[Swift Phil]

Hi all. Have owned my 4x4 for about 9 months and last week with no warning and 26000 miles on the clock the Transfer box failed. And did it fail. Fortunately I have an extended warranty and the dealership have been brilliant and I now have a repaired car. But I am now seriously concerned that it can happen again and I will be left with the bill. I asked the dealership service manager about exchanging it for a 2 wheel drive and his advice being that he has fitted a genuine Vauxhall modified box and I should not have any more problems. Has anyone else got the modified box and what are you views please.

 

[Dulac]

Swift Phil - glad it is resolved; what are your vehicle details? It helps others if you add them to your personal details so they appear as a footer to your posts.

What do you understand to be a 'modified box'? The implication is that a fault has been recognised and now overcome by the manufacturer.

 

[Bigjohnsparky]

Hi Phil
Glad you have had the transfer boxed replaced under warrenty

You say it has a genuine Vauxhall modified transfer box fitted
Does it stat this on the paperwork re works done and if so then would it be possible to take a pic (your personal details removed) of this and post it on this forum as if it is a modified transfer box. Vauxhall have then acknowledged that there was a fault with the original transfer boxes fitted and this will help others on the forum.
If it is a modified transfer box then this is the 1st one fitted

 

[Swift Phil]

Will try to answer both questions as I can see the relevance in asking.
Car is Antara Diamond CDTI S/S 4x4 Manual
As for the documentation I was just glad to have got the car back without a huge cost. I discussed with the service manager the option of changing to a 2 wheel drive and he said it was a modified box and not to concern myself too much. he said he had replaced this box before but had never had an issue with the replacement. I don't have any paperwork but I will now ask for some and will keep the forum updated

 

[Bigjohnsparky]

That would be of great help to the forum members if you could manage to get something stating re “modified transfer box fitted”
If the vx service manager will not give you a copy of the parts replaced then I would say they have fitted a standard transfer box plus if you have a copy of the works this would be of great value as you have a modified transfer box fitted and not a standard transfer box when the time comes when you sell in years to come

VX dealer only has to print off your vehicles history and works done any recall works done from new by VX dealership.

About adding your vehicle details this link will help doing so

http://www.antaraownersclub.com/for...r-antara-to-your-signature-box_topic3284.html

 

[kevin b]

Have you had the car from new.

 

[Swift Phil]

Can anyone tell me any statistics regarding frequency of the transfer box failyer. Having just had mine replaced at 26000 miles is it inevitable that it will fail again? What mileage can I expect before it goes again? I tow my caravan about 2000 miles a year will this cause problems. Only had it a few months and now unsure whether to keep it.

 

[Victor]

If you go to the search box at the top of the page and look for transfer box you'll find a lot of info. I don't think anyone has collected any meaningful data about failure rates etc. It's not unusual to have failures with transfer boxes on 4 x 4 vehicles with a whole lot of variables in the causes.

 

[Victor]

I don't think there is anything 'modified' transfer box, no one else has heard anything of it.
Bristol Transmissions had some advertised much cheaper than teh Vauxhall prices being bandied around:
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http://www.bristoltransmissions.co.uk/shop/home/155-antara-22-transfer-box.html

GM 23247712 Transfer box for 2.2 Diesel with Auto Transmission

Reference: BTL3090 Condition: New product Vauxhall Antara
transfer box

Fits automatic. (GM6T40/50) OE Number GM 23247712 £2,240 tax inc.

http://www.bristoltransmissions.co.uk/shop/transfer-boxes/115-vauxhall-antara-22-transfer-box.html

GM 23247713 Transfer box for 2.2 Diesel with Manual
Transmission

Reference: BTL3091 Condition: New product Vauxhall Antara
2.2 Transfer Box/Case

Fits Manual transmission only. £1,560 tax inc.

Warning: Last items in stock! Carriage quoted only for UK customers

Please ensure tyres are matched, correct size and pressures.
Worn or incorrect tyre sizes will cause premature failure of transfer box and
invalidate any warranty

 

[Dulac]

A question put to Honest John, the motoring journalist, and his brief and to the point reply. I think I'll check my tyres in the morning!

<div style="margin-bottom:2em;">
<h2>
<div ="subject-">Can worn tyres put enough pressure on the transfer box to crack the casing?

</h2>
<div ="question-" style="max-width:590px;">
The transfer box on my 2013 Vauxhall Antara requires
replaced as the bearing exploded and cracked open the casing. The garage
have informed me that although all my tyres are well above the legal
limit, and it had passed its MOT only 3 weeks ago, that one of the tyres
has more wear on it and this can put pressure on the transfer box. I
also have lifetime warranty or 100,000 miles but they are saying I
cannot claim against this and have to pay £4100 for a new one. Is this
all true?


Asked on 6 March 2017 by Kenneth Christie




<div style=":left; width:120px; margin-right:20px; text-align:center;">

Answered by
HonestJohn





<div style="margin-left:140px;">
<div ="-" style="min-height:125px; _height:125px; margin-bottom:20px;">

<div ="answer-">
That is correct information. The disparity in tyre size has wrecked your transmission.

