(URGENT) Broken auto gearbox in Arabian peninsula (1 Viewer)

[artisan2demain]

Honestly, it's the Middle East and you never really know. Just like in US where I'm from there are shady people but here its more difficult to get real "google" reviews. Go with the shop that has been around awhile and get it in email or whatsapp what the warranty should be.
Jax's yard is typical yard but he is stand up guy with a lot more to lose then most. He is a pilot for Air Arabia in Sharjah that runs family yard in between work. 250km is nothing for a442f in my opinion.

Is there really no LC auto transmissions local? Seems like there would be plenty in Oman. If the same yard that sells it can install and warranty it that always best.
If you were in UAE you could get it to Jaxs yard by recovery truck. That would be better then shipping it to Oman in my opinion. They can install, check everything then if anything is wrong you can have them fix it.

End of the day most transmissions with miles in that range are likely fine. It's crazy Dexol Oman said transmissions and transfer case where linked from R to L. Dexol in Dubai is very solid shop for a rebuild from what I have seen.

@Bardiya is here on the forum and has Instagram Jumeirah.parts He is in UAE and can source used parts also. He is very knowledgeable and could likely also point you in best direction. I have limited info for used parts outside of Jax swapping in a used manual. All the other parts O have bought here are new.

I see, thanks again Wade for all the good advice. I might go with Jax and his 250k gearbox, but still keeping an eye out until next week. I hope to start the work on 1st of november.

Ideally I'd drive back (or towed if the car doesn't make it) to dubai and have everything done there but we had big issues coming into Oman because our LC is RHD (south africa import).
After 2 days of negotiations and the help of consulate of Oman in Dubai, we managed to get in the country. If we go out now, i'm not sure we'll be able to reenter. There's still a lot we want to explore in Oman.

Weird that dexol told me that about L and R being connected, 2 other mechanics told me the same thing in Muscat so I assumed it was true. For them, it was not a surprised L was broken after seeing R not working.

For now I haven't found a transmission with less than 300k in Muscat. Dexol doesn't offer to search for one, they can only repair the existing gearbox with dexol parts. But they will swap if I bring the part. They advised me to do so for better longevity rather than repairing with aftermarket parts.

 

[artisan2demain]

H

For the transfer case shifter, since you never used it.... did you have your transmission in Neutral?

Hello, transfercase shifter has always been on H from when bought it 5 years ago till today.
Never felt the need to shift to L when off-roading.
Maybe I made a mistake ?

 

[DubaiLC100]

H

Hello, transfercase shifter has always been on H from when bought it 5 years ago till today.
Never felt the need to shift to L when off-roading.
Maybe I made a mistake ?

Dont think it is related, but I am no expert. My suggestion would be to shift it every now and then to avoid "freezing" so if the time comes you can actually use it when needed. So shift it when in N, as when you have it in P you need a whole lot of power to pull it to L

 

[Wadepat2]

I see, thanks again Wade for all the good advice. I might go with Jax and his 250k gearbox, but still keeping an eye out until next week. I hope to start the work on 1st of november.

Ideally I'd drive back (or towed if the car doesn't make it) to dubai and have everything done there but we had big issues coming into Oman because our LC is RHD (south africa import).
After 2 days of negotiations and the help of consulate of Oman in Dubai, we managed to get in the country. If we go out now, i'm not sure we'll be able to reenter. There's still a lot we want to explore in Oman.

Weird that dexol told me that about L and R being connected, 2 other mechanics told me the same thing in Muscat so I assumed it was true. For them, it was not a surprised L was broken after seeing R not working.

For now I haven't found a transmission with less than 300k in Muscat. Dexol doesn't offer to search for one, they can only repair the existing gearbox with dexol parts. But they will swap if I bring the part. They advised me to do so for better longevity rather than repairing with aftermarket parts.

Ahh maybe I misunderstood. You mean L and R on the auto shifter are not working? Since we were talking about transfer case also I thought they were saying the L on the H-L transfer case shifter was linked. Auto trans and transfer Case not linked but Reverse and L (1st gear) is linked. Fix is the same though. Need a new auto transmission

 

[artisan2demain]

I've had a coulpe people in Dubai telling me I should get my transmission repaired with Dexol parts rather than taking my luck with a +20yo transmission from a yard.
What do you guys think ?

