Hi folks, bear with me if this is common knowledge, I did a search and nothing came up.

I have a friend who has a 2000 model Magna sedan. It's a 3.5 with auto trans and the box has died. They took it to their local auto trans service mob and were told it is the failure of a $7 component. According to this fellow, the problem does and will affect all Magnas, broad statement I know but my mate rang me as we also have a Magna. $3000 and 10 days for the repair.

I have never heard of this myself and am curious as to the thoughts of the crew here?

It's got 160K on the clock with a full service history and the 100K service done which is the only time the service schedule mentions the auto to be touched.

Search for "Wave Spring" and youll find about it.

Its a common issue.

Link: http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1021729&postcount=11

$3000 buys you a complete rebuild. You can't really tell what failed in an autobox until you pull it apart, so any mechanic who can "see" its a $7 broken part is pulling your leg. Some autoboxes have failed in the past when a wave spring disintegrated, but to say "all" Magnas will do this is not accurate.

Search for "wave spring" will give you more details.

(Gas_hed beat me to it)

i just commenced ****ting my pants

my tj is at 252,000 ks

Thanks guys, just had a search and good read. This seems to say the mech is not pulling their leg which is good. The search didn't have any info about what models it affects? Most are referring to TJ's in their write ups.

Is it an issue for the 3 litre jobs? I have a 97 TF 3 litre auto and if the box went on it the repair bill would be on par with the total value of the car.

Well, the Auto-Trans place I took my box to were very confident of the problem when I first explained the symtoms - and had a piece of a previous box to help explain it to me. I got them to keep all broken parts of mine, and they were 100% correct in their initial diagnosis (and my parts were not what they showed me either). They said they see several (6-10) Mitsi boxes per annum with this.

These repairers seemed to think that the wave-spring had in earlier models been a thicker single-thickness piece, and was "updated" to be a thinner piece which wraps around three layers over itself. However, when I asked them about this in more detail - they didn't really know the different Magna model-series, nor what was fitted in which. However, in TJ it is definitely a thin 3-layer wave-spring - and my repairers deliberately fit a single-thickness thicker wave spring to avoid future problems.

I do know that the part number in Mitsi parts system was superseded 3 times since my TJ was manufactured - but I do not know if any physical difference accompanied the change of part number. Confusing the issue further - my auto-trans mob do not get spares from Mitsi, but from specialist wholesalers.

Since I paid $2200- for a transmission re-build (my box had done only 57K when the wave-spring took the box out, so I figured that box was likely to be better than an exchange one), my fathers TJ was likewise buggered by wave-spring at about 185K ... ... in dad's case we removed the box, took it to a different transmission place, $900- for rebuild and we then refitted it. I live in Tamworth, dad lives closer to Dubbo, that was only difference and why we used different tradesmen.

Because I had a spat with local Mitsi Dealers, then auto died one week later - I avoided the dealer and got a very good (but costly) repair..... but for this, I would have pursued a claim with Mitsi Factory. Because I did not trust the local dealer and went elsewhere initially, factory refused to consider a claim - I was gonna write it all up and chase it, but then...meh.

I really do think, unfortunately, that while the boxes work well, they are also a ticking time bomb - internationally recognised as such (a very good US site had full pics of what goes on, didgy wave-spring, crappy strainer). In our case it was a 00 KJ and a 02 TJ which had the problem. Tradesmen have told me that having an earlier box with the external spin-on oil filter as well as the internal strainer would not necessarily save the box from pieces of wave-spring getting into the oil pump - must be the way the oil flows - wave spring will flush to the pump and jam stator on rotor.

Howdy

I Googled wave spring and came up with a few results. One of the comments mentions models from 2000 to '03 I think. While hardly conclusive I will ask a few questions during the week. It's a shame really because the Magna had gearbox issues from way back if my memory serves me correctly and apparently the TE series had it all sorted. I remember when we bought ours that many older blokes would say don't buy a Magna they have woefull gearboxes. Seems it's come full circle again.

I will tell my mate to get pen and paper and write to Mitsubishi Aust and see what comes.

