Help Please Anyone? Blown Stagea Rs4 Gearbox

[stagea_rb25]

hi guys im new to this forum and new to stageas..... i own a stagea rb25det auto i dont pretend to know a great deal about them thats why im here to ask your advice...its red in colour, lowered about two inches ive put 350z wheels on it...it pretty tidy and its my pride and joy...the car has done about 120000kms. its the 'dayz' model......it runs in rear wheel drive mode (previous owner did this) im told by just taking hte chip out.....but who knows honestly.......after driving home one night from work (about a 3/4 hour trip mostly freeway driving) i went to revrse park my stagea and the car just revved as if it was in neutral.......same goes for first gear...the car however goes in when i put it in drive (the box engages second gear) ....the box makes a quiet humming noise when it is in gear but slippping... i have been told 1million different things from put new oil and filters in it and it will be fine to throw hte thing away and put an rb25 RWD auto in it......i love the car and wana keep it....i also wana make a little bit more power (maybe 180kw ATW) what do u think would be the best solution for me.....i dont have a great deal of money as im an apprentice...i live int he sydney area so any recomended owrkshops would be so great......i was told by a mate this would be the place to get the most reliable info so any would be so greatly appreciated.....

thanks so much guys.....

Edited January 8, 2008 by stagea_rb25

[Stinky Rooster]

you are a brave, brave man putting your mobile number on a public forum.

Why the hell would you want to convert an RS4 to permanent RWD? Wouldn't you be better off selling it and BUYING a RWD stagea?

OK, First things first, you CANNOT run a stagea in rear wheel drive by taking the "fuse" out. That may have worked for the R32 attessa system, but all it does for the stagea is cause problems with the transfer case. The only real way to do it is to drop the front driveshaft out (maybe have a look and see if there is one first?) Anywhoo, that probably has absolutely nothing to do with your problem at hand. Fortunately, second hand stagea auto's are actually pretty cheap (the last one I helped source second hand cost a grand total of $120!!)

For 180awkw, all I would recommend is a stage 1 shift kit from MV auto's - use the search function as this has been discussed many times on here, and you will discover a lot of converts for it. Having said that, maybe this is the perfect time for a manual conversion?

[stagea_rb25]

thanks mate....

you all seem like a decent bunch so i dont mind putting my mob number up...

yeah i was having a read in the gearbox section about the whole 'chip' situation and rwd conversion.........ill have a look when i can under tha car and check it out but yeah the old owner said he took a fuse out.....is that maybe what could have caused my gearbox to sh*t its self....just wondering so i can repair it back to all wheel drive so it is purely what hte factory designed it for.....thanks again for your help i really appreciate it im not fully clued up on the stageas yet but am keen to learn,,,!!!!!

thanks , james

[stagea_rb25]

hey i do remmeber though that the drive shaft coming out of the gear box to the front diff is still in if thats any help.......sorry if thats useless info jsut thought id let ya know:)

[chook]

I concur, buy a 2nd hand box for a few hundred, MV shift kit it, get it back into 4wd mode.

[Stinky Rooster]

The drive shaft doesn't really have anything to do with the problem at hand though, it just may be a sign that the previous owner hasn't really thought things through.

The transfer case and the attessa system (4WD control) doesn't actually have anything to do with the auto trans though. Even though the transfer case looks like a part of the auto, it is a very different part of the car. Can we assume you have done all the usual stuff like checked the fluid levels in the trans with the engine warmed up and running?

If so, the next step will be to look closely at the transfer case and make sure it is still pushing the power through as it should. The first thing to do will be to open the cargo area, and on the right hand side behind the little door behind the rear strut tower is a resivior for the 4wd system fluid. It takes the same fluid as the auto, and checking the level is the same proceedure (engine warmed up and running etc) and make sure its full. If it is really low or empty then you may need to fill it up and bleed it. This CAN get a little tricky though, so if you are unsure maybe get it down to a auto trans specialist to look at it? I would offer to have a squiz, but I am in WA....

[ssshonky]

while RWD only can be a lot of fun.. it would probably be good to get the car back to AWD .

these things are remarkably sure footed .. hardly ever breaks traction

hey if you ARE going to do anything with the gearbox why not get that MV autos shift kit installed while your at it? the box might just need a service and not a total replacement

and Dale thats pretty damned cheap for a stagea gearbox.. where the hell did you find that from,?

[Stinky Rooster]

.....and Dale thats pretty damned cheap for a stagea gearbox.. where the hell did you find that from,?

I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you!

Nah, its not that uncommon, people get the stageas in as half cuts to use as cheap parts mules for skylines etc, but the auto's and tranfer cases are not in much demand so the wreckers are usually pretty keen to get rid of them. That one in particular was from a well known WA identity and was hooked up for me by a VERY undervalued forum member here. (ban, anyone? )

[stagea_rb25]

thamls again guys.....im not with the car ATM but il check that resivour out asap........i checked the fluid the level was right but it smelled very burned????? what is the "MV shift kit" are they a WA based company?? how much does the kit retail for....sounds like a good investmnet though...thanks again guys ur legends!!!!

[Stinky Rooster]

thamls again guys.....im not with the car ATM but il check that resivour out asap........i checked the fluid the level was right but it smelled very burned????? what is the "MV shift kit" are they a WA based company?? how much does the kit retail for....sounds like a good investmnet though...thanks again guys ur legends!!!!

I hate to tell you this, but that is not a good sign.......

MV Autos are a Adelaide company, and from memory its about $300 plus fitting.

[jippa]

hey if you ARE going to do anything with the gearbox why not get that MV autos shift kit installed while your at it? the box might just need a service and not a total replacemen

did that to my s1 and it fixed the slipping for a few months but the damage had been done. and i needed some major repairs later

[unique1]

yes stagea boxes are cheap, give me a PM and i can put u onto someone who might have some lying around for cheap, same person as Dale mentioned

[BE6027]

hey mate i pm'd you. got a box, shift kitted. runs perfect only reason i took it out was to convert to manual.

[Tangles]

hey mate i pm'd you. got a box, shift kitted. runs perfect only reason i took it out was to convert to manual.

there ya go, swap out the old auto and wack in his, perfect

then with the rwd/awd thingy, put the fuse back in.

attessa awd repairs are expensive

[pixel8r]

You may trust us all with your mobile number (dont blame you, the stagea forum seems to attract a great bunch of people), but be aware this forum is able to be viewed by anyone - even without signing up or logging in. Topics will come up in google searches and all sorts so its not just us the number will be seen by.

If it was me I'd be removing it, but its your call

Hope you get the problem sorted.

Did the car have a major 100,000km service? and was the gearbox serviced regularly (supposed to be done every 12 months, and by a professional auto trans specialist, not just an oil change).

The reason I mention this is because I owned a S13 n/a silvia and at about 125,000 km its auto gearbox started losing gears, first 4th, then 3rd and so on until I was driving into town to get it fixed and by the time I got there I only had 1st gear lol! My car after that was a S13 turbo silvia, 1 year newer, with over 130,000kms on it and when I sold it at 160,000kms it was still going strong...

Maybe I just had a bad egg, but not knowing much at all about cars at the time, never did its major service at 100,000km (it has a timing chain so that part is ok, just all the other fluids that weren't changed etc), and never serviced the gearbox until about a year before it crapped itself. The turbo silvia had a good service history when I bought it and I kept it up and looked after it a lot better. Not suggesting yours isn't looked after. Sometimes things like this just happen

All the best with the new auto if you go down that path and yes put the fuse back in. AWD is awesome.