Nightmare!

[ant]

I've owned my 3.0TD (manual) Surf for over three years and have enjoyed completely trouble free motoring until last Sunday. My wife and I had driven the car to a friends house the night before (about 30 miles round trip) with no problems whatsoever. On Sunday morning my wife drove the car about 3 miles down the road to pick up one of my young sons from a sleepover.
When she got back, she said that the car had been losing power on the way back. I thought it was probably just the fuel filter that needed changing, a job I'd been meaning to do for some time.
I actually changed the fuel filter and afterwards thought I'd just take it round the block. It was then that I realised that things were a bit more serious than I'd first suspected. I was revving the engine but was struggling to reach 1mph! When I revved the engine it was making a nasty whirring and sort of metal on metal s$$$$ing sound. Going into 4wd hardly made any difference.Eventually I had to get a recovery vehicle come and take it off to CCB (where I bought it from). They still have it but have only had a quick look so far but say it looks like the gearbox(manual) or transfer box. My initial thougths are- if it was the gearbox, surely we would have had problems before it finally went, it was literally overnight.
Has anyone else experienced similar. If it is the gearbox, any idea how much this is going to cost?
Cheers
Ant.

[da SLUG man]

what mode were you driving in?

4wd with the transfer lever pulled back is not good, but if just with the button pressed then that's ok... (that's if it's a 3rd gen?... or is it a late 2nd??)

does the engine sound ok in neutral?

it is a manual, right??... the auto has a safety "get home" mode which limits t if there's a problem

[ant]

I just momentarily put it into 4wd to see if it would actually get me back to my drive(about 50 metres) this made no difference.
It is a manual and a P reg (96 I think).
Ant.

[da SLUG man]

so, when in gear, it revs but doesn't go anywhere??


does the noise change when you depress the clutch?... is the clutch slipping?

[ant]

When I rev, I move forward but very slowly regardless of how much I accelerate. When I depress the clutch the sound doesn't change. When I intitially tried to get it towed to the garage (we gave up due to numerous rope breakeges), it did momentarily seem to cure itself, only to go again when I turned a corner( this was only a matter of metres though).
When we tried to push it with the brake off and in neutral, it didn't want to budge almost as if it was in gear.
Ant.

[da SLUG man]

sounds like it's in 4wd low???

i was gonna say clutch problem, but i don't really know???

[ant]

I've tried it in all modes, no difference. Guess I'll just have to wait for the news from the garage.
Cheers

Ant.

[Vagrant No2]

Clutch burnt out by the sounds of it . If gearbox or transfer box goes you normaly lose all drive and wont move at all.

[DaveD]

had similar probs years ago in a VW van and twas the clutch that had gone..

[Sancho]

Sounds like a clutch problem to me. I used to have an Astra where you had to tighten the clutch before every journey in order to achieve motion. I think maybe I should've got that fixed.

When I learned to drive, my instructor was always reminding me not to leave my foot on the clutch pedal because that's what burns them out. Maybe you should check the wife's left shoe for incriminating evidence.

Shouldn't be too big a deal anyway.

[ant]

I remember my wife saying that she drove down an unmade road which got narrower and narrower and it was getting darker. She had to reverse all the way out back to the main road and she said there was a lot of smoke coming out of the engine when she stopped. Since then the clutch has made a slight whining noise every time she pulls away. Of course if it does turn out to be the clutch and I mention this I'll just get accused of blaming her for eveything!

Ant.

[Medieval Dave]

I Of course if it does turn out to be the clutch and I mention this I'll just get accused of blaming her for eveything!

Ant.

Best say nowt then. But it does sound like clutch to me.

[Bikenuts]

"When I revved the engine it was making a nasty whirring and sort of metal on metal s$$$$ing sound"

Had exactly this when my Dual Mass Flywheel died - don't panic too much; new flywheel, spigot bearing ,fly wheel bolts and a 3 part cluth kit cost 550 pounds including fitting, which is no more than a straight forward clutch change on a lot of cars.

[legendgamesmaster]

related issue - wouldnt budge an inch

on a similar track....
The diff went on my merc auto, so it simply wouldnt move. could rev it, but not move it. had to leave it inthe middle of the road, everyone who went past cussed and shouted 'move the car you t*&t' - should have asked them to push it! when the RAC pulled it up the trailer, they had to drag it!!
expensive repair too

[ant]

Nightmare Update.

"When I revved the engine it was making a nasty whirring and sort of metal on metal s$$$$ing sound"

Had exactly this when my Dual Mass Flywheel died - don't panic too much; new flywheel, spigot bearing ,fly wheel bolts and a 3 part cluth kit cost 550 pounds including fitting, which is no more than a straight forward clutch change on a lot of cars.

This is exactly what it turned out to be.CCB replaced it with a non Toyota part which was cheaper and is apparently more reliable as it is a solid unit instead of a complicated assembly. It cost a bit more than you mentioned-about £800.00. As this was less than I had calculated, wasn't too upset.
Anyway the main thing is, I'm back on the road and thanks everyone for your suggestions!

Ant