As I recall, the early TM Magnas had gearbox woes, as well as some porous engine blocks. This was sorted by TN, tho use of Mitsi Trans fluid was always much more important than for Falco-Dores etc.

I had never heard of the wave-spring problem until it struck me. Seems to happen to vehicles at all ages and stages. Strangely enuf, my KJ was the first to go in my family at 57K about 10days after I bought it. Even more strange - the lady I bought it off used to work at factory in warranty claims area - she said they tried really hard to sort problems (esp TM etc) but was unaware of 3rd Gen gearbox woes cos she took a package and moved back to NSW in about 200/2001. The Rada I bought was an 'employee purchase' from factory just before she left - used by her parents until they deteriorated and started dinging the car everywhere they went. So, I don't expect it had a real hard life before I bought it - tho it wasn't serviced by time-interval and her parents took ages to get mileage up.

However, I don't think oil-changes etc would have much influence on wave-spring longevity - maybe heat does. I also don't think there would be any way to suspect that a wave spring was likely to go...... and its such an expensive box-out option to check or replace a wave spring in order to avoid the trouble. It would be good to know at what point the specification changed, and whether the thick/one-piece was used in older cars such as TE and TF. Likewise, I don't know if a 5-sp tippy has the same dud spring or not.

TJ2 2002 3.5L tiptronic 128K km

When I heard about the possibility of auto Tx failure, I had also been experiencing shudder when going from level ground to uphill at around 45Km/h IIRC- so bad that I had to ease off the throttle, change down and nurse the car until over the hill - It was OK at higher speeds

On a transmission specialist's advice I had the Tx fluid flushed and changed using Castrol TQM-ST

The result was about 50% improvement

When later looking for ways to improve the Tx, I came across Nu... Auto TX treatment which promises many benefits, including reduced noise and wear

After a few weeks, I could notice smoother changes and improved over-drive operation, where the O/D was better matched to the speed required when changing out of 4th gear

The shudder is no longer noticeable - so I hope this also translates to more reliable wave spring operation

Cheers

The wave spring is circular, about 12-15cm diameter with "waves/zig-zags" every approx 1.5-2cm around the circle. The dodgy version is about 1mm thick and wraps around on itself into 3 layers - its springy yet a bit brittle, a bit like piston rings.

The problem is that segments of this wave spring break off from one end or the other, and get flushed from the low-reverse clutch pack (where the wave-spring is meant to live) into the transmission oil pump.

Personally, I cannot comprehend how transmission fluid or additives could possibly influence the likelihood of this part breaking - to my mind it must be a function of metallurgy or design (triple-layer wave spring just too thin?). Possibly excessive heat in a box may affect metal-fatigue, as these cars do not have external transmission cooler as standard, only the bottom-of-radiator jobby.

Also, if apiece of wave spring broke off but didn't travel through the box, I doubt that anyone could detect any change in performance of the box.
The damage caused when the spring breaks and jams the oil pump is virtually instantaneous - there is a brief crunch without any warning whatsoever, you may get the neutral indicator in dash flash a few times only, then you have no drive in forward or reverse.

I would strongly encourage anyone who suffers this problem, esp on relatively low-mileage cars, to contact a Misti Dealer and enquire what diagnosis and examination can be done to investigate a factory claim (it may be impossible to avoid paying a dealer). Also contact the factory and make enquiries - in my case I avoided the Dealer deliberately due to an instance of overcharging the previous week, and contacted factory too late..... the local Mitsi Service Manager was sympathetic but hadn't seen the car before repair was commenced. Factory just told me to go away, cos Mitsi staff had not had opportunity to inspect the car before private repairers. I intended to mount a big write-up case, but work cropped-up with a few problems at the time and I concentrated on that.

I feel strongly that this is an unusually prevalent problem that regular servicing can't predict or prevent, and if you look at a wave-spring and where it works, I think you'll agree that you could not "feel" it degrading, and that lubricant or additives would have next to nil effect on its longevity. my 2 cents (again and again - apologies, its red-flag problem to me).