Vectra gearbox - hole in housing

Was turning right, heard loud bang.
Thought it was a tyre so I stopped but all seemed fine.

Drove home, had a look under the bonnet, saw a large-ish hole in the
gearbox housing just above the diff. Found a bit of gearbox housing on
the steering gaiters.

Lots of red oil everywhere.

Seems this is a common problem on Vectras. I have 103K miles on the
clock.
Car is a 1.8 1998 petrol.

Guess I'll be looking for a new or recon gearbox real soon, probably a
new clutch as well.
Anything else I should do while I'm at it.

Anybody know what could have caused this?
Was it just age/miles , or stress, or are Vectra gearboxes prone to
this failure mode?

Just what exactly happened to make the housing crack like that?

Car seems to drive fine, but guess it won't last long with no gear oil.

Gerryo

 

On a 1998 Vectra? Yeah, scrap it, surely, with that much damage.

 

why?
if it is reliable and you can get a good cheap box s/h and you can do the
work your self or even get someone to fit it whilst changing the clutch,
then get it repaired, better the devil you know than one you dont.

 

It's got a new-ish cat + lambda, new crank + cam sensors.

Timing belt + water pump changed 25K miles back.

Was going fine until this happened, was planning to keep it at least
until 2008.
If a recon gearbox + clutch is not more than £400 it might be worth
doing.

However, it's been one thing after another , have spent approx. £1100
in the past 4 years, don't want to throw more at it unless that's all
it takes
to put it right for a couple of years.

Gerryo

 

Because no-one has the right jig at home to do a Vectra box and clutch
swap. Even if a new 'box could be sourced for next to nothing, the
labour bill to fix it is going to be 'lots'.

Bodge with plastic metal filler, re-fill with oil and test drive. If it
holds together for long enough, trade it for something else ;-)

 

Well, I might consider this, but not to trade.

If the 'box is not damaged & it was possible to patch the hole with JB
weld & a
piece of aluminium, would it hold together for longer than a few
weeks/months/years?

Guess it depends on the real reason the 'box blew up, did the casing
just fracture or did one of the gears split.

I doubt a patch would withstand the torsion from the shafts.

 

I'd *only* part out something bodged like that to the trade. There's no
way I'd stitch up a private buyer.

 

What I meant was, I'd consider repairing it this way, then drive it
until it was time to be scrapped or sold for parts, not to be sold as
"roadworthy" to any buyer, trade or private.

Did some searching on Google, JB weld seems to be highly recommended
for this kind of repair, but it does seem a bit of a bodge, especially
if the real reason for the casing failure is not eliminated or there is
damage to gears.

Basically, I'd like to get back on the road until I find a permanent
fix, either a 'box swap or new car.

 

And what would the trade then do with it?

 

yes the labour would be a lot,
unless he gets the clutch done at the same time, just tell them when he gets
there that he would like them to replace the box with the other one when
they reasemble it.
it should cost no extra that way as they have to refit the box anyway.(
cheap replacement labour costs)

 

Exactly. up to the auction with it for Joe Punter to buy.

 

I really can't imagine a hole appearing in a casing without some
catastrophic internal failure. Do all the gears still work?

 

Dave Plowman (News) () gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying :

*ding*

Something caused that hole to appear. Castings don't just suddenly explode.

A friend had a car that ate a few gearboxes in short order - always the
same bit of the casing that cracked. Turned out that the front subframe was
bent.

 

It will be scrapped!
Spare parts, etc.

Having said that, I scrapped an old Cavalier back in the early 1990's
(actually drove it to the scrappy) & saw it in the rear view mirror a
few weeks later.

I scrapped it 'cos the engine had siezed & I just got it going again
for a week or so until I got the replacement sorted. I really hope the
new buyer did not pay too much, because from the sound of it, it was on
borrowed time.

 

<snip>

They would be unlikely to even look at it and auction it.

 

Yes!
Surprisingly they are all OK.

I'm now thinking there was some sort of torsional stress applied to the
'box & it cracked. If some bushing/bearing wore out, might be enough
play introduced to stress the casing, especially during turns.

 

you said above the dif,
My guess is a retaining pin/circlip/wotever on one of the dif cogs is loose
and its rod has bashed the hole. Had it happen on octavia 1600.

n.

 

What on earth have Vauxhall done to make a mere clutch swap impractical?

 

Something to do with front subframes and re-aligning them after
splitting the box and lump.

 

Have they? You sure you're not getting confused with Fords where the
'tool' is only £20 anyway?

John