Ladies and gentlemen, I have a problem with my bus...

[wobbly]

Hello. I've just arrived home on the back of a recovery truck due to an auto 'box problem, & could do with some advice. The situation is as follows:

- I've just fitted a towbar. Took me several days, on and off, but all done.
- We towed our caravan (approx 600 kgs) ~5 miles home on Wednesday, and then ~50 miles yesterday. The bus behaved fine, albeit very slow on some hills - the temperature gauge stayed in its usual place, although it did tremble around sometimes - I'm not sure whether this is because the needle cannot go any higher (although it sits on the cold side of halfway across the dial) & was trying to read higher. One occasional undue warning light - the orange oilcan symbol with the 'waves' underneath it - although I checked oil & auto transmission fluid & both were okay.
- While putting the caravan onto the plot yesterday, I pressed the 4WD button (although the front hubs weren't locked) & tried to put the bus into Low gear (although the lever didn't really move & no extra lights came on, so I assume nothing happened with this).
- When trying to go out yesterday evening, the bus was revving to 3000+ revs, but not changing gear. Left the bus overnight & tried again, and the same happened. I then tried fiddling with the 4WD button & the Low gear lever while the engine was running with no positive change, but somehow the throttle stop seemed to have moved upwards in some way so the engine wouldn't rev so high.

So, I'm hoping that I haven't cooked or otherwise knackered the gearbox, by:

- Accidentally being in Low gear, which means low revs & no up-changes.
- Being low on auto fluid, or the fluid not being any good (it's roughly grey-coloured, rather than red) although the low A/T Fluid light hasn't come on & does work.

Please could someone who has more experience than me advise what I should do next - we need to decide whether we still want to tow & therefore whether we should change vehicles, but I need to get the bus working in any case.

Thanks very much!

[lisboa]

auto oil should be red not grey this one should be changed asp if temp is low reading might not have a state .also change coolant and do a 50/50 mix and a good flush of the rad incase it is blocked the 4 wd on this i can not give any answers to but some one will good luck

[SAVA9E]

4WD button

although the front hubs weren't locked

what sort of bus is this cause it aint an Estima

[wobbly]

Nope, she's a '93-model TownAce.

[SAVA9E]

Originally Posted by wobbly

Nope, she's a '93-model TownAce.

A-HA that explains that then

[E5TMA]

Originally Posted by SAVA9E

A-HA that explains that then

The clue would be that it`s posted in "ACE CHAT"......

[wobbly]

Didn't want to mention that bit...

Anyway, the gearbox....

[Old Bird]

My temp has always gone up a bit when towing, and I've recently changed the autobox fluid....and the garage didn't fill it quite to the line and I found it was running a bit warmer.

As for the grey fluid....don't panic....change it when you can, but I ran mine black for 3 yrs....

The best one to tell you what is going on will either be Bob, when he gets back from the meet, or Clive might have an idea.....

These motors will run a bit warmer if the engine oil or the box fluid is low....or if the rad/rads are clogged.

If you are 4x4, then it will be more than likely that you will have a second rad that lies flat just above the air con rad. I have on mine, and Glyn took that off and flushed it out, and it was like thick brown soup coming out of it.....so try getting that off and flushing it well.

I too have used the button and the high/low lever but not had the hubs locked....but mine just went back to normal after use....so I don't know about that one.....

Ang x

[Townaceclive]

I would guess that you are stuck in a low gear?

Does it rev past 3000 in park/neutral?

[wobbly]

Right, I've had some more thoughts & a chat with someone round the corner.

- How far is the high/low lever supposed to move? I presume the length of the slot. Secondly, how easy is it supposed to be to move the lever, and is it a straight pull-back or is there any pushing down or pulling up of the lever needed? I know the gearbox/transfer box was changed last year & I don't think the low gear bit has been used since then.
- Selector forks - my neighbour thinks this may be the issue as, if one has snapped, it may be stopping something from working, or might have stuck the bus in low gear only. The hi-lo lever didn't move when I tried it, but it's possible it moved enough to jam some gubbins somewhere.
- The bus was revving to 3000 or thereabouts - possibly higher - originally, but wasn't going that high later. I haven't yet checked the throttle cable etc again, but will be doing so when it's not raining.
- The gearbox does go into reverse & drive, just doesn't shift up into second. I know nothing about auto boxes, but that would be possible with low gear on, but may point towards the gearbox not being at fault if it's not in low?
- I'm not (too) worried about the cooling at the moment as I've never had a problem, but I was planning on getting Bob to give the bus a service anyway, however the gearbox problem takes precedence at the mo.

Thanks for the suggestions - I didn't realise there was a meet going on this weekend.