Automatic Gear Box Problem

Hey guys,

I have a 2008 year model Jimny, 1.3 automatic gear, i just faced a problem with the gearbox, while i was driving it the gear suddenly was disconnected and the car wouldn't move as if it's on the N, i tried shifting the gear from D to others but it's all the same, i towed it to a mechanic and then he changed a part of the gearbox and after 5 month the problem happened again, the mechanic said he just cleaned the gear box oil filter and did some other maintenance to it and it worked good but he mentioned that this problem will happen again unless i get a new gearbox.

can anybody please advise what is this problem is about and what is the causes ? when i asked him about the causes he said that this is a normal problem particularly in the Jimny, which doesn't make sense to me!!

any advise whether i should get a new gearbox or not ?

The gearbox contains a lot of clutches that wear. The worn clutch material gets into the oil. Eventually the debris blocks up the filter. Then the oil pump cannot pump enough fluid around to engage the clutches, and work the torque converter so you get no drive.

Swapping the filter and changing the fluid works as a short term solution.
Eventually the wear gets to the point that you have no drive, and a new gearbox is required. You will also need to flush out (cheap compromise) or replace the transmission oil cooler and pipes.

The harder you work the gearbox, oversize tyres, towing driving through mud, continual traffic jams stop/starting the sooner it wears out.

Yes it is normal, depends on usage, nothing lasts forever.....

facade wrote: The gearbox contains a lot of clutches that wear. The worn clutch material gets into the oil. Eventually the debris blocks up the filter. Then the oil pump cannot pump enough fluid around to engage the clutches, and work the torque converter so you get no drive.

Swapping the filter and changing the fluid works as a short term solution.
Eventually the wear gets to the point that you have no drive, and a new gearbox is required. You will also need to flush out (cheap compromise) or replace the transmission oil cooler and pipes.

The harder you work the gearbox, oversize tyres, towing driving through mud, continual traffic jams stop/starting the sooner it wears out.

Yes it is normal, depends on usage, nothing lasts forever.....

An 08 with a knackered gearbox? Unless its done some serious mileage, there's an issue

Definitely not normal in such a young Jimny. I had similar symptoms in my 2002 about 2 years ago after some deep water wading. It would take a while to actually go into drive (would feel like it's in neutral) after putting the gear lever into drive when cold. A change of fluid and filter has cured it since then. I now replace the fluid every service just to be on the safe side. I may well need a new box eventually but changing the fluid is a lot cheaper. I suspect a more serious issue, but for the cost of some fluid, you've got nothing to lose by changing the fluid again to see if it 'fixes' it for a while.

Yah exactly !! my jimny only have a 62,000 km on meter, that's why i don't consider it normal ! however the scenario that "Facade" mentioned is exactly what happened !

now the problem is that in Egypt we have no service for Jimnys ! any help how much would the Automatic gearbox costs ?

Same issue happened to me recently.
A whining noise when transmission was cold, but disappearing when warmed up. It sounded more like the belt pulley bearing
Suddenly the car stopped moving in any gear. After reading this thread, I gave it a try with the filter. It was completely blocked!
Don't know how this could happen while the car has only 85K Km and having Stock tires , used normally on road, except some weekend dunes driving.
Although service manual recommends Transmission fluid to be changed at 160K in normal driving, I was aiming to change it at 100K.

I cleaned the blocked filter to give it a try, and replaced 2L of the ATF. Surprisingly it moved again, so it was the blocked filter which was responsible for the pump giving this noise when the fluid was still cold.
1. Is it normal that the filter gets completely blocked that early?
2. Although the transmission works normally now, but a new hectic gear change appeared when shifting from 2nd to 3rd only. What can that be, and how to solve? I'm intending to get a new filter and change the ATF after being sure it was the filter, can that solve the hard shift problem, or can there be some clogging in one of the solenoids or valves?

160K kms or 100K miles sounds like A LOT of miles to put on automatic transmission fluid without a change.
I generally change my ATF and filter every 2 years or 30K miles; whichever comes first.
I look at this as cheap insurance since the ATF is the life blood of the transmission.

Learnt the lesson the hard way
After another 1000Km 4th gear started slipping. I brought it to the Auto Trans mechanic and he disassembled it and found the 1st and 4th clutch packs burned out.
All clutch packs have been changed now.
He advised to change ATF every 40K Kms in the future according to my usage.
I also added an auxiliary Transmission fluid cooler to prevent the box from overheating, since high temperatures shortens the useful life of ATF dramatically.