Suzuki Swift 2008 Gear box malfunction

adilhara · November 29, 2016

I Purchase purchase a Suzuki Swift 2008 (71S) auto meter reading 42000km first owner vehicle. when I change the gear to "Drive" after starts the car it doesn't run on a road (When I change the gear to L & S the result is the same car is not moving). But when i put Reverse it is working. But after I starts to drive on the road, problem seems to be okay. So problem occurs when I starts the car and in first few minutes in the Drive and then problem is okay. plz help me to solve this problem....thanks for reading.

LashNeo · December 29, 2016

On 12/29/2016 at 4:04 AM, The Stig said:

How much did you guys spend so far?

You can get a decent 2nd hand gearbox for around 40k

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They took 34k from me and i think it was 35k from Jimmy.

I searched a bit on recon gearboxes before going to Nilwala and the price ranged around 45-50K in the places i checked.

finally decided to go with the repair option with Nilwala due to the following reasons.

My car has been with me for a long time and i have taken good care of the gear box during my ownership and i was pretty sure that this was a minor issue that can be repaired.
There's no guarantee on re-con gearboxes and it's difficult to predict what would happen as time goes on as the condition is not known.
The reputation on Nilwala was great even in the forum.

In my case the issues that i'm having now are not that severe. It's just that the kick down mechanism is not smooth and shifting is a bit rough during hard acceleration. Probably just a minor fix.

In terms of the repair; they told me that they'll be replacing any worn out parts and i think what they must have done is what NRX has mentioned. However, the gear oil they have put in was Toyota gear oil which is Dextron III equivalent.

I told them that they should have put Mazda-V but there opinion was since this is a conventional Auto gearbox Toyota gear oil would be fine and Mazda-V is for Triptronics. They said that they have used Toyota gear oil previously and did not receive any complains. But i think this may also be contributing to the current situation with my ride. As there was no issue at all during the test run i did not make a fuss on this. But now i feel it may also be a contributing factor.

Jimmy · December 28, 2016

Hi Ive had the same issue before in my Ford Laser..Shown to Nilwala Garage at Ambuldeniya. He fixed it for a while but the problem kept coming back. Why dont you show to him and see.

GayanR · December 28, 2016

How about a fluid change first?

LashNeo · December 28, 2016

On 12/28/2016 at 5:51 AM, Jimmy said:

Hi Ive had the same issue before in my Ford Laser..Shown to Nilwala Garage at Ambuldeniya. He fixed it for a while but the problem kept coming back. Why dont you show to him and see.

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Hey Jimmy,

I remember we discussed your issue here sometime back.
Didn't Nilwala fellows give you a permanent fix for this issue?

Jimmy · December 28, 2016

Hi Guys,

Well I must say, He fixed it the first time. However, after about couple of weeks I was having some trouble again when transmitting. Putting to Drive in cold start was Ok, but while I was driving I kinda felt transmission was not happening smoothly. After a day or two the Hold button again started blinking. So when to him and fixed it. Again after another two weeks Ive had issues, then to see ATF was leaking. Took it to him again.

Now again last Sunday when I was driving back from Kandy to Cmb the "hold" button pops up again to my greatest disappointment. The gear was transmittinig beyon 2nd gear I guess and was not speeding beyond 40 kmph. Luckily it was downhill from Kandy not uphill...I managed to reach home after 4 or five hours in traffic. I was so stressed not knowing when it was going stop moving. Then I called Nilwala and found out that the main guy C***** is out of country and coming back only on 01st Jan 2017. Imagine my situation. cant go to someone else again as he was repairing it whole this time. On top of that my wedding is coming up in January and hell of a lot of driving to do.. Frustrated bro.

Jimmy

LashNeo · December 28, 2016

On 12/28/2016 at 10:25 AM, Jimmy said:

Well I must say, He fixed it the first time. However, after about couple of weeks I was having some trouble again when transmitting.

Jimmy

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Hey.. My experience with them hasn’t been any better.

