I've recently had a new gearbox and transfer motor box fitted on my 2004 Td6.

I knew that this was going to happen before I even bought the car but there was so much conflicting info on the net that I found it hard to work out what was happening when it did actually go.

Therefore I thought it may be useful to people searching for info if I gave a blow by blow account of how mine came to die

So:

85k
I start getting the odd 'BONG transferbox neutral'
Car is starting to get slow selecting a forward gear. Perhaps 2-3 seconds before 1st engages
Have gearbox oil flushed and replaced, forward gear selection delay down to about a second
All well for a few months

90k
'BONG transferbox neutral' is back, along with 'BONG Trans Failsafe Prog'
Have fault codes read and cleared, well respected indy suggests gearbox and/or transfer motor box is on way out


95k
A noticable but very faint judder when cruising along at low (10-25mph) speeds.

100k:
My car was bonging the above two messages approximately every 10-20 seconds and was driving me absolutely batshit. Gearbox very slow to engage a gear (up to 6/7 seconds), clunky changes and holding gears way to long, even on the flat.

That was it, in to my indy, recon gearbox fitted (£1800 inc VAT and fitting, good deal I thought), transfer motor box replaced (£850 inc VAT and fitting).

Now all is well apart from my wallet feeling a little bit battered.

Hope this helps anyone who is looking for info. Obviously it can be different but I would suggest that a combination of the above, especially slow to engage a gear and 'trans failsafe prog' is likely to mean a new gearbox.

Have you had the old units stripped down to asses them at all or did you just scrap them as even battered box's can be worth a bit as they take them back to recon them for someone else  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

The gearbox went back as part ex against the recon one I got.

The transfer motor got binned as it was completely borked.

Do you think you could pm me with where you had the work done .. I see, like me you're in North Yorkshire, and it's always good to know a recommended gearbox repairer I think mine could be showing early symptoms

PM sent

Could you please send me the details as it looks like im soon going to join the gearbox club  Current Stable:
Range Rover 2003 TD6 HSE Alveston Red, Sand Leather
Ford Focus C-Max silver 2003
V/W transporter Blue 1995
Yamaha XJR1300 Yellow 2002
Kawasaki ZX7R Green 1998
Honda CBR 600 Black 1998
Yamaha RD125LC Mk1 Red 1986
Yamaha RD125LC Mk1 Blue 1986

Theres a cheap place that advertise on ebay recon units and TC's and offer a fitting service in Rotherham if it helps though i don't know of anyone on here who has used them for people that are a bit further south  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

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Just thought I'd chime in here... I'm not sure that cheap is the way to go. Theres a huge amount of info re these gearboxes and what could be the causes of the failures. Mine failed catastrophically with what seemed to be a piece of metal that came from 'somewhere' and lodged in the very fine planetary gear set. which mashed it totally. Word is that the valve block is made of poor quality alloy which wears an then pieces of debris float around the box not ding any good. When I had mine rebuilt the very trustworthy rebuilder offered me the option of just replacing all the worn parts or doing things like upgrading the valve blocks with steel inserts etc. More expensive obviously but there is a fair a mount of labour cost in just getting the box in and out, which I wanted to avoid repeating. Didn't want to part with a large amount of cash and find the repair didn't last very long. Many rebuilders cut their costs to the bone for greater profit, perhaps better to go to a rebuilder who measures everything and gives you the option of replacing the parts that you feel happiest with. These gearboxes are after all right up to their maximum torque handling spec in this vehicle and are also lugging along up to 3 tones with maybe another 3.5 tones of trailer. Remember also that they are the specced gearbox in cars as light as a BMW 320 auto !
Oh and don't forget the oil debacle! Did the rebuilder fill with the correct oil or because he's on a budget is it any old oil...
I guess the length of the warranty is the clue - 3 months and you are really taking your chances, 12 months and 10000 miles a lot better..