The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hi everyone

just signed up to the site on behalf of my father in law.He's just bought himself a dolly 1850hl auto off ebay.
unfortunatly an hour into the four hour drive home the gearbox ejected most of its atf onto the road,and i've now been tasked with trying to fix it.
i'm looking for a little advice on what the best manual is to buy, i've seen a few different brands on ebay would i be right in thinking the best one would be the leyland workshop manual or are the autodata,haynes etc just as good.

many thanks Andrew

Try and track down a proper workshop manual. If you stick a post in the wanted section on here one might crawl out of the wood-work.
IIRC a load of the hardware on the autobox is metric, whereas the rest of the car will be imperial. That caught me out when I started trying to work on it.

I did hear something about BW box's ejecting their fluid after being stood for a length of time??

Tony.

1200wales wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2020 9:22 am


unfortunatly an hour into the four hour drive home the gearbox ejected most of its atf onto the road,and i've now been tasked with trying to fix it.

Make sure that the breather pipe isn't blocked as a first job.

After that try to see where the fluid was ejected from if you can.

Do you know if the box is still okay - I believe they're bomb proof.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the advice, I'm going to reply to a few of you at once because I was working all day yesterday so didn't get chance to reply.

I bought the manual that was linked above for sale, its in the post as we speak.

After searching the forum, I found the correct route for the breather hose (wasn't fitted to the car) on an older post.
I blew down the breather and fluid came out of the dipstick hole so I assume this means its not blocked.

Filled the box up and then used the method (found in another post) where you run the engine to temp and put the box in each gear for 5 seconds before dipping and checking.

I then took the car for 2 runs and after the first short run, all was well. Then on a slightly longer second run there was smoke from fluid dripping onto the exhaust. on closer inspection it seems to be coming out from the plastic stoneguard on the top of the bell housing which leads me to think that there could be an issue with the torque converter?

The manuals I've ordered haven't arrived yet so any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Andrew

1200wales wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:55 pm Then on a slightly longer second run there was smoke from fluid dripping onto the exhaust. on closer inspection it seems to be coming out from the plastic stoneguard on the top of the bell housing which leads me to think that there could be an issue with the torque converter?

Most likely it's coming from the front pump seal. If the car hasn't been used for a long time the seal may have dried out and hardened, making it leak, and it might soften up and seal with the car in use. The problem with that is if it's leaking as bad as you say then you're dumping oil all over the road, which is not a good idea. The seal is cheap, but there's a lot of work involved to fit it.

I've never seen a converter leak out of the body its lf though, which could happen if there's a pinhole in the weld. I've also seen the spigots broken off the front of the conveter and then they really dump out fluid.

Thanks for the reply Harvey,
As you may have guessed i have no experience with auto gearbox's at all.
when it got back from the first short run after we refilled it, there was a small puddle of oil forming underneath it but i thought it could just have been some residual oil running off everything.
but after the second run when the car pulled over i could see a line of oil behind the car stretching down the road.
Unfortunatly it was too dark to really see much underneath by then.
I assume when you say its a lot of work to change the oil pump seal that means the box has to come out?
if thats the case is there anything that i need to do differently from removing a manual gearbox?
any tips greatly received.

thanks
Andrew

1200wales wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:18 pm
I assume when you say its a lot of work to change the oil pump seal that means the box has to come out?

Correct.

I think it's probably best to remove the engine/gearbox as a unit and split them on the floor.

Probably the most important thing is that when refitting the gearbox to the engine, the converter must be in the front of the box, (and correctly located in the pump) and not with the converter on the engine.

harvey wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:33 pm

1200wales wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:18 pm
I assume when you say its a lot of work to change the oil pump seal that means the box has to come out?

Correct.

I think it's probably best to remove the engine/gearbox as a unit and split them on the floor.

Probably the most important thing is that when refitting the gearbox to the engine, the converter must be in the front of the box, (and correctly located in the pump) and not with the converter on the engine.

Can the box not be removed without having to remove the engine?

RSi wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 11:04 am
Can the box not be removed without having to remove the engine?

It can, but it's awkward, and they are a heavy lump to lift back in with the converter and bellhousing fitted to the box, which is the way you'll have to do it. IIRC the back of the subframe has to be dropped down to get them out and in.

Hi guys,
if i remove the engine and box together,is it easier to lift out through the bay or drop it down on the subframe?

thanks Andrew

I've always taken them out through the top.

Having done it on 2 different 1850 Autos, i fully agree with Harvey. Engine and Box out together through the top and split them on the floor. Easiest way, although not easy!