 

[artisan2demain]

Y

Ahh maybe I misunderstood. You mean L and R on the auto shifter are not working? Since we were talking about transfer case also I thought they were saying the L on the H-L transfer case shifter was linked. Auto trans and transfer Case not linked but Reverse and L (1st gear) is linked. Fix is the same though. Need a new auto transmission.

YES this is what multiple mechanics said : R on auto shifter is connected to L of transfer case.
Do you confirm ?

 

[Wadepat2]

Y

YES this is what multiple mechanics said : R on auto shifter is connected to L of transfer case.
Do you confirm ?

Haha no the circles in red could both have issue from breaking but the blue wouldn't be directly broken along with red .

I could be wrong. Definitely not a auto expert. Anyone else agree with this or is there a common issue with reverse breaking and affecting low range on case?

 

[2020 Rocks]

I've had a coulpe people in Dubai telling me I should get my transmission repaired with Dexol parts rather than taking my luck with a +20yo transmission from a yard.
What do you guys think ?

If there is someone competent to rebuild the transmission IMHO that's a safer bet than a roll of the dice on a used one.

 

[awesomeissquid]

Haha no the circles in red could both have issue from breaking but the blue wouldn't be directly broken along with red .

I could be wrong. Definitely not a auto expert. Anyone else agree with this or is there a common issue with reverse breaking and affecting low range on case?

View attachment 3148949

You are correct

 

[MountaineerLC]

Haha no the circles in red could both have issue from breaking but the blue wouldn't be directly broken along with red .

I could be wrong. Definitely not a auto expert. Anyone else agree with this or is there a common issue with reverse breaking and affecting low range on case?

View attachment 3148949

Correct, a failure of the transmission will not affect the transfer case and vice versa.

OP, the fact you can't shift from high range to low range isn't particularly surprising considering you've never done it. The shift mechanism can become frozen if not used for an extended amount of time. That is a separate problem and independent of your transmission issue.

As far and rebuilding goes, I don't know anything about Dexol. I do know that transmission failures are very uncommon in these vehicles. Unless Dexol has some very skilled mechanics and very high quality parts I'd probably lean towards a swap vs a rebuild with non Toyota parts.

 

[artisan2demain]

Thank you guys!
I'm negotiating a warranty of 2 weeks off the used gearbox I found (250k on the clock).
It should give me time to do the swap and try it out and know if there are any issues with it, right ?
Asking price is 2000$

I understand about the transfercase being stuck, it makes sense.
What doesn't is those 3 different mechanics that all said in a matter of minutes that transmission R was connected to transfercase L ...
They're very used to LC100 4.7 down here so I don't know how they could make such a big mistake.
Either way it doesn't confort me with doing the work at Dexol, as they told me the same thing over there.

 

[Wadepat2]

Haha there are crazy number of Land Cruisers here but they are out numbered only by terrible mechanics and garages.

I have been told by every shop i went to that LC 100s don't need prop shafts greased and they don't have grease Zirk. Then I show them and they swear they have never seen them before. They are on all LC shafts. Another example, every shop claims the oil in my newly converted manual transmission is lifetime 140w. Those big gearboxs just shift clunky because it's all time 4wd. They do 2wd conversion to fix. I fixed it by using the Toyota recommended oil. Shifts perfectly .
I could go on for days. Lots or parts here but the only reason there are so many Land Cruisers still on the road in the region is because Toyota made them to last and no rust.

The knowledge on this forum has saved me thousands and has never sent me down the wrong path yet.

Pic attached of a442f auto with the transfer case separated from each other. Reverse and 4 fwd gears contained in the auto. High and low gear contained in the transfer case.

 

[artisan2demain]

Haha there are crazy number of Land Cruisers here but they are out numbered only by terrible mechanics and garages.

I have been told by every shop i went to that LC 100s don't need prop shafts greased and they don't have grease Zirk. Then I show them and they swear they have never seen them before. They are on all LC shafts. Another example, every shop claims the oil in my newly converted manual transmission is lifetime 140w. Those big gearboxs just shift clunky because it's all time 4wd. They do 2wd conversion to fix. I fixed it by using the Toyota recommended oil. Shifts perfectly .
I could go on for days. Lots or parts here but the only reason there are so many Land Cruisers still on the road in the region is because Toyota made them to last and no rust.

The knowledge on this forum has saved me thousands and has never sent me down the wrong path yet.

Pic attached of a442f auto with the transfer case separated from each other. Reverse and 4 fwd gears contained in the auto. High and low gear contained in the transfer case.

