Clunky auto or am I paranoid?

[grumpy2]

Everything going very well with stag but I'm a little concerned about the clunky gearbox. I'm wondering if this is normal, can be adjusted or a sign of impending doom. Here we go......

Idle speed in gear about 700rpm, in neutral about 1000rpm

Shifting from neutral to D or R quite clunky and the car will jerk forwards or backwards

On the move gear changes are quite smooth up and down and kick down works ok too

Fresh gearbox fluid, nice pink colour and correct level when hot and idling.

I'm thinking about either converting to manual or the 4 speed ZF conversion when funds allow and the weather takes a turn for the worse, but after the engine saga I'd like to get a decent period in which to get the required parts or save up!

Thoughts welcome

Gary

[iani]

The zf conversion was the best thing I've done my car, absolutely transforms it if you use motorway's or fast A roads, a much more relaxed drive now. I had the BW35 previously and hated how hard the engine was revving to make decent progress.

[DJT]

Gary,

Idle is a bit high. It should be about 750-800 in neutral, which will drop a bit in 'D'. You should find it will jerk less, but it won't be a smooth as a good ZF.

[grumpy2]

Struggling to get the idle much lower to be honest. May need a carb retune sometime then, mot man did say it was a little lean.

[Stocky]

Gary, my BW65 does exactly the same as yours and the revs you quote are pretty much the same as mine. Recent fluid, good level. I certainly need a firm foot on the brake when shifting the lever! I reckon it must be a characteristic of the 'box.

[grumpy2]

Ok, paranoid then!

Gary

[Tdm]

The stag BW65 auto box (that is on my car) will never be as smooth as on a modern automatic car, after a while you just come to live with it, but reducing the tickover revs in neutral to somewhere between 700rpm and 800rpm does help somewhat. I try and let the engine warm up a little before setting off so that I can push the choke in and keep the revs down before engaging drive.

[AlanD]

mine used to be a bit jerky, i have had it tuned on a rolling road, when the box is cold i do get a thump in my back but once she is warm just a small thump, not as smooth as my friends Jag, but not jerky either, tickover is about 600rpm, works better with 4 in the car seems to smooth her out, if you are ever down this way give me a shout and we can take her for a spin so as you can compare them if you like

hope this helps

Alan

[grumpy2]

Thanks for the offer alan, is that 600 in D or in neutral?

Gary

[Guest]

Ditto other comments on BW 65 - mine thumps a bit too, but I don't worry about it. There have been other simiar queries about this in the past and the conclusion was that it is "normal". I quess the amount of "thump" will depend on he sum of all the backlash in the transmission and anything that is a bit loose along the way.

[Driveshield vehicle track]

I just had my BW65 refurbished and the initial clunk when selecting D or R has gone!! So many it's just tired

Unless you can afford a rebuild just live with it as I did for many years.
The guys who rebuilt it said that the clunk was due to wear and tear but as long as it performs ok otherwise it's not a great problem

[grumpy2]

Thanks for all the heads up, I'm going to do a spot of tuning this weekend and see if it improves

Gary

[Guest]

Hi Gary,
My B/W 35 also has the odd clunks you dicribe.I have found that you must keep the power on when it,s changing up otherwise one gets the odd clunk.I think it comes from all the universals etc. which in my case are all new!!.Backlash as someone else noted will also contribute. I have given up worring about it.My idle speed is 750RPM when warm and there is no clunk when putting into drive.
Cheers,Anthony

[grumpy2]

Hi chaps, my clunking only happens when stationary and putting the car into either D or R. On the move it changes up and down quite well.

Couple of chaps have referred to idle speeds above but is this with the box in neutral?, or in gear?

In neutral mine idles at about 1000rpm but this drops to about 700 in gear

Thanks

Gary

[wilf]

You could try dropping that a touch.