Vectra gearbox - hole in housing

As I understand it, a Vectra clutch is a *huge* job to do - even worse
than a Mongdildo.

 

Interesting theory, the bit of housing that broke free & remained with
the car does not appear to have any marks, other than those normally
found on a rough casting.

If I peer inside (would love to put a pinhole camera in there), all
appears OK, but I can't really tell without removing the diff & thats
so much trouble that I might as well get the clutch done + put a recon
'box back in.

Took a look over on the cavweb forums, this seems to be a familiar
story.
Not many have good words to say about the F18 'box.

 

You've got a nerve ! (an ex-75 owner writes)

 

Piece of piss on a 75 in comparison.

I've had the clutch done on mine - cost me just over 200 quid all-in.

 

Mine did exactly the same, still drove fine but with a hole in the back of
the gearbox and pissing out oil. Got a gearbox from a breakers, £100, got a
local clutch /gearbox garage to fit it £200, been fine ever since. If fault
puches through the casing, I'd have thought it would punch through anything
else.

 

In hindsight, I had the warnings, used to hear a noise, sort of a
rubbing or whirring, lasting a
minute or so, sound got faster as speed increased from a standstill,
usually when the car
was hot e.g, hot day, traffic crawling, engine fan on/off every few
minutes.

Could never locate it, did not appear all the time (sometime months
between episodes) &
when it did, it just was not possible to stop & investigate.

Trying to get a replacement box atm; when repaired, I'll know the next
time it
happens it's time to change the box

 

Back on the road with a used box & £360 poorer. Got a local to source
the box + do the awkward stuff.

Would advise vectra owners to consider a gearbox oil change after
40~50K miles, even if the book says it's not required. Mega pain in the
wallet if the box blows & old ones seem to do this if neglected. Maybe
better on newer models, I dunno, all those gears grinding up the oil, &
they say it does not need servicing.

Sure smells bad after 100K miles, especially when it sprays out all
over the engine bay, will need a degrease to remove the fishy smell.

 

Doesn't mean it was easy though, does it?

I had the clutch replaced on my Purrgo 306, cost me just less than £150
all in.