I have a 1991 2.6l EFI TR with auto transmission. The transmission will not work in overdrive or 2nd gear. I can get along OK for just now with 1 st and 3rd, but you don't want to hear about my fuel use. I don't think that it is worth getting a new or recon trannie, as I am thinking aboout selling this car within the next year, so I am looking around for a good 2nd hand one. (Yes, I know that it is difficult to tell the good ones from the bad, and that even a good 2nd hand one can go bad with little or no warning, but I am prepared to take that chance.)

I have been told that there are two different auto gearboxes for this model, one with a black connector, and one with a brown/reddish connector. I have checked in the engine bay and my trannie seems to have three electrical connectors running from it, two smallish black ones, and one larger rectangular black one. I have also been told that I have to get a trannie with the right sort of connector. Does anyone know if this is right or not, and why there are two different types of connectors?

I have never replaced a trannie before, but I have a manual for the TR. I have read up on teh procedure and feel that I could probably do what is required. Can anyone tell me if there are any particular problems that I should be aware of, or any special tips that can make this job easier? Also are there any specialised tools that I might require outside those that would be found in a standard tool kit?

Any help or advice would be appeciated.

Dunno about the trannie compatibility but the changeover can be a long proceedure.
I think the manual says you can do it without removing the engine but I've always just ripped the lot out and done it on the ground. As long as you have some mech knowledge, take notes on where things go, be carful everything is disconnected, have plenty of tools and a helper you shouldnt have too many problems.

Be careful putting the trannie back in that you dont damage the torque converter to trannie seal or it will leak like a sieve and will hafta cum out again.
Anyone know if you can put the torque convertor to flywheel/flex plate bolts in after the box is in. (leaving the convertor in the trannie during assembly) Ya could with the old sigmas. :D

Thank you both for your advice, I will keep it in mind when I get started.

I forgot to mention that this Magna has done about 460,000kms. I have done about 300,000 of those myself. As far as I am aware it did not have a replacement gearbox before I purchased it, so it is quite likely that this is the original gearbox. On those grounds I am not complaining that It is now ready for replacement.

I would have liked to use a recon trannie, but with the k's that I have on this car a recon trannie (at about $1100) would probably cost about as much as the car is worth - I don't think that I can justify that. I reckon that I will be able to pick up a second hand one for around $200 - $300, which seems to me to be a more reasonable cost given the value of the car. Also, as I mentioned, I would like to trade up within another year, and I would prefer to put the other $800 towards the cost of my next car.

I tinkered around with cars in my youth. I won't specify my age but I do remember when Mustang-bred Falcons were the coolest things around. For the last many years I have had my car repairs done by professionals. However, I have two young sons (1 early twenties and 1 late teens) who are getting to the age where they will be purchasing thier own cars soon. I think that it will be good for them to know a bit more about cars than where you put the petrol and the peddle you press to make it go faster. They are both quite keen to help me out, and I think that bit of male bonding won't go far wrong.

The worst that can happen is that between the three of us we will wreck the whole thing and I lose about $1,000 on trade in value. I am hoping that the fun we will have will more than justify any such potential cost. And if everything works out OK, we can grunt at the women-folk and walk around with heads held high.

The F4A/33 gearbox was standard on both the Magna and Verada, and you CAN interchange them, but I'd recommend replacing the one you've got with one from a 4 cylinder, just to ensure a painless experience.

You can replace the flywheel to torque converter bolts once the box and engine are mated, through an access panel underneath the bellhousing, which will hang down below the block by about 3 inches.

I've put a second hand 4spd into my KR, replacing the original factory box. Mine is a 92 KR, and the box I bought ($600) was from a 93 KR, and when I checked it out I thought "Hang on, these connectors are different", and I discovered on the American Diamante Owners site that the connectors were changed between 92 and 93, but the sensors that the connectors belong to are exactly the same.

It took me about 24 hours total, with 2 helpers, to pull the engine, renew the stem seals, swap the gearbox, and drop the whole lot back in. We were totally unprepared, but it worked out fine in the end. I'd highly recommend pulling both the engine and box together, as you can work on the engine if you need to, and you can also give everything a damn good clean.

The Haynes manual is a great help, but it's also useful to have a bit of help from someone who's knowledgeable in autoboxes, just to make sure that you get the block and bellhousing mated correctly, as there's a certain clearance you need to maintain for the gearbox to work properly.

the fault you describe where you only get reverse and 3rd gear can be caused by a transmission computer failure (common fault in TR's). At those K's your transmission is probably tired anyway.
I once swapped the auto trans from one 4cyl TR magna to another.
the transmissions appeared to be identical (didn't check the numbers) but when I went to refit the CV shafts from the 91 model car I found the gearbox from a 92 model uses larger diameter driveshafts and my RH CV and LH jack-shaft wouldn't fit the new box.
I just used the CV's and shaft from the donor wreck to overcome the problem.

Veradabeast and Benau, thanks for your comments.

My previous comments regarding two different trannnies for the 91 Magna are the result of several enquiries to various wrecking yards. Almost invariably they asked if my car had a black rectangual connection or a red or brown circular connection. I should have asked at the time why there was a difference by did not think to do so. As indicated mine is black and rectangular. I later thought that there might be a difference between connector for auto and manual transmisisons, but this was purey speculation.

