jimny,good or bad !!!!

j999pre wrote: Have you confirmed with mots etc that the mileage is correct? Just a thought

philpridd wrote: no no mot history with the car

You can check it online

www.gov.uk/check-mot-history-vehicle

I did, and found there was over 40,000 "missing"

thanks,will check it out,handy thing to know.

There is no doubt the pre VVT cars were better.
I had virtually no problems on my old 98 Jimny (except wear and tear)
My 2008 (60k)has had warped discs, viscous fan failure and a water leak which radweld has cured (so far) and the infamous gearbox/prop leaks and I currently am expecting the gearbox to give up as I have a "noise" in 4th and 5th gear when accelerating between 40/50 mph which goes away after 50mph or you ease up on the throttle slightly i.e. just take the weight off.
When/if the gearbox goes I'm not quite sure what to do yet.
The choice is a recon from CAM Suzuki at app £950 which is app. the same as a gearbox rebuilder will charge or get the non VVT box and fit the earlier prop and modify the rear mount.
I believe one of the gearbox bearings that Suzuki supply is now a sealed bearing which would indicate a lubrication problem in the VVT box.
Of course the gearbox problems could be a result of the faulty props allowing oil to escape and in turn the gearboxes getting low on oil before being noticed??
My clutch is about due for replacement so I might get someone to have a look at the gearbox while it is out.
If it is worn at this stage I suspect bearings as otherwise it's working fine.

The car in general is an old design (mid/late 90's) as the Japanese had it years before we got it and it has not changed much apart from engines/gearbox.

hello, my noise is similair to what you describe,the recon boxes from cam suzuki, just who reconditions them? it doesnt say much about them on their website,other then a 12 month guarantee,I cant help wondering if fitting the earlier box would be a better o,ption but I read somewhere that they wont bolt up to the vvt engine,and mine has the pushbutton 4wd ,not the lever.,so I assume that would need adapting as well.Is the propshaft a straight swap,for the older one or does that need altering as well,and in what way does the rear mount need modifying? Sorry for all the questions,but any help aooreciated,as I am beginning to wonder if is better to try and sell the car,before things go any worse.

I got some quotes from various gear box rebuilders and they were all about £8/900 so not a lot in it.
I suspect the CAM boxes are just checked and rebuilt using some Suzuki parts and bearings / seals.
Apart from bearings/seals everything else has to be genuine Suzuki so that probably helps bump the price up.

Providing non of the bearings have actually collapsed and the gearbox internals have not suffered damage then a simple rebuild should be enough.

The non VVT twin cam box (R7ME) will bolt up to the VVT engine.
You will also need the non VVT prop as it is a different length.
I've read an Aussie post where he has done the conversion and according to him it was more a case of drilling mounting holes rather than any heavy re engineering on the rear mounting.
The neutral indicator connectors won't match but it's just 2 wires so any connector will do.
You will also need the complete gearchange mechanism and gear lever with the non VVT box as they are not interchangeable.

One more thing the gear ratios are different so may affect any off road ability but I believe the non VVT box has slightly higher ratios than the later VVT box so may help cruising??
Anyone out there who is good at working out gear ratios care to comment??
The push button selectors have nothing to do with the gearbox and connect to the transfer box which shouldn't have to be touched.

As for selling the car only you can decide that but how much would you lose compared with replacing the box either with a CAM recon one or fitting an earlier box??
It's not a big job to remove the gearbox compared to modern FWD cars.

Our gearbox is currently away being rebuilt as I type

Its a 2005 VVT and it started making a noise about 30 miles ago and basically disintegrated as far as we can tell this morning on the way to the repairers.

I looked at the CAM_SUZUKI re-conditioned at £924 but decided that the local option of £360 (Labour) plus parts could work out better. CAM_SUZUKI also did not answer my emails so that decided that one pretty quickly.

I will update as to how we get on.