Ma Gearboxes... Really Such A Crap?

[Guest torbes]

Hello there

 

My little TU1M-forever´s gearbox died this summer... After a broken clutch, which apparently damaged the bearings of the layshaft (i think!) there was a massive grumbling and sqeaking while driving in the 1st and 2nd gear...

 

The broken clutch (the springs of the disc and its mounting broke) caused the car to stop, even a gear was selected... Suddenly, the car jumped forward two or three times (pieces of the broken clutch caused contact??) with a loud knock... i think this was too much for the gearboxes bearings....

 

Also there was a very rouch sound to hear, when shifting to "neutral" and releasing the clutch...

 

Afters that, we replaced the faulty gearbox... The "new one" has once been mounted to an 205er look... mileage unknown

 

Anyway... The new gearbox got mounted into my car... runs quite smooth.... but it´s got also a silent rumbling, when you shift to "neutral" and release the clutch...

 

From another GT-Driver (Tu3m)... i heard the same phenomenon... He swapped the whole engine (also the gearbox) and had also that grumbling sound (with both gearboxes)...

 

Are that MA-Boxes really such a crap? especially with higher mileages?

 

Have you made similar experiences... or are these typically german problems ?

 

cheers, tob

Edited November 26, 2009 by torbes

[Matt180 31]

that sounds like a clutch release bearing to me!

[DamirGTI 342]

True , they're a bit crap quality and not only on these old peuegot models but on new ones as well , like on 206 cars (they have MA boxes as well..) .. differential and input shaft bearings being the weakest point from my perspective ..

 

Damir

[welshpug 1,661]

yep, they aren't the best gearbox Peugeot have used!

[Guest torbes]

Hey Damir!

 

Your opinion matches mine

 

Probably in case of my gearboxes (and in the cases of the other guy´s boxes ) the input-shaft bearings were crappy....

 

i hope they will not fail immediately O.o

 

Has anyone changed/repaired such a bearing?

 

@ Matt...

 

The sound matches exactly the sound coming from faulty release-bearings... But it can only be heard if the clutch is NOT pressed down...

 

My "Forever" actually makes terrible sounds when accelerating... sounds like the rumbling from the Tire/Street-Contact transferes directly on the chassis...

 

Sometimes a rough sounds appears... just for one or two seconds... Sounding like an aeroplane... "wwrrooooom"...

 

There must something be faulty... O.o time to seek the fox.

 

Thank you for your statements and opinions.... And sorry for the bad, humbly english.... But i am from Bavaria in Germany... that´s where we eat "weisswurscht" und "Leberkässemmel" :-)

 

cheers, tob

Edited November 26, 2009 by torbes

[ORB 227 1 Cars]

Not sure if it was indeed an MA box, but I bought my wife a Saxo VTS brand new in March 2003, it had three boxes in it under warranty (three years) and I put another in it just before I sold the car 3 months ago. I swapped the las one myself as I was not paying Citroen to do it after the warranty was out. I installed one from a guy who recons them from Ebay. He told me that if I take the removed one to bits the problem could be anywhere, he was wrong, I stripped it, it was fooked pretty much everywhere. Bent teeth, wrecked bearings and the diff had locked itself. The best bit was that the reverse gear had only 12 teeth left.

 

s*it.

[welshpug 1,661]

yup, that's an MA box at its limits in a standard car orb! I can't remember who or where the specs were found, but the torque limit of the box isnt particularly high, vauge recollection of 120 lbft's springs to mind!! the BE boxes are near twice this I think.

[Sandy 191]

It's largely down to how they're treated! For example, two of my customers running identical fresh MA boxes in the Combe Saloons, with identical engines, one was rebuilding almost every race, the other almost went the whole season, until an angry moment screwed it!

[Tandoh 17]

Its the clutch release bearings as said before.

Our Rallye is the same, but it hasnt caused any problems yet!

[welshpug 1,661]

I think I must be servicing for a very angry Rally driver Sandy

 

I think rallying can be a lot harsher to them though, depends how much a race driver likes hopping kerbs I suppose!

 

One thought has occured to me, what with the discussions about choosing between plate diffs and the ATB diffs like the Quaife, would an MA last longer with a plate diff as the unloaded wheel never stops turning, as this is one way they get massive loads through them.

 

I have heard that its the Synchro hubs that go on many higher powered cars, not experienced that myself though, only worn out/broken differentials, several cracked casings, and teeth stripped off a Peugeot Sport France Pinion

[sam jfm 0]

from what i can tell of the two i have stipped, its the diff that gets worn so then you have big bits of metal all over the gearbox!

[oz. 2]

It seems that Peugeot don't specialise in cars but also in chocolate