View attachment 3150019

Thank God someone recommended I ask about my transmission on this forum... I've always trusted mechanics because how unknowledgeable I am in mechanics (also because the LC never had major issues like this). I guess that teaches me a lesson!

The picture couldn't explain things better. It's crystal clear both are not connected. Thank you!
Also, now I know that I have to grease my prop shafts!

Jax's transmission is half the price of other guys offers. I've had 2 offers at 7000aed and Jax asks for 2600aed, how come there's such a big gap ?

He sent me pictures of the LC he got it from :

The air filter shows that previous owner pushed the car a little bit.
Do you guys think that the transmission has also been abused in anyway ? Car had 250k on the clock

 

[artisan2demain]

Here are pics of the transmission taken from that LC :

It looks clean...

 

[Wadepat2]

Here are pics of the transmission taken from that LC : View attachment 3150040View attachment 3150041
It looks clean...

No real way to tell on abuse etc but I do know Jax will warranty it.
The price he gave is way more in line with what I would expect a used scrap yard transmission to cost here. I don't know him that well but I'm sure his prices are cheaper because his and his families shop are well known for manual conversions. He got my perfectly good auto and I'm pretty sure he got the auto in the picture as part of the swap. He keeps the auto and charges 5500 aed for a manual trans without the other parts. Sounds like a pretty good business haha

 

[artisan2demain]

No real way to tell on abuse etc but I do know Jax will warranty it.
The price he gave is way more in line with what I would expect a used scrap yard transmission to cost here. I don't know him that well but I'm sure his prices are cheaper because his and his families shop are well known for manual conversions. He got my perfectly good auto and I'm pretty sure he got the auto in the picture as part of the swap. He keeps the auto and charges 5500 aed for a manual trans without the other parts. Sounds like a pretty good business haha

I'm having second doubts...

I've talked with Jax today and he says this transmission (on the pics) is not the original of that LC. He already did the swap 50k prior for the current owner who wrecked the original gearbox towing +400kg. Now he's swapping this auto gearbox (that he's selling to me) for a manual because owner wants to make this LC 100% offroad.

I'm worried he already started to go crazy in dunes with during the previous 50k and have no idea who owned it for the 200k remaining...

 

[awesomeissquid]

In my opinion, I think your second thoughts are valid. Both from the information you learned about it being a second transmission for the vehicle and from seeing the engine bay the transmission came out of, I don’t think I would go for that one.

From my knowledge the intake on that vehicle is not stock and they have cut up the engine cover. Neither of these things are particularly bad, but in my eyes it means they are pushing the vehicle.

 

[Wadepat2]

I'm having second doubts...

I've talked with Jax today and he says this transmission (on the pics) is not the original of that LC. He already did the swap 50k prior for the current owner who wrecked the original gearbox towing +400kg. Now he's swapping this auto gearbox (that he's selling to me) for a manual because owner wants to make this LC 100% offroad.

I'm worried he already started to go crazy in dunes with during the previous 50k and have no idea who owned it for the 200k remaining...

Definitely makes a difference knowing this. Would likely choose another one but again no real way to know. At least he sounded like he was being honest. Not that common when buying used parts.

Just to add, very heavy towing and lack of maintenance would be bad and sounds likely on that trans. Crazy in dunes with stock 2uz doesn't even start to hurt these transmissions from what I see. Mine and many others have seen lots of desert riding. Slow up a mountain with a heavy overland is likely much harder on an auto.

I have heard good things about Dexol here in Dubai if you end up here. Of course Dexol in Oman should still offer a warranty. What was the quoted price for rebuild?

 

[artisan2demain]

Thanks guys for sharing your thoughts. I'll keep searching for another transmission. I'll keep you posted on here.
Yes Jax was honest and answered all my questions about the histoire of that LC.

Dexol in Oman gave me an approximate quote of 900 omani rials for the rebuilt. However they didn't open the transmission so diagnosis isn't 100% accurate.
It was them who told me it would be more reliable and long term to bring a used gearbox from Sharjah than repair mine with dexol parts...

 

[cruiserbrett]

Sorry to read about your misfortune regarding the transmission!

Can’t say one way or the other which direction to go, but torque converter lockup clutches do wear out, so replace with rebuilt/new if possible. And rebuilt means someone that can cut the convertor open and replace linings, weld back and true/balance it. Not that many shops do that kind of work…

BTW, what rear bumper brand is that? Looks nice and functional.