Stiff when cold is 100% normal. Only proper gearbox oils will give you a slick change when cold but that is because of their additives. Unfortunately those same additives are what destroy our boxes.

My box is stiff for at least 3-4 miles then it smooths out, still notchy all the time though but again normal due to the interaction of engine oil with the synchro hubs and the interaction of the gears themselves.

 

Thank you Merlin, it is 1C4GHN5M5XU133193

Glow plug thank you for that explanation!!! and no i dont take offence over the garages, i agree with you its something i will admit i know nothing about, i dont have any kids i bought it so my dogs would be comfortable on drives.

maybe i not putting into words properly what is happening, a brief outline is

firstly it leaked oil onto my drive way, its like a dark black it doesnt have a rainbow like quality to it.
so i took it to the garage who told me that he had
striped and remove gear box, clutch and flywheel.
replace crank shaft rear main oil seals
refit all parts and top up gear box with new oil,

i jet washed the drive way and noticed new oil was falling in the same place, then phoned the garage who told me it must be a different problem then, i explained it was in the same place and i had only just paid £400 for the repair, he told me to bring it back and his reason for it leaking is that there must be a pocket of oil somewhere built up when it was leaking originally and it will eventually run dry, i really feel that this is horse****.

then it wouldnt start and i was told it was the starter plugs, they changed these.
then when it happend again, i was told it was the starter motor, this was replaced,
then when it happend again i was told the starter motor had taken out the battery.so they replaced the battery
when it continued to happen i was told they had changed the pin in the starter motor,
now ive been told that it must be something else

so my car is still leaking, my car is still faulty starting, and my faith in garages is at an all time low.

i was worried in case the oil still leaking is coming from the gearbox and this is why it is so bad, and if at some point it will go bang on me, becuase it has no oil left

 

Your description of the oil leak was fine and I don't accept the "pooling argument". When he took off the gearbox any residual oil at the bottom of the gearbox and crankcase would have run out. What's more when he took off the flywheel to change the seals he should have wiped that whole area. Tidiness is important whether you are cleaning a house or fixing a car. A good mechanic would have steam cleaned the entire engine. ONLY by doing this can you isolate the source of a leak. If in fact the oil is coming from elsewhere, collected oil mixed with road dust will obscure the source. Whats more all fluids exhibit what is termed capillary action. That is they flow from high to low along the path of least resistance. Where you see the oil is not necessarily where it is coming from.

As for the starting issue what you haven't fully described are the symptoms. Was the engine turning over and just not firing, was there no turning and just a clicking sound or was there just nothing at all.

 

thanks again Glowplug i thought he was lying about the oil leak,

the engine would make a screaming noise and turn over, running down each time you tried it until it just made the clicking sound you suggested!!!

 

Hmmm......tough one. The screeching could either be from the gears on the starter motor slipping on what is called the ring gear on the flywheel or in very very rare cases the actual ring gear slipping on the flywheel.. The flywheel is a big heavy metal wheel that spins round at the rear of the engine. Its purpose is to over come the inconsistencies that result from the firing order of the engine and to result in a smooth running. It also stores kinetic energy which it converts to torque. When you turn the key the starter motor gear shoots out and grips these gears causing the whole flywheel to turn. This in turn causes the pistons to go up and down and the end result, with the addition of fuel is that the engine starts.

(some cars use a systems called a pre-engaged starter motor but that is outside the scope of this discussion)

Now the gears on both the starter motor (known as the bendix) and ring gear can wear and this causes them not to engage properly which causes an ungodly noise. Thing is the flywheel will always stop in one of two places. This is to do with the arrangement of the pistons. As such if one part is worn you have a 50/50 chance of everytime you start the car of hitting the worn part. On the other hand you have an equal chance of not hitting it which will be when your cars starts fine.

The clicking noise is as a result of your battery running flat and not having enough power to pull the solenoid (explained earlier) all the way back. Apart from what I suggested earlier if it were my car I would

1. Take the starter motor of and give it a damn good service


2. Take the gearbox off and have a good nose around. On some cars taking off the starter motor and getting under the car can give sufficient visibility to see if the ring gear is worn but these cars are difficult.

My advice find another mechanic. How do you find a good one, well as I have NEVER used a garage in my life I could not answer that one. But my father was a mechanic (and a damn good one) and what I can tell you is that there are 3 types.

The Extremely good and these are the guys who went into the trade because they were genuinely interested and enthusiastic not about cars but about the science of the internal combustion engine. These guys are very rare. Find one and you are A for away

The average who are guys with a good mechanical feel but whom were never going to be academic enough to do automotive engineering at uni and so were only ever going to be plumbers or mechanics. There are a few of them around finding one is going to be a good thing.

The bloody useless who are guys thick as a short plank, messed around in class and/ or were kicked out of school and for whom an apprenticeship was the best they could hope for. Far too many of these kicking about.

Word of mouth is your best bet. If more than one person regularly gives a glowing report on a garage not only in terms of price but MUCH more importantly in terms of a track record of getting the job done right first time.

If you wonder why I am so verbose in my answers it is because I like to educate. Knowledge is a very powerful thing and embued with it you are in a better position to make the right decisions. My wife can and has on many occasions removed, stripped and rebuilt huge 5 and 7 litre V8 monsters from American dragsters. How come, because I taught her as racing used to be my life. Having kids now she no longer fettles around but when I am away globe trotting on business and she needs to have something done she certainly does NOT get ripped off by the BS that garages try and feed her.

 

Hi
Yes you have 1 open recall and that is a D17 clock spring recall but nothing to worry about until you have a air bag warning light come on or horn stops working then take it to the dealer. Just a note for future you have a 1999 GS voyager 2.5 TD ENC engine gearbox is a DD3

 

Merlin thank you for that most apperciated but mine is definately an SE on a W reg. which i thought was 2000 / 2001??

Glow pulg i really apperciate everything you have taken the time to write for me i honestly do, it gives me that lttle bit more credibility when speaking to them even though i am reading your words so thank you

i have bitten the bullet and it is now in with the main dealer for diagnostics.

what i dont understand is that the garage industry seems to be the only one that does this to women

 

time to throw in the towel, ive had enough of it now, im just going to see if i can scrape £1500.0 for it on ebay to see if someone wants to have a go at fixing it, the same low mileage as mine 80,000 are going from between 2900 and 3495,

so thanks for all your help guys, but i wouldnt touch Chrysler again!

 

Don't you believe that for one minute. I am in the IT industry and trust me it happens here as well and in plumbing and in building and with electricians etc etc I could go on. Whenever you have someone who sees they can make a few extra bucks off the ignorance of another you can bet your bottom dollar they will do it. What's more it is definitely not only women. There are guys out there who are as clueless when it comes to cars as any woman. The only thing is garages are a bit more reluctant to try it on with a guy 'cause they just don't know. BUT once they realise the guy is a car dummy that's his number up and the dollar signs start flashing like the lights outside a Las Vegas ***** house.

Education education education. The more you have the better armed you are. The Internet is a wonderful place and trust me pretty much everything you could ever want to know is on it. You just need to take the time.

Best of luck and please let us know how it goes.

 

Yours was registered in 2000 but is a 99 model year. What did the dealer say? It’s not Chrysler at fault more the garage you have taken it to.