afterwards cause I forgot. Amazing that it survived so long really.
QUOTE to fix: $1900 with full gasket set, o rings, new clutch packs, and a new torque converter (cause they have a lock-up clutch which wears out) and many other bits I can't remember. Of course this does not include re-install in the vehicle which I'll do. I could have been a lot worse cause if any of the hard parts (shafts etc) were rooted, the cost would have skyrocketed. No parts come from Mitsu though cause they cost more than the whole car.
Decision: proceed with a re-build as the second-hand units ranged from $1000 to $1900 delivered, some came with a 3 month warranty and one with a 6 month warranty, but all of unknown second-hand quality, and dodgy advice on whether it would fit or not. Had a guy in Brissie lined up with a guaranteed 75K unit from a relative's NJ that had been rolled but he wanted $1500 before freight. He was a mechanic and knew the value and would not drop his price! Hope he never sells it, the tight arse!
LESSON: get your tranny serviced regularly especially if you take the vehicle off-road cause this will increase heat especially in Paj's and this could cause premature wear. How many of you have seen the GB temp warning light come on when off road?
Also might be a good idea to replace the oil with synthetic tranny oil which can take more heat, and do the filter at the same time cause it is primative in design.
pulled out the tranny and started to dismantle, but got cold feet and took it to a tranny shop. They advised that the tranny was worn but easily fixable. Diagnosis - lack of servicing, use of older style oil (Dexron II) and some 'abuse' - eg., a bit of off road work and towing (more likely the latter cause we tow over 2 tonnes of super back and forth. They don't like it up them apparantly, they get hot and this cooks the oil turining it to varnish which blocks the filter (a crude unit on these trannies so they said), which starves the guts of oil, burn the clutch packs, wears the shims/seals etc etc.
Interestingly we took a 5 year warranty and pre-paid servicing when the veicle was bought. WARNING, on pre-paid service/warranty deals people like Motors in Hobart don't even look at the tranny during the warranty/service period - unlike the Mitsu dealer who follow the book - and charge accordingly. They only do the motor, to save costs and so for 5 years, the tranny was never serviced, and the same for another 2 or so afterwards cause I forgot. Amazing that it survived so long really.
QUOTE to fix: $1900 with full gasket set, o rings, new clutch packs, and a new torque converter (cause they have a lock-up clutch which wears out) and many other bits I can't remember. Of course this does not include re-install in the vehicle which I'll do. I could have been a lot worse cause if any of the hard parts (shafts etc) were rooted, the cost would have skyrocketed. No parts come from Mitsu though cause they cost more than the whole car.
Decision: proceed with a re-build as the second-hand units ranged from $1000 to $1900 delivered, some came with a 3 month warranty and one with a 6 month warranty, but all of unknown second-hand quality, and dodgy advice on whether it would fit or not. Had a guy in Brissie lined up with a guaranteed 75K unit from a relative's NJ that had been rolled but he wanted $1500 before freight. He was a mechanic and knew the value and would not drop his price! Hope he never sells it, the tight arse!
LESSON: get your tranny serviced regularly especially if you take the vehicle off-road cause this will increase heat especially in Paj's and this could cause premature wear. How many of you have seen the GB temp warning light come on when off road?
Also might be a good idea to replace the oil with synthetic tranny oil which can take more heat, and do the filter at the same time cause it is primative in design.
Nice gq swb ute chop with a huffer for the good times
Got the tranny back yesterday, repeir delayed cause a vital part was damaged by Aus Post in transit. No, surely not, Aus Post wrecking something, never...
Anyhow, put the box and TC back together and installed in vehicle. 5 Hours later went to start it and no go.
Hum, what now. Rechecked everything, still no start.
Notice the gear indicator was reading L all the time. Ah ha, problem with the inhibitor switch. Sure enough, tapped it and the indicator light flickered.
Going back to the tranny shop cause they must have screwed it when cleaning/assembling the box. See how I go! bet they deny all knowledge...
PS new one cost over 200 bucks
Anyhow, put the box and TC back together and installed in vehicle. 5 Hours later went to start it and no go.
Hum, what now. Rechecked everything, still no start.
Notice the gear indicator was reading L all the time. Ah ha, problem with the inhibitor switch. Sure enough, tapped it and the indicator light flickered.