If you could remember; I also had a similar issue. My BJ5P was not shifting during cold startups and the ‘HOLD’ button kept on blinking. After your feedback I also took it to Nilwala and they managed to sort it out and shifting was awesome for about 2-3 weeks. Actually it felt like brand new and I was driving like crazy. But that didn’t last for a long time. Now I feel that the shifting is sluggish. Especially during hard acceleration. The gearbox does not down shift quickly to generate the right amount of power. Therefore, it has become rather difficult to do quick overtakes. I took it back to them once but again as in your case the Main guy was not there. One fellow at the premises took my car for a ride but the issue didn’t pop up at that time as he was driving way too slowly. Haven’t been able to take it back since then due to my busy schedule. Since then; Once or twice the ‘Hold’ button also popped up stopping gear shifting and the remedy was to restart the engine. Also there were occasions where I felt vibrations when reversing during cold startups. Will be taking it back soon to see how they respond.

So, with our experiences we cannot recommend Nilwala to anyone at this point isn’t it?

As for adilhara’s issue; it’s hard to imagine that the gearbox of a car that was manufactured in 2008 would fail so soon given that it was properly maintained. Therefore; as mentioned by GayanR it’s better to start with an ATF change if no records on the last ATF change is available.

Twin Turbo · December 28, 2016

On 12/28/2016 at 6:22 AM, GayanR said:

How about a fluid change first?

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Not even last in the list.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Twin Turbo

The Stig · December 29, 2016

On 12/28/2016 at 10:25 AM, Jimmy said:

Hi Guys,

Well I must say, He fixed it the first time. However, after about couple of weeks I was having some trouble again when transmitting. Putting to Drive in cold start was Ok, but while I was driving I kinda felt transmission was not happening smoothly. After a day or two the Hold button again started blinking. So when to him and fixed it. Again after another two weeks Ive had issues, then to see ATF was leaking. Took it to him again.

Now again last Sunday when I was driving back from Kandy to Cmb the "hold" button pops up again to my greatest disappointment. The gear was transmittinig beyon 2nd gear I guess and was not speeding beyond 40 kmph. Luckily it was downhill from Kandy not uphill...I managed to reach home after 4 or five hours in traffic. I was so stressed not knowing when it was going stop moving. Then I called Nilwala and found out that the main guy C***** is out of country and coming back only on 01st Jan 2017. Imagine my situation. cant go to someone else again as he was repairing it whole this time. On top of that my wedding is coming up in January and hell of a lot of driving to do.. Frustrated bro.

Jimmy

Expand

On 12/28/2016 at 11:17 AM, LashNeo said:

Hey.. My experience with them hasn’t been any better.

If you could remember; I also had a similar issue. My BJ5P was not shifting during cold startups and the ‘HOLD’ button kept on blinking. After your feedback I also took it to Nilwala and they managed to sort it out and shifting was awesome for about 2-3 weeks. Actually it felt like brand new and I was driving like crazy. But that didn’t last for a long time. Now I feel that the shifting is sluggish. Especially during hard acceleration. The gearbox does not down shift quickly to generate the right amount of power. Therefore, it has become rather difficult to do quick overtakes. I took it back to them once but again as in your case the Main guy was not there. One fellow at the premises took my car for a ride but the issue didn’t pop up at that time as he was driving way too slowly. Haven’t been able to take it back since then due to my busy schedule. Since then; Once or twice the ‘Hold’ button also popped up stopping gear shifting and the remedy was to restart the engine. Also there were occasions where I felt vibrations when reversing during cold startups. Will be taking it back soon to see how they respond.

So, with our experiences we cannot recommend Nilwala to anyone at this point isn’t it?

As for adilhara’s issue; it’s hard to imagine that the gearbox of a car that was manufactured in 2008 would fail so soon given that it was properly maintained. Therefore; as mentioned by GayanR it’s better to start with an ATF change if no records on the last ATF change is available.

Expand

How much did you guys spend so far?

You can get a decent 2nd hand gearbox for around 40k

NRX · December 29, 2016

I'm just shooting in the dark, correct me if I'm wrong. Couldn't it be an electrical issue with the solenoids both Jimmy and LashNeo are going through ? I think Nilwala swapped out the worn out clutch packs and o-rings and whatnot but left the old solenoids, may be cleaned them a bit.

Jimmy, what was their reasoning for the issue recurring when you took her to them for the second time ? Do you know what they did to fix her ?

The Stig · December 29, 2016

On 12/29/2016 at 6:21 AM, LashNeo said:

They took 34k from me and i think it was 35k from Jimmy.