Benau, regarding your comments that this might be a TCU problem. I had the same thought and have already investigated this possibility. I check my trans fluid regularly and before this problem it was always red and clear, but as soon as this problem occurred it became brown and dirty. In spite of this , I was hoping that the TCU was the possible cause of this problem as it is easier and cheaper to fix. I replaced my TCU with a reconditioned one a couple of weeks ago but I still have exactly the same problem (ie cannot get into 2nd or o/d). The car does seems to run a bit smoother, but maybe that is just wishful thinking to justify an apparently unncessary expense. It seems to me to be almost certain that the trannie is the cause of the problem and it needs to be replaced. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

I was also interested in Veradabeast's comments regarding the problems with his trannie change over. I had to replace the CV joints in this car about 18 months ago. The mechanic who did the job just ordered the standard parts from REPCO but when he tried to fit them to my car they were the wrong size. I can't recall the exact details but from memory the CV joints that were required for my car were the same length as the standard parts but they had two extra splines on the shaft. He was able to get the correct parts and I have had no problems since then. At teh time I assumed that the difference was because I have a Magna Elite and that the larger shafts were required because the Elite has the 15" wheels as opposed to the standard 14" ones.

The really odd thing was that the old CV joints that were removed from my car had the smaller shafts (ie they did not have the two extra splines). The mechanic said that he had trouble getting the old CV joints off and he had assumed that a previous mechanic had also ordered the wrong parts but used them anyway and just overtightened them to keep them in place. He was surprised that I had driven the car for almost 190,000kms with the wrong parts without any steering or suspension problems until I finally needed to replace them.

In view of what Veradabeast mentioned, I now wonder if perhaps a previous owner had replaced the trannie in my car with a Verada box but the person who replaced the boxes did not upgrade the CV joints to the larger size. It is either that or, as I originally shought, the magna Elite was already using the larger sized splines back in 1991. I will now have to be extra careful when replacing the trannie to ensure I get the right type.

There are two types of trannies for the TR/KR. as i was going to get a swap over when myu tranny went but they didn't have the one i needed, so they had to rebuild it instead

Firstly...WOW 460,000 kms? Mines just about to hit 300,000 and i'm complaining lol.
If you have noticed the transmission oil has become dirty all of a sudden, maybe you should try flushing the oil and replacing it. It could just need cleaning or servicing, have you had the auto serviced at all over the 300k kms you've had it?

The standard CV for cars with a 15" rim was a 28 spline, however for cars with a 14" rim a 26 spline joint was fitted (It must have something to do with weight or torque I guess). The mechanic who worked on your vehicle probably ordered CVs for a TR Magna, and was supplied with joints for a TR Magna, not realising the difference. I'm suprised that he got them to fit at all, but then again, a hammer solves a lot of problems. The incorrect CV will have been putting uneven pressure on the intermediate shaft, the shaft which travels along the back of the motor to supply drive the the L/H wheel. It should/might be ok, but check it out just to be sure.

Going back to the CVs, when I was enquiring about a replacement box for my car, a lot of places didn't seem to know that there was a difference between the Magna and the Verada, and assumed that the 26 spline was standard. Brooky Parts Plus in Smithfield (top place) were finally able to figure it out, determining that the colour of the seal where the CV fits into the gearbox is the key to the number of splines, and from memory a black seal was 28 splines, and a brown seal was 26 splines.

Firstly...WOW 460,000 kms? Mines just about to hit 300,000 and i'm complaining lol.
If you have noticed the transmission oil has become dirty all of a sudden, maybe you should try flushing the oil and replacing it. It could just need cleaning or servicing, have you had the auto serviced at all over the 300k kms you've had it?

I tend to do about 50 to 60 thousand kms a year, so it does not take very long for the k's to add up.

I had the trans serviced when I first bought this car about 5 years ago. It had about 180,000 ks at that time. I have had it serviced twice since then at approx 100,000k intervals, which is probably not ideal, but I figure that 90% of my driving is done at highway speeds in top gear.

I am willing to try flushing the system to see if it has any effect. I don't think that I would go for the full power flush treatment - I would not want to pay out another $150 to $200 unless I was sure that it would fix the problem. However, I would be willing to try flushing the system myself to see if it makes any difference at all. I have a spare AT Service Kit at home (ie with a new filter pad and gasket). I have read Nexus's guide to changing ATF, and also Josh'93TR's response to you earlier this month regarding flushing the trans. I still had a couple of questions about the Josh'93TR's procedure, but I have posted them back on his original response to your post.

Thank you to Veradagirl and Veradabeast for confirming that there are two different transmissiosn for TR Magna's. I have mentioned this to a few people but they just look at me as if I don't know what I am talking about - which is probably true 90% of the time, but I occasionaly get something right.

Veradabeast, your comments regarding the colour of the seals on 28 spline and 26 spline transmissions may be the key to my problem. It is possible (make that probable) that I misunderstood the people at the wreckers and that they meant that the colour of the seal on the two type sof transmissions is either Black or Reddish Brown. They used the term connector, but they may just have meant the place where the CV shaft goes in to the transmission and not the electrical connectors outside of the gearbox. That does not explain why they told me that one type of connector was rectangular and the other circular, but I will be generous and say that this may also have been my incorrect interpretation of what they said.

Finally, to protect the reputation of the unnamed mechanic who replaced my CV joints. Although he initially ordered the wrong part, he recognised the error as soon as he tried to put it in my car and he then ordered the correct part. His original error was understandable as he ordered a part that matched the part that he had removed from my vehicle. I do not know who put the wrong parts on this car. I doubt that the error was made by Mitsubishi when the car was originally assembled, so I can only assume that the error occurred when a previous owner had to replace the CVs. I have read some stinging criticism about mechanics from other members, much of it no doubt well deserved, but in this case I must say that my mechanic did a very good job at a reasonable price.