HELP! Stuck in Spain with no drive....

With no warning my LSE has lost all drive, it occurred as I went to pull across a main road, a bang and zizzing/high pitch grinding noise and that's it.

I've tried all combinations, ratios etc and nothing happens, if I put it in gear and blip the throttle the noise returns, and then if I put it in Park I can hear the park running against the rotating cog until it "bites" - but - it doesn't hold the vehicle, which suggests to me that the box is ok and maybe the transfer box is kaput, or the shaft between the two.

Please treat this thinking as utter guess work based on minimal knowledge and a hope of keeping the bill low!

Just to add insult to injury it appears the autobox was overfilled by the previous owner/at it's last service, a couple of thousand miles ago. And I forgot to check it before leaving having had 2 specialists working flat out to sort it's cooling problems

So could the over-full box have blown itself to bits, or am I looking at a transfer box rebuild? No noises in advance btw......

Oh and to help matters the mechanico who dragged it away says there's no-one within 200 miles who can repair autoboxes, he can replace it if that's the problem, or replace the transfer box....but repairing either could be tricky.

IF it is the transfer box, is it the same as a Land Rover one? Lots of Land Rovers out here to pillage for parts, bugger all Range Rovers

All help gratefully rec'd , looks like a long walk to the beach for the kids!!

could be just the torque converter by the sound of it, where abouts in spain are you

Thanks for the prompt reply! We're in Galicia, the far Northwest corner, nearest town Viveiro, which is where the car has gone.

I have since been looking on the Ashcroft transmissions site, but haven't looked at their Torque Convertors section. Knackered output shaft seems a likely culprit too...any thoughts?

Oh dear, a very sinking feeling.

Lord Lucan said:

I've tried all combinations, ratios etc and nothing happens, if I put it in gear and blip the throttle the noise returns, and then if I put it in Park I can hear the park running against the rotating cog until it "bites" - but - it doesn't hold the vehicle, which suggests to me that the box is ok and maybe the transfer box is kaput, or the shaft between the two.

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It's one or the other isn't it?! The clunking in park suggests auto box, whereas the noise when you blip the throttle in drive suggests transfer box. A simple failure of the auto box is the pump which would lead to a sudden loss of drive and be consistent with the noises you describe. To check the pump whip off the oil cooler pipe from the bottom of the gearbox and start the engine you should get oil spurting out.

Lord Lucan said:

No noises in advance btw......

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The common failure of the transfer box is the chain that tranfers drive across. It can break, but more commonly skips teeth initially - with a big clunk, until eventually you lose drive totally. But the lack of symptoms and noises you describe sound more like the auto box. Byond that I don't know enough to talk about output shafts etc.

Lord Lucan said:

...but repairing either could be tricky.

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False economy, don't bother. The auto box is too complex for mechanico, and the transfer box is the same. I reckon that the cheapest option is to hire a car, get the RR shipped back by the AA or whoever you're with and get it sorted back in blighty. Go back to the beach - stop wrecking your holiday!!

Lord Lucan said:

IF it is the transfer box, is it the same as a Land Rover one? Lots of Land Rovers out here to pillage for parts, bugger all Range Rovers

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Your Borg Warner transfer box is totally different to a Land Rover transfer box - the ratios are massively different too. The Land Rover box is gear driven with a manual diff lock, RR is chain driven with viscous automatic diff lock. The propshafts are different lengths too, so it won't physically fit unless you have a prop made up.

Lord Lucan said:

All help gratefully rec'd , looks like a long walk to the beach for the kids!!

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It'll do them good. Tell them that they're lucky, in your day you were given 500 pesetas and told to make your own entertainment for the day.

Hope all is resolved. But it doesn't sound cheap.

Thanks for that - I think!! TBH if it needs a new box I'd be just as happy paying to ship one from the UK and have it fitted out here, mechanico isn't a simpleton, he just doesn't "do" autobox repairs (he recommends an exchange box for economy reasons every time). He's going to look at it on Monday am and give me a verdict at noon, he's very efficient by local standards!

I should add I have a resident mechanical engineer here who is also fluent in Spanish and uses this mechanico from choice for his own vehicles, so I have confidence in him.

The hiring a car etc idea is frankly unappealing, if either box needs to replaced I may as well do it here, the labour cost is peanuts and easily counters the carriage cost, paying to repatriate the car, hiring a replacement for 3 weeks and then trying to take 3 sub 5 year olds home from Plymouth would mean hiring another car the other side, will all add up to an expensive solution, especially as I will then still have to get the work done.

Mechanico holds no fear about exchanging the components, i just want to order the right one!!!

Oh and I have use of another car while here, and it's owner can bring back the dead box at the end of the summer so that's no big deal.

Or am I fooling myself that swapping the box is not overly complex??!!!! Is there some voodoo engineering involved?!

I could just set fire to it.....

(P.S. Yes next year I will get European recovery insurance......)

A quick update for those of you on the edge of their seats worrying about the clan Lucan and whether their LSE will remain as part of the local scenery....

Thanks to your advice and then excellent advice/service from Ashcroft Transmissions (if I may??) and El Supremo Mechanico we're back in business, one output shaft later.

I can recommend Northern Spain for breaking down, where else on a Friday night would the garage owner drive 15km to you, phone the AA equivalent and have the car towed in on his personal cover (to jump the queue with the breakdown truck) and then wait until 10 pm for the truck to come, and then charge me all of £75 for everything, VAT, oil, recovery and 3.5 hrs labour to change the shaft, and do it at zero notice as soon as the part arrives, none of this "sorry we're fully booked till next week" crap.

A very happy and relieved Lord Lucan

all's well that ends well eh

Well done that man I love a happy endin I may cry. Great blokes those spanish