I searched a bit on recon gearboxes before going to Nilwala and the price ranged around 45-50K in the places i checked.

finally decided to go with the repair option with Nilwala due to the following reasons.

My car has been with me for a long time and i have taken good care of the gear box during my ownership and i was pretty sure that this was a minor issue that can be repaired.

There's no guarantee on re-con gearboxes and it's difficult to predict what would happen as time goes on as the condition is not known.

The reputation on Nilwala was great even in the forum.

In my case the issues that i'm having now are not that severe. It's just that the kick down mechanism is not smooth and shifting is a bit rough during hard acceleration. Probably just a minor fix.

In terms of the repair; they told me that they'll be replacing any worn out parts and i think what they must have done is what NRX has mentioned. However, the gear oil they have put in was Toyota gear oil which is Dextron III equivalent.

I told them that they should have put Mazda-V but there opinion was since this is a conventional Auto gearbox Toyota gear oil would be fine and Mazda-V is for Triptronics. They said that they have used Toyota gear oil previously and did not receive any complains. But i think this may also be contributing to the current situation with my ride. As there was no issue at all during the test run i did not make a fuss on this. But now i feel it may also be a contributing factor.

Expand

That explains it.

However I have a colleague who has recently changed his Atf to dextron III on his bj3p. Seems to be okay for now but I did notice that my cars gearshifting is much smoother and up shifts much faster. There is some delay between 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd, as in it gets out of gear but the next gear takes bit if time to engage resulting in the engine rpm going up. Can't tell for sure if Atf is the cause though.

LashNeo · March 15, 2017

OK guys… thought of updating what happened to the gear box issue of my baby.

As previously mentioned; I had issues with gear shifting especially during quick acceleration and the reverse gear did not engage in mornings.

I took it back to nilwala few weeks ago and they dismantled the gearbox again and the car was ready the next day. When I asked about what was done; they said a reverse hub was gone and they fixed it. It seemed like they did not like to share exactly what they did. It’s rather understandable as they have sort of a niche market when it comes to auto gearbox repair and maybe they don’t like to share their knowledge with others. I took the car for a test drive and everything seemed to be ok. They did not charge anything for the fix as well. So, I took the car home and have been using it without any issues ever since. I have done over 1000Km’s after the repair and therefore I think it’s safe to say that they have given a permanent solution this time. J

The Stig · March 15, 2017

On 3/15/2017 at 6:58 AM, LashNeo said:

OK guys… thought of updating what happened to the gear box issue of my baby.

As previously mentioned; I had issues with gear shifting especially during quick acceleration and the reverse gear did not engage in mornings.

I took it back to nilwala few weeks ago and they dismantled the gearbox again and the car was ready the next day. When I asked about what was done; they said a reverse hub was gone and they fixed it. It seemed like they did not like to share exactly what they did. It’s rather understandable as they have sort of a niche market when it comes to auto gearbox repair and maybe they don’t like to share their knowledge with others. I took the car for a test drive and everything seemed to be ok. They did not charge anything for the fix as well. So, I took the car home and have been using it without any issues ever since. I have done over 1000Km’s after the repair and therefore I think it’s safe to say that they have given a permanent solution this time. J

Expand

Good to hear, my bj is also having some issue in the gearbox.

Thinking of getting it repaired in April. For the time being some Atf treatment fixed it.

How is the Toyota Atf so far?

Twin Turbo · March 15, 2017

Enjoy your ride and look after the transmission.

Edited March 15, 2017 by Twin Turbo

LashNeo · March 15, 2017

On 3/15/2017 at 7:09 AM, The Stig said:

Good to hear, my bj is also having some issue in the gearbox.

Thinking of getting it repaired in April. For the time being some Atf treatment fixed it.

How is the Toyota Atf so far?

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So far no issues. I did not ask them to replace the gear oil last time as I was not sure that the fix would be a permanent one and they re-filled the old oil after the repair. It’s a bit blackish but not too bad. Therefore; I’m planning to change it to Mazda M-V during my next service. By that time, I’ll be able to make a better judgment on the repair done by Nilwala as well. Based on that, I’ll be deciding what to do.

If the gearbox seems to be holding up well; I’ll replace gear oil to Mazda M-V otherwise no point in replacing oil.

By the way; if you are hoping to take your ride to them in April, don’t forget about the new year break. There will be lot of rush during that period nah? Early April would be better I think. J