1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
 | [Main 9000 Bulletin Board | BBFAQ |
Prev by Date | Next by Date | Post Followup ]
Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
Yes and no Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Thu, 11 Aug 2005 05:58:49
In Reply to: Durability of automatic transmissions on 9000s, Henry from Wisconsin, Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:10:33 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Yes, the autobox on the 9000 is not the strongest part. In general, I like to assume only about 100K miles on an autobox. That's what I assume when I buy a car and budget money for repairs. So that's a statistical thing.
Individual cars, are, well, individual. The ZF box is a cranky beast, and a lot of good mechanics won't work on them. (Bad mechanics will work on anything, and it shows. ) I've seen rebuilts not work very well, even with good rebuilders.
I have a theory about the ZF - the tolerances weren't worked out quite right in the design. Some boxes come out of the factory as 'golden' - they'll last forever. Some will die within 40K miles. In the fat middle of the bell-shaped curve are the ones that make it about 100K.
If your tranny is at 185K and shifts smoothly, I'd assume you've got a good transmission. Is it on borrowed time? Why yes, all cars are. And at 185K, there are a few things that could break. Heck, you may only get another 50K or so - well over 200K.
The three problems I've seen or heard of are hard shifting, wrong shift points, and sudden, awful death (loss of all forward gears). Hard shifting is quite often due to a broken spring in the valve body, which is very easily done. The valve body is bolted to the top of the tranny, just under the battery, and can be removed in about 15 minutes. Wrong shift points are usually govenor seals, which can be replaced by someone of decent skills with the tranny in the car. Sudden death is usually preceeded by hard shifting and/or wrong shift points - namely, folks ignore small problems until they get big. Although occasionally the tranny can just break, as any part on any car can just break.
The sudden death usually means a complete rebuild is necessary, as the internal splines strip out, scattering metal everywhere. I don't consider this a DIY repair, not unless you've done a bunch of autoboxes before. Leave this one to the pros.
If you change the fluid and filter (or just clean the filter) regularly (15-20K miles), and fix hard shifting problems before they damage other parts, you should be doing fine. Worry about the fuel pump, ignition amplifier, global warming.
posted by 192.249....
, Thu, 11 Aug 2005 05:58:49 <-- Viewing This Message
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