 

[Smidsy]

Since the 4wd is not permanently engaged surely the tyre pressure of the rear wheels cannot be that critical, other wise just putting a heavy weight in the boot would alter tyre diameter and cause damage, it has to be down to poor quality bearings, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Dulac]

I don't know. I do know that Honest John is respected in the trade and has excellent contacts with skilled people on the subject of cars and their correct use. Perhaps someone out there is an expert on transfer box design and operation and might throw some more light on the subject. Some Antaras have self-levelling suspension to compensate for awkward loads; perhaps this was installed with the transfer box in mind? Whatever, it seems pretty simple to keep the tyre pressures on target and don't use different tyres on the same axle. Emergency spare anyone?

It still seems odd that catastrophic damage occurs - and not just in the Vauxhall range. Check out BMW and Land Rover for starters.
I have seen no warning of transfer box failure concerning tyres in the Antara OM by the way and neither is there information concerning transfer box lubrication. Some of us believe it is not mentioned in the VX service schedule, to which we do not have access.

 

[chrisg]

Since the 4wd is not permanently engaged surely the tyre pressure of the rear wheels cannot be that critical, other wise just putting a heavy weight in the boot would alter tyre diameter and cause damage, it has to be down to poor quality bearings, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Probably, and/or poor design. There is a mod that can be carried out to prevent future damage, which would indicate poor design in the first place. Fortunately my Antara is a 2wd.Edited by: chrisg

 

[Dulac]

My earlier post was a little incorrect. There is advice in the OM (page 135 in mine):

Ensure tyres (including the spare) are
inflated to the correct pressure
and are suitable for the
prevailing road conditions. For
optimum system performance, the
vehicle's tyres should not have
varying degrees of wear.

However, there is no reference to the possible serious consequences of ignoring this advice - I wish there was. Further, there is a list of all the checks that should be carried out after 'off-roading'.

Looking at BMW, Land Rover and Kia sites they all point towards tyre irregularities being the cause of failures with transfer boxes. It seems the differences cause the sensors to operate as if a wheel is slipping. The BMW site refers to changing all four tyres - which is ridiculous. The Kia site recommends drawing a fuse to disable the 4WD feature and refers to Kia dealers being kept busy with transfer box issues. This is all news to me given that 4WD is associated with rugged conditions and the transmissions on a lot of vehicles across the spectrum are clearly not up to scratch, being too sensitive. My instincts tell me that if the Antara box had a design defect then they would all fail, but this doesn't seem to be the case as far as this forum goes. I wonder what the percentage of failures is? Premature failure of a bearing or oil seal is another matter; Sale of Goods Act and all that I guess.......

 

[Actionbat]

Hi all

I've recently joined the forum and purchased my 2013 Antara 3rd March this year and already fixed some of the little niggles it comes with such as the rear washers I now don't have a swimming pool in my boot lol

12th of March my transfer box gave up the ghost (52k) with no warning whatsoever fortunately my Antara is warranty covered so the garage I purchased it from picked up the bill. A brand new box was fitted at MT Transmissions in Sheffield totalling £1380.00.

I contacted Vauxhall (Rory Harvey is no longer there it's now Stephen Norman) as going forward I was concerned about reliability and asked has any modifications been made to the transfer box knowing that there are faults with it, in a nutshell the answer is no and apparently there are (quote) “no known issues with the transfer box and as such it is unfortunate that they can fail without warning as they are a mechanical part�

So...... my Antara's transfer box is sorted and running fine at the moment just got to find out where the squealing banshee is on the brakes now lmao 😂

 

[Dulac]

Welcome to the forum Actionbat. Did the original box destroy itself? £1380 seems a remarkable price for a brand new box compared to the £3500(ish) often quoted on the forum. Did the firm give you any advice regarding wheel disparity and correct oil?

 

[Actionbat]

I still had drive but it was clunking banging and crunching, AA recovery back to where I purchased it from at 2am

I spoke to Mark at MT Transmissions who informed me that it could not be reconditioned as Vauxhall will only supply a a brand new box. Advice I received was regarding tyres but to be honest logic tells me that a self levelling suspension (which mine has) should offset tyre wear, but I'm not an expert by any means. As I only got the car back yesterday my plan is to speak to them further for advice.

[Edited by: Actionbat

 

[VxrDilly]

Vauxhall indeed only fit new units.
The circumference of the tyre is critical to the amount of wear and tear on the unit.
I saw a video on you tube a while back,someone had their box blow on a Hyundai under warranty and the dealer refused to cover it because a previous owner had the rear tyres replaced incorrectly with larger ones.
The consumer advocate doing the video was unequivocal..sadly the dealer is correct.
On a side note I had a noise issue with my brakes.. it was rust buildup on the rotors ...

 

[Victor]

Was the Hyundai an "On-Demand" electronically controlled system?

 

[Dulac]

Quite agree. Using pi = 3.142 a brand new 235 50 R19 tyre has a circumference of around 2328.22mm. A worn tyre with (say) 2mm less tread depth (i.e. 4mm less diameter) has a circumference of around 2315.7mm. To travel 1km in a straight line the new tyre will revolve 429.55 times and the worn tyre will revolve 431.85 times. Over 1000km that is a difference of 2300 revolutions between the two wheels. Presumably this also affects the indicated speed in some way and the worn tyre will wear quicker than the new tyre. Theory I know but the basis of the problem is in there somewhere.