I will now post the gist of a conversation I had with one of my customers recently. He states that he would like to be put in contact with people who may have had problems with the above gearboxes. If you are prepared to let me know some contact details I will pass them on.
OK then. I was doing a job for a customer a week or so back when he asked me if I had ever had major problems with my Trafic van. I told him that the gearbox had needed replacing some time before and that it was a common problem. I had the gearbox replaced FOC as it was still under warranty - just. It did cost me some van hire money and some inconvenience. Mine is an '03 plate. He then told me that his '04 plate gearbox had let him down a few months before. Now although this customer has a building company and fingers in several pies, he is actually a qualified mechanic. He had his Trafic gearbox removed and an independent report made on it which he showed me. The report stated that the problem with the box is a design flaw (I think we already knew that). However, it's nothing to do with cogs or teeth. I'm no mechanic so bear with me on this. Apparently, the reason why so many of these boxes fail is because they are not properly sealed at thew point where some rod or cable enters them. Instead of a proper, normal seal, all there is is some O ring. This is letting water into the box and causing corrosion near the entry point. The water that would get in is mainly from the road surface - including all that corrosive salt in winter.
He attempted to get just the relevant parts from Renault. They said they didn't sell them. After asking around he discovered that the bits were available. So instead of forking out 3 grand for a new box, it cost him about one grand in the end. The corrosion causes a particular bearing to corrode making the surface rough. This is what causes the problem.
Renault/Vauxhall and Nissan haven't been particularly forthcoming about this issue.
My customer wants to hear from people who have had this problem and also would like to know what fix was offered (they usually replace the box en bloc). He was able to take his time and get this matter investigated properly by a gearbox specialist because, unlike most of us, he wasn't in a huge hurry to get his van running (he has others).
I am wondering if there is a case here for the TV programme "Watchdog". I feel that there is certainly good cause for amnyoone who has had this issue to claim a partial refund if their gearbox has failed at low mileage. Mine failed at 39,000 miles - about a month inside the warranty period. The van is now coming up to 80,000 miles so I'm wondering if it's due to happen again in the near future. If someone has had an early failure, I reckon that the starting point should be a refund of £1,500. Of course they won't settle and would need to be forced into it. I'm pretty sure it won't happen but consumer rights have improved in recent years with the advent of internet communication.
My customer actually showed me the old parts that were removed from his previous gearbox and it wasn't a pretty sight.
