164Q gearbox destroyed after only 1 week :(

[letsgo]

I've only owned the car for a week and already am being punished by the car gods!

Took the car for a spin on Monday night, it was a bit wet but as I had unplugged the battery to do something else, and that most likely reset the ECU, I wanted to drive it for 10 minutes or so to get the idle back to a good point etc. Anyways, during the drive, I took off from the lights - nothing excessive, but the wheels still spun.. as soon as that happened I started getting a bad clunk noise every now and then when in gear and  it sort of felt like a brick was stuck to one of the wheels and the car almost jumped up every now and then when the "clunk" happened.

I was only a minute away from home so I babied it there... however I found that the problem was a lot less frequent if I drove faster.
Anyway, in the morning I was already booked in for a major service to change the timing belt etc at the Italian Job as it's about 5 minutes away from my house. So I decided to just drive the car there while still taking it easy. In retrospect, I think I could have saved a lot of heart ache and money if I just towed the car instead!

When I was about 400m away from the workshop, I lost all ability to accelerate in any gear - all I got was a heavy grinding noise.. I got one of the guys from TIJ to tow the car back to their workshop. This morning after dismanteling my gearbox and diff they found that something caused a couple of teeth to break off from most likely the first gear which then went and broke some teeth on half of the gears as well as the spider gears inside the diff. Also most of the bearings are now stuffed and apparantly need replacing...

Now I have been quoted roughly $5k including labour to rebuild the gearbox with a brand new diff ($940), main shaft, pinion bearing, internal debtor, a few of the gears and roller bearings and the rest of the shibang...

They highly recommend the new parts as apparantly the car I bought has already had its gearbox rebuilt in the past after one of its previous owners thrashed the $#!% out of it and the job was done using 2nd hand parts on the cheap which is why it broke again.

Is $5k a fair price?
I have found a reco gearbox and diff in the UK which I can get to Melb all up for roughly $1800 plus another $500-$600 fitting plus maybe $600 for the removal and dissasembly of my broken gearbox.

Should I just get the new parts? What is everyone's opinion?

[jimnielsen]

if its a "hobby car" rather than your daily transport, I'd buy the gearbox from OS and put it in my self.  A lot of opportunities for learning new stuff!

jimn~

[letsgo]

unfortunately it is, or was my daily driver!

I hate catching the bus to work...

I found a 2nd hand gearbox minus the diff o/s, but I will have to still buy a new diff as that can't be found. This way I will save about $2k!

[pep105]

I agree when you own an alfa (or any italian car for that matter) that oportunity presents itself quite often (believe me!) pretty soon youll be as good at rebuilding/repairering stuff as you are at blowing it up  

[John Hanslow]

Good to see that you have done a bit of research.  I assume then  that you have made sufficient enquiries locally for replacement Q gearbox & diff ?

I often read about Foleys in NSW who were Alfa specialists and they used to import 164's into the country after Alfa closed its operations in Australia in the early 90's.  That's why in NSW you have so many imported 164's including the range topper QV. 

My car is not a daily driver, is almost 20 years old and I get by with many second hand replacement parts.

My only qualification to you is to ask your mechanic (who is an Alfa specialist) "what you you do in this case ? ". 

I would be interested in his answer as it probably is the best practical advice.

Best of luck.

[letsgo]

Thanks for that advice John, and pep105 I definately agree with you. I'm generally a very hands-on car owner but I admit, I got a bit intimidated with the Alfa compared to my previous Jap cars which by comparison seem simpler...

I'll give Foleys a call then and see what they have available.

The advice of the Italian Job is to replace all the gears, bearings, shafts etc with brand new parts. Honestly, if I had the money for that, I would probably do it and then at least have some sort of piece of mind.

[pep105]

Hey letsgo youve probably already tried this but have you given Milano a call (9462-2138) they usually
have a 164 or three one might be even a Q, Speak to Vince one of the nicest Alfa dudes on the planet or Mark. Does the gearbox out of the current model GTV fit ? Im talking the last of the GTV V6s pre 1999 when they had a 5 speed box, (from mid 99 they went to 6 speed) pending ratios of course! Just a thought. Maybe one the specialists would know for sure

When it your daily driver its makes can be bit hard to attack it yourself due mainly to time constraints

Once this is resolved hope this the start of many hassle free km
Good luck
cheers
Pep

[letsgo]

Unfortuantely there was nothing else available at any of the other wreckers.

We have found some parts in QLD and basically the gearbox and diff will be rebuilt with some new and some used parts. Will end up being roughly $4k

I think I will always be paranoid of breaking the gearbox and will probably baby the car from now on!

Thanks for all your help guys!

[Joe Garra]

All the best, and hope you can start enjoying the Q soon.

[Alfa166]

Does Hugh Harrison from Monza Motors in Bayswater not have anything. If not then definitely go with a box from the UK there are plenty on Ebay check out http://stores.ebay.co.uk/autolusso-alfa-spares

[letsgo]

Hugh did have a 2nd hand box available, but that would have been 3500 plus fitting, plus the labour to Italian Job for taking the gearbox out and appart to begin with...
After evaluating all those options as well as getting something from O/S, adding the risk of getting something from the UK which needs to be rebuilt anyway, the way that it's being currently done looks to be the most economical while hopefully still making it somewhat reliable...

I know I won't be gunning it in 1st at all, I think I'll be too scared to even drive it for the first week after I get it back!

[Alfa166]

Gee i didn't think they would want 3500 for a gearbox. Still reckon you would be better off getting a full reco box out of the UK , for 3500 you get a couple. Good luck with it anyway.