Going back to the tranny shop cause they must have screwed it when cleaning/assembling the box. See how I go! bet they deny all knowledge...
PS new one cost over 200 bucks
Nice gq swb ute chop with a huffer for the good times
Great read Reddo, after all the issues and hard work, you should install an aftermarket trans cooler, you could even go to the extent of adding a 12volt fan to keep it real cool off-road and towing. Parents got one on theirs for towing a boat and noticed a huge different straight of the bat, going up the hills no more atf light! 
I LIKE IT, I LIKE IT ALOT!!!!!!!!!
Yeah tranny cooler is definetelly needed on these vehicles, even in Tas where it is currently snowing like mad!
Tranny shop has agreed to look at the issue on Monday. So we'll see how we go. Also noticed a slight tranny shudder on hill starts. Hopefully they can fix that too.
ATM I'm thinking of either getting rid of the Paj or re-building into an off-road weapon. It does not owe us anything after 8 years of faithful service- or non-service as the case may be. What better way to rewards its loyalty other than by hacking it to pieces! SAS, 35's V8 maybe...
Tranny shop has agreed to look at the issue on Monday. So we'll see how we go. Also noticed a slight tranny shudder on hill starts. Hopefully they can fix that too.
ATM I'm thinking of either getting rid of the Paj or re-building into an off-road weapon. It does not owe us anything after 8 years of faithful service- or non-service as the case may be. What better way to rewards its loyalty other than by hacking it to pieces! SAS, 35's V8 maybe...
Nice gq swb ute chop with a huffer for the good times
...well as precited we have a fight on. The Tranny shop is denying any blame and want 200 bucks to replace the inhibitor switch with a second hand one cause the original part cost over 500 bucks and has to come from Japan.
The switch was fine when the box went to them but is now broken inside. My view is that I had nothing to do with this switch, never touched it either when taking the box out or putting it back in. I think they should pay for it cause they took it off and on during the rebuild and clearly must have f'd it.
They say it's my problem, that there is no way they could have broken it during the re-build - never happened before etc etc etc.
So far 2 grand spent, car 2 weeks out of service and it's still not running, they have the car and now we have a stalemate......
Somehow I just knew this was going to turn ugly.
The switch was fine when the box went to them but is now broken inside. My view is that I had nothing to do with this switch, never touched it either when taking the box out or putting it back in. I think they should pay for it cause they took it off and on during the rebuild and clearly must have f'd it.
They say it's my problem, that there is no way they could have broken it during the re-build - never happened before etc etc etc.
So far 2 grand spent, car 2 weeks out of service and it's still not running, they have the car and now we have a stalemate......
Somehow I just knew this was going to turn ugly.
Nice gq swb ute chop with a huffer for the good times
....well Automotive Automatic have denied any responsibility for the damage to the inhibitor switch which is bolted to the side of the gearbox. The proprietor's charming wife rang me and basically told me to get stuffed saying I should have checked the device before and after dropping the box off.
Everytime I tried to explain my side of the story ie, that it worked before but not now, I never touched it, and they quoted me to do a "complete overhaul" (says so on the invoice) she talked loudly over me, saying the device was 'external' and they had merely removed and refitted it.
She even accused me at one stage of never having run a business - not sure what that line had to do with anything and....worse still...she hung up on me as I tried to negotiate!!!!
Talk about bad customer relations.
...where to next...well it's not worth the trouble of small claims or lawyers, so I will put a sign on the car telling people that the car don't work properly cause Automotive Automatics in Harrington Street Hobart Tasmania don't do the right thing by their customers, well not by this customer anyway...and all this for 200 bucks or so!!
Simply amazing...........
Everytime I tried to explain my side of the story ie, that it worked before but not now, I never touched it, and they quoted me to do a "complete overhaul" (says so on the invoice) she talked loudly over me, saying the device was 'external' and they had merely removed and refitted it.
She even accused me at one stage of never having run a business - not sure what that line had to do with anything and....worse still...she hung up on me as I tried to negotiate!!!!
Talk about bad customer relations.
...where to next...well it's not worth the trouble of small claims or lawyers, so I will put a sign on the car telling people that the car don't work properly cause Automotive Automatics in Harrington Street Hobart Tasmania don't do the right thing by their customers, well not by this customer anyway...and all this for 200 bucks or so!!
Simply amazing...........
Nice gq swb ute chop with a huffer for the good times
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