Everyone has heard that the repair of automatic transmission is expensive, and there are a lot of questions to its reliability. Mechanical boxes are considered almost as a standard of reliability. Meanwhile, there are some manual transmission, which also need to be treated with caution.
When we talk about some new (or not so new) car, the gearbox is often left on the sidelines. If you do not take into account the distinguished transmission, which will be discussed below, very often automatic transmission is mentioned. In the best case we can specify whether it’s a Fluid, robot or a variator.
Periodically even chronic fears emerge, and sometimes happens real “tragedy” and some detectives, as, for example, the story of the DSG-7 and extended warranty VAG or mysterious in high quality boxes in the Nissan X-trail and the Mitsubishi Outlander.
What surprises may waylay a buyer of the car, and whether only automatic transmission may disappoint you? Are modern engines as reliable as used to be?
Hyundai M56CF
Boxes of structurally similar family M5AF3 are familiar to masters even for second-generation Hyundai Accent 200, and Hyundai Getz, where they worked in tandem with the 1.5-liter 90-horsepower engine and didn’t shine with special reliability. Case of failure of the bearing and the shaft occur very often.
Upgraded version was put on a 100-horsepower Hyundai i20, but when it came to the installation on the Kia Ceed / Hyundai i30 / Solaris, and other cars were equipped with new engines 1.6 Gamma II with power more than 122 forces, then they faced with really serious problems. Mechanics can not handle the big moment and the increased weight of the vehicle. There are cases of replacement of boxes under warranty, but if the car is older than five years – it may have come at the expense of the owner.
Volkswagen 02T
Just note that the cases of breakdown of this transmission is considerably smaller than the boxes of Hyundai, but there is a definite trend. The unit first appeared in 1999 in Audi A2 with engine capacity of 1.4 liters and 75 horsepower as a new generation of manual transmission. It is very light, with a magnesium body and lightweight shafts.
Now it can be found on the Volkswagen Polo sedan and Skoda Fabia, and together with the 105-horsepower 1.6-liter engine, they almost can claim to be the “perfect couple”. It would seem that the box is designed for significantly more power and torque, but with the active movement is still out of order and very often it happens in the end of the warranty period. It can be a very “pleasant” surprise for the buyer on the secondary market, how do you think?
Mostly modern gasoline engines are with supercharging. What should you expect?
How does it break down?
It is useful to explain how and due to which there is a critical bearing wear in the box. For a start it must be said that in this transmission are used bearings – cage with balls or rollers. They roll within the ring and thus reduce the friction coefficient. In order that the friction is minimized, balls or rollers must be positioned exactly.
Meanwhile, on the “weak” boxes because of the torque excess the body starts slightly to “breathe” or shafts flex.
Hundredth of a millimeter bending is enough to skew rollers in the bearing, and it begins to work with increased friction and gradually disintegrates. Wear products fall into the crankcase of the box, accelerating the wear of the entire assembly.
What is the result?
We will not argue with the fact that the mechanical boxes are generally a little easier, and thus more reliable than automatic ones.
Those gearbox, which we mentioned in this review, break down more often. Nevertheless we don’t say that they are really problematic. When buying a car with a box that has a “bad reputation”, pay attention to hum under load while driving – acceleration and engine braking.
If you have some doubts, you should check the oil level, check the box on the lift on the subject of noise or the metal particles in the oil. If the damage is severe, the recovery value will be no less than that of the automatic transmission, and perhaps it will be easier to buy a new one.
