borg warner 35 auto help

Hi, I have a 1974 Scimitar with the above auto box. I have quite a fast oil leak from somewhere, which seemed to appear after a kick down. Now I know nothing about auto boxes so it will likely go to a gearbox specialist, but I wondered if there was any helpful advice out there?

The box was reconditioned in April 2002 by the previous owner (I have bills to prove it). Having crawled under the car all I can say is that the leak seems to be coming from the front of the box, leaking out of sight and running down the sump in the middle. Nothing leaks until I start the engine, then it would fill a mug in about 5 minutes or less. Does this sound like a seal or something else?

Has anyone any experience of how much it would cost to get a specialist to remove (if necessary) and repair it? I would hope not as much as a modern auto box where I have heard horror stories running into thousands of pounds. I live in Luton, any recommendations of garages? I reckon I could fill the fluid and drive just a few miles.

Cheers, Carl.

Reply to
cjbeddows
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The 35 is about the simplest auto going.

Sounds like the seal between the pump and torque convertor has failed. This is all too easy to damage when fitting the torque convertor, or removing/refitting the box with the torque convertor still in place.

The big snag is that most specialists will only do a full re-con on a box

- it's not usually cost effective to attempt a repair. For this I'd say you're looking at between 400-800 quid assuming it's an easy box to remove from the car.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Sounds like its from either the front seal or the torque convertor, the former is much more likely -- engine out job as from memory I don't think the Scimtar gearbox can come out without the engine being removed

--but as I haven't seen under a Scimitar for 20 years this is just a guess but some guys in this NG will know the full facts. Which everway when splitting the engine from the box the torque convertor MUST be left with the gearbox -- the engine must not be taken out with it still bolted to the flywheel.

I am surprised it is a BW box -- as by the 70s most Ford were using the Ford C4 slush box. The BW35 was really too small for anything over 2 litres (didn't stop it being fitted to some 4.2 Jags), in 1975/6 BW brought out the type 65 a 3 speed version of the type 45to replace it in over 2 litre applications. For all the BW35 faults it was much tougher than Fords own C4 which is notoriously weak.

I would be very tempted to convert to a manual box ---- 5 speed type

9 from V6 Sierra ? There is a Capri owners web page somewhere with all the facts and part numbers for changing a 4 speed 3 litre capri to 5 speed.
Reply to
awm

The BW35 used is the same unit used in the P6 V8 Rovers, but it is towards the limit of its abilities. The Ford C3 was used from 74/75 onwards.

Try and find the 2.5Consul Gearbox bellhousing! I got the bits once, but never got round to fitting it. Using either the 4-pot of V6 box reuires some work to the gearbox input shaft, although it can be done.

Colin: It may be more cost effective to get a replacement box and do a swap. I know Manual boxes can be changed with engine in situ; I'm pretty sure it's the same for the Autos as my SE5 had a Manual to Auto conversion without the engine coming out...

Phil

1970 Scimitar SE5
Reply to
Phil Howard

OOps...Sorry Carl; should have read your name properly! For Colin, read Carl!

Phil

Reply to
Phil Howard

It was originally designed for up to two litres, but was beefed up for the Rover P6 3500 where space was tight, and it was already fitted to the

2000. They removed the rear pump and increased the gear cluster size.

Don't think it was ever fitted to the 4.2 Jag, early ones of which used a model 8 or 12, but was to the 2.8.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Not much help maybe, but if you're not in a dire hurry I'd have thought you could buy an S/H unit cost-effectively, eg a bloke I bought a Hillman off 'threw one in' for 'luck'. Try a want-ad in Loot maybe?

TT

Reply to
Tony Tynan

But remember that the internals on identical looking units may well be different.

FWIW, if a secondhand one (and therefore fitting it yourself) was an option, then repairing the existing one would be easier - changing the pump seal is a relatively simple job.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Good point, since the examples I've seen all seem to look very alike externally. I guess then that say, fitting a unit from a Morris Oxford into a Triumph 2.5 eg. might give performance problems?

TT

Reply to
Tony Tynan

I'd be more concerned about reliability if you fitted an early 'small' one into something like a Scimitar. The other way round shouldn't matter, although the valving and change speeds etc could well be different.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Thanks for all the responses. As far as I know the engine has to come out before the box, from looking at the owners manual. So a lot of labour involved, therefore potential big cost.

I have a spare auto box and torque converter of unknown condition in my garage. Maybe I could use this as some kind of bargaining tool to lower the cost! I think the box is the one that came out of the car to be replaced by this current reconditioned one. So I assume it is not up to much...

I'll find out more about a manual conversion. I'm a bit of a manual gearbox fan. This is my first auto and although I liked it, I would prefer a manual. So it could come down to cost. Either way I assume it's an engine out job.

Unfortunately I don't have the room in my garage to attempt it myself, even if I was willing to take on what would be, for me anyway, a bigger task than I had worked on before. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty with engine maintenance, but I think this would be out of my league.

Anyway, it looks like I am car-less for a while. So it's full time motorbike, luckily the weather's nice!

Cheers, Carl.

Reply to
cjbeddows

They don't tend to be worth much secondhand since there's no easy way of checking their condition. The main cost of an overhauled one is the new brake bands, clutches, seals and gaskets etc and of course the labour. The majority of the 'mechanical' parts don't usually wear out, unlike a manual box. It's also near impossible to check a torque convertor, and putting an unknown one on a good transmission is a bad idea, as any 'muck' inside it could ruin that transmission. It's common to fit a new torque convertor when overhauling a failed or worn transmission, even if the torque convertor was still ok when it failed because it's not practicable to flush them out, and debris can kill an auto instantly.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

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