FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hi all.
Well, a prick of a night has been & gone ::). I am a technical advisor at a large Tasmanian Baking firm. Issues with a product, have made me run around chasing my arse for the last week :'(. Finally fixed the problem (Staff member who thought to change a process!!), then hopped into the old FC wagon (grin on the face for solving a big issue ;D)  to drive the 5 klm home. Just before I left, the owner of the business, mouthed off about the age of my wagon.
"Get stuffed Pal" I replied.
"This car will outlast your NEW Subaru"!!!! :P
3klm down the road, 50 mph, CLUNK, GRIND & SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH, the rear wheel locks up & I come to a screaming halt in peak hour traffic :o :o :o.  I do NOT know how the cars behind me missed slamming me, but I thanked the guy behind me when I got out.
At this stage, still unsure what had happened.
"Bloody diff" I thought!!
I got the car into first & drove home at 15mph.
As I pulled up, the gearbox was SO Frigging HOT the paint was smoking.
It turns out, after I took the plate off the bottom of the gearbox (Being HOT, I suspected issues there), that it was bone dry. NO OIL!! :-[
I have realised, I have TOTALLY stuffed an excellent gearbox because I was too slack to check the oil.
I always check the motor, but never bothered with the gearbox.
A lesson here. Just because it doesn't SEEM to leak, & it sounds alright, PLEASE have a look.
I was bloody close to causing a big accident, because I insist on driving an old car. OK if you maintain it perfectly, but if you slack off,
PROBLEMS!!
Anyway, I hope you all go out & check your gearbox oil levels. As I will do weekly from now on. :-/
Regards,
Rob J

Everybodies checking there ÖILS"as we Speak . Thanks for the Lesson . And PS your FC will outlast that Pricks Subaru , But when His gearbox goes , It will cost him Shitloads to Repair. At least FCS look stylish even when there Broken down.

As long as Mr Smartarse in the Subaru didn't see you.  That could take some living down...

Like checking diff oil levels, it's a pain to do, but it is important.  I had a similar experience in my wagon once, but it was the diff that locked up.  Same cause :-/

RET

I haven't had this pleasure yet but I will definately be checking my oil. We all learn by others mistakes, Many thanks Kev..

Hey, it's not your fault.
That box was full when you made that last stop, it was the guy in the Subie who let the oil out. Check his boot for spanners. :):):):):):)
Glad you and the car survived your lesson.
Regards
Alex

Yes,
Mr Suburu did see me wander into work this morning (On foot) & asked where the "Wonder Wagon" was.  ::)
I told him the story & we both had a bit of a laugh.  ;D
I then went onto tell  him, that I could guarantee his Suburu wouldn't be around in 20 years time.
"Not my problem" he replied!!
"It is only leased through work (His business), so he couldn't care less".
Good point  I suppose, I reckon I should just shut up & consider it a lesson well learned. :-X
But it was an experience I must say. There is NOTHING like a BIG scare to get the pulse going.
Not a problem though, I will get the beast back on the road this long weekend.
Rob J

Hi all,
         I am pretty handy when it comes to fixing my own cars having had a good mechanical upbringing, so it pains me to tell this embarassing tale that happened to me. :-/

I purchase the Street Machine magazine and I love one of the regular articles called Dirty Stuff, it is written by a mechanic who recounts his daily experiences in the workshop and his dealings with the odd moron. :P

One silly bloke had his gearbox recoed by this workshop and sucessfully put it back into his car.  The next day the car was placed on the trailer and taken to the drag strip where it did a great 1/4 mile blast, during the slowdown at the end of the strip things didn't sound too good. When the plug was pulled on the box brass shavings came out (the synchros), BUT NO OIL.
Our mate had removed and forgotten about the big red tag that said "BOX CONTAINS NO OIL" that the workshop had wired to the box  :'(

Anyway back to me, I thought to myself, what an idiot, who is that dumb, knuckhead, stupid idiot, loser and a couple of other things I won't mention and had a good old chuckle to myself. :D

Untill one day when I busted a couple of teeth on the ring gear of the diff on my VH commodore, no probs says me and got a diff from the wrecker. I changed it over one night and worked late as I needed it the next day to go to work.

I drained out the old diff oil, bolted it up in the car, placed the car on the ground and took off down the road ( notice how I left out -filled with new oil-) :-[

Not far down the road I heard birds singing, it was at that stage that I had a really bad feeling ( wonder why)
I pulled over, walked back home and picked up the pump and diff oil, on the way back to the car I was thinking about the things I had thought about our mate with the gearbox, Boy did I have egg on my face.
The diff survived ok luckily. :D

Happy oiling everyone!!!     Mikey :) :)

Poor Rob,  try to remember with all old holdens whether it is gearbox,  diff,  engine,  slave cylinder or what ever,  if it doesn,t leak then you have a problem, after all is that not what holden stands for :  Holes,  Oil Leaks,  Dents, Engine nocks  ??
Also, you only need to check your gearbox and diff oil when you change your engine oil,  you dont need to do it every week.
Russ Bates   FCPV  has many oil leaks that I see  ?