GearBox Problems

[mcpitman]

M32 box, otherwise known as "chocolate box" as fitted to 1.8 petrols and 130 diesels has a bad reputation.



I think my vec c was fitted ith an m32 box and that didn't miss a beat in 150k miles, although always notchy from cold (especially on 1st to 2nd and 6th to 3rd changes).





F40 box as fitted to most other models seems to be fine.

[sriray]

mcpitman, on 16 July 2014 - 07:33 AM, said:
M32 box, otherwise known as "chocolate box" as fitted to 1.8 petrols and 130 diesels has a bad reputation.



I think my vec c was fitted ith an m32 box and that didn't miss a beat in 150k miles, although always notchy from cold (especially on 1st to 2nd and 6th to 3rd changes).



Thanks for this info, i'm having this trouble going from 6th to 3rd on my 1.6T

[mcpitman]

sriray, on 16 July 2014 - 11:10 AM, said:




Thanks for this info, i'm having this trouble going from 6th to 3rd on my 1.6T



Hi sriray, guessing you are the one and same from over on vec-c forum. :-)



Pretty sure one remedy for the vec-c's was draining the gearbox oil and filling with slightly less oil than is put in at the factory. I never tried this though.



I found to avoid 1st to 2nd "crunch" pause for 0.5 seconds in the neutral position before going to 2nd.



For 6th to 3rd, go 6th to 4th to 3rd, annoying to have to do, but smooths the changes out no end.



I now have the 160 insignia so have the f40 box and it is a big difference (you can swear at me for gloating if you like!)



Suppose if the m32 does ever give up, you could look into fitting an f40, but I don't know if it would work or the ratios would be any good.

[Guest]

I had a new gearbox last year ( had a chocolate box previous ) but I still have the same notchy gear change as before but the it pulls a lot better than the old M32 box. Do I still have a new exact same M32 gearbox as before ? Has the new one been made better ( I should have asked these questions I know but I was dealing with a young lady from the servicing department ) so I'm unsure if they have just put a new box in and it's the same as the old one with no modification ???

[sriray]

mcpitman, on 16 July 2014 - 12:07 PM, said:
Hi sriray, guessing you are the one and same from over on vec-c forum. :-)



Pretty sure one remedy for the vec-c's was draining the gearbox oil and filling with slightly less oil than is put in at the factory. I never tried this though.



I found to avoid 1st to 2nd "crunch" pause for 0.5 seconds in the neutral position before going to 2nd.



For 6th to 3rd, go 6th to 4th to 3rd, annoying to have to do, but smooths the changes out no end.



I now have the 160 insignia so have the f40 box and it is a big difference (you can swear at me for gloating if you like!)



Suppose if the m32 does ever give up, you could look into fitting an f40, but I don't know if it would work or the ratios would be any good.



yeah i'm on vec c also. On my old vec c cdti 150 (f40 box), the gearbox was good apart from 1st gear in cold. Now on the siggy with the m32 box, i find it notchy and not smooth getting into 3rd. Cheers for the info and advice.

[sriray]

fabiasimon, on 18 February 2015 - 08:21 PM, said:
Now what I have noticed is a slight clunking when I change gear particularly from 2nd to 3rd but have heard it with all gears.

If I dip my clutch and don't touch the accelerator as I change from 2nd to 3rd there is a clunk and if I put it back in 2nd and repeat the process it happens again.

Now my question is.....should I be worried about it or is it normal? Everything else seems fine.



Welcome to the forum. Mine is notchy but i don't think it has a clunk. Best to take your car into where you brought it from ask them to check it out.

[sriray]

sofuse, on 19 February 2015 - 08:36 PM, said:
Just had the gearbox replaced on my facelift 2013 2.0CDTi 163 at 15 months old and 15500 miles.??Gearbox has been very notchy since new, but second especially got very bad proving at times almost impossible to engage as well as jumping out of second gear.??I put it down to just being new when I bought the car, but it steadily got worse and I put it into my dealer last Monday.



I thought some kind of adjustment might be needed, but the garage decided to replace the complete gearbox and, in fact, gave me a courtesy car for the ten days it was actually in the garage as they advised me not to drive the Insignia!!!??Gearbox was on order for about a week, presumably having to come from Germany and fitted on Wednesday.



Yours should have the F40 gearbox which on the vec c was bulletproof. And not notchy at all, very nice changes infact. I notice others saying most insignias have notchy gearbox even with the F40. What is going on with Vauxhall/Opel these days. I had a few corsa d courtesy cars they are all notchy, makes mine appear good. The old corsa c were slick gearboxes. Something they have changed on these new models no matter what gearbox you had is notchy. Try other new vauxhalls out, corsa, astra etc prob same.

[JVC elite]

My vec c 1.8 was a fine gearbox. Then the 1.6 cdti Astra j was also very good. My insignia is a nugget to get into 1st or reverse when cold. Warm is fine. CDTi 160. I might try an oil change and see how it goes.

[Howy]

I've just done an oil change on my M32 box and filled with a good quality fully synthetic oil,all good upto now but filled to 2.4 litres.

[sriray]

I've just done an oil change on my M32 box and filled with a good quality fully synthetic oil,all good upto now but filled to 2.4 litres.

Are you usings Fuchs brand

[Howy]

Are you usings Fuchs brand