Re: Manual or automatic gearbox

Simon & Obarno ->

I'm 100% convinced, I'm going for an automatic gearbox, and if necessary, I'll fit a cooler. Here in Denmark the weather is usually like norhern UK/ Scotland, so NOT like southern France

Simon, could you perhaps link to the mentioned Mocal cooler?

Tom

The oil cooler I used on my Jimny is

www.thinkauto.com/acatalog/On_line_shop_...ransmissions_29.html

and you need the one with 3/8th inch hoses - this is equivalent to 10mm and works well. To fit you need to cut the supply hose to the radiator, which is the one nearest to the outside of the vehicle, and then extend with the hose and couplers supplied to and from the oil cooler. I mounted the cooler to the radiator sides using some light ali angle and cut cooling holes in it so that the air flow to the rad was as much as possible. It seems to work well for my car.

Good luck!

Thanks Obarno

Perhaps I'll need some more help If and when this will be a problem
But I'm definitely going for automatic.

I've seen a couple of automatic Jimny's around 1700-2000£ with 60-100k miles on the clock. Since this is purely for offroad it need not be too expensive. So is there anything in particular to look after, when buying an automatic Jimny?

Same as any other auto.
If there is evidence of a towbar being fitted, don't buy it.
If the transmission oil is brown and smelly, don't buy it.
If it has oversize wheels & tyres, don't buy it.

Test drive it and make sure all the gears change, and the torque converter locks up correctly (Suzuki call this overdrive)

How to tell if it locks up correctly?

Some years ago I had a Landcruiser HDJ80 4,2 TD with automatic gearbox. The lock-up was like a "fifth" gear. Is it the same with the Jimny?

Yes the jimny has 3 gears. The "overdrive" can be switched off with a button on the shifter: "overdrive off" appears on the dash.

I don't know the speed, but likely around 75km/hr the "overdrive" lockup engages and appears like a 4th gear, rpm drops, and tickling the throttle doesn't bring the usual auto response of the rpm rising slightly without a speed increase.
I imagine pressing overdrive off will make it drop back out with an rpm change.
You can move the shifter back into 2 or L at any speed*, and the gearbox will change down with a bang as soon as the speed drops below the maximum for that gear. selecting 2 or L will keep it from changing up above the selection.

I don't know if 2 will lock it in 2nd and start off in 2nd for "snow mode"

*if the engine overrevs now and breaks, or the gearbox explodes, there was a gearbox fault