Nissan Almera won't go into gear.

S0L0N

I don't know anything about cars so this will probably have more info then needed.

I just got the NCT a few day ago on my Nissan Almera 2000 (old style) I have had for about seven years with no problems (125k miles). Drove home no hassle and when I next used the car a couple of days later to go to the shop when I got back into the car at the place I had trouble getting into and changing gears (really had to push the stick). I made two more stops and at the second I couldn't get it into first at all while the car was running so I started it in gear and got the last 100 meters home driving very slowly but there was a grinding noise all the way. Should not have done that I suppose.

I guess it's the gearbox. I'm hoping someone here will be able to tell me what the problem probably is and what I can expect to pay for repairs. I'm in County Limerick if that that matters.

Thanks in advance.

Update - I checked and it won't go into reverse now.

punisher5112

Gearbox is shot common problem you were lucky to get that mileage have a primera only made it to 69k.

S0L0N

Any idea how much that is to repair/replace?

Aineoil

S0L0N wrote: »

Any idea how much that is to repair/replace?

I have a 2003 Almera. It cost me roughly 900 euro to get a second hand gear box fitted before Christmas in Ennis.:(

9935452

The almera are known for bad gearboxes . End result is good secondhand gearboxes are scarce and worth money.
You could probably buy another car of that era for the cost of buying and fitting a gearbox. If fitting a gearbox it would be wise to do the clutch when its ripped as well.

The one problem with secondhand gearboxes is there are no guarantees how long it will last

S0L0N

Thanks for the replies. 900 quid or anywhere close to it is out of the question as I doubt the car is worth even that much now. Oh well, I guess I'd better see what my mechanic says.

mgbgt1978

You say it's the earlier Almera ( known as the N15). These gave much less trouble than the 2nd generation (N16). At a guess it should probably cost a bit less to source a gearbox for your car than the later model.
Ring around the local Breakers (Autobreak, Bob Sweeney, etc.) to price a 'box. Shouldn't be any more than €250 at most.
There are plenty of smaller garages, (one-man operations, etc) who should fit that for around €200....it's a 4/5 hour job at most for anyone who knows what they're doing.
Other than that the mileage is pretty low, you have a fresh NCT and you know the car. If you can get it sorted for under €500 it's probably a safer bet than buying another car around the same year.

S0L0N

Under 500 might be ok, like I said, I've never had a problem with this car before so I wouldn't mind hanging on to it. Something to think about I guess.
Thanks.

Aineoil

9935452 wrote: »

The almera are known for bad gearboxes . End result is good secondhand gearboxes are scarce and worth money.
You could probably buy another car of that era for the cost of buying and fitting a gearbox. If fitting a gearbox it would be wise to do the clutch when its ripped as well.

The one problem with secondhand gearboxes is there are no guarantees how long it will last

Thanks for that reply. The guys in the garage were absolutely fantastic. They

fitted 2 secondhand gear boxes and they didn't work. Finally the third one did.

A new clutch was fitted about a year before, so it was okay.

Before this car I has a 1999 Almera saloon (the 2003 Almera I have now is a

hatchback).

The 1999 Almera was a dream car. Nothing ever went wrong with it. The

only reason I had to get rid of it was because someone rear ended it. I chose

to buy another Almera because the old one was so reliable, but to be honest I think I made a bad choice buying the 2003 one.

Big Wex fan

Aineoil, what did it cost you in the end?

Aineoil

900 euro for gear box and a full service.

browniepoints

PM me if you ever decide to sell it

I liked my last Almeria until it was written off while empty and parked with T boner in shopping car park and the insurance wasn't worth the half what car was worth .

Jed

Big Wex fan

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

You say it's the earlier Almera ( known as the N15). These gave much less trouble than the 2nd generation (N16). At a guess it should probably cost a bit less to source a gearbox for your car than the later model.
Ring around the local Breakers (Autobreak, Bob Sweeney, etc.) to price a 'box. Shouldn't be any more than €250 at most.
There are plenty of smaller garages, (one-man operations, etc) who should fit that for around €200....it's a 4/5 hour job at most for anyone who knows what they're doing.
Other than that the mileage is pretty low, you have a fresh NCT and you know the car. If you can get it sorted for under €500 it's probably a safer bet than buying another car around the same year.

Can I get some advice lads,
Wife's Almera - 2006 180K gears really stiff & tearing between gears so assuming on the way out.
How do you know if 2nd hand gearbox is not going to have the same problem? Does the clutch have to be changed as well?

punisher5112

Big Wex fan wrote: »

Can I get some advice lads,
Wife's Almera - 2006 180K gears really stiff & tearing between gears so assuming on the way out.
How do you know if 2nd hand gearbox is not going to have the same problem? Does the clutch have to be changed as well?

If you feel it is worth replacing gear box usually best to change clutch while your at it unless the clutch is still very good or had been changed previously.

The gearbox on them almera and primera are absolute pure muck.

We get lumped with the UK built rubbish.

Big Wex fan

How do you tell if a scrap yard gearbox is any good?

punisher5112

Big Wex fan wrote: »

How do you tell if a scrap yard gearbox is any good?

Only get one if it has been checked.

Big Wex fan

Seen this on ebay. Are these the parts needed for gearbox?
Maybe cost a fortune to get mechanic to swap them out?

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/NISSAN-ALMERA-1-5CC-GEARBOX-REBUILD-KIT-/111196812648?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item19e3d8b568

spiggotpaddy

Big Wex fan wrote: »

Seen this on ebay. Are these the parts needed for gearbox?
Maybe cost a fortune to get mechanic to swap them out?

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/NISSAN-ALMERA-1-5CC-GEARBOX-REBUILD-KIT-/111196812648?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item19e3d8b568

You have to look inside first to see what's broke. I had a look inside one that didn't seem to bad,but there was broken teeth every where on the diff.

spiggotpaddy

spiggotpaddy wrote: »

You have to look inside first to see what's broke. I had a look inside one that didn't seem to bad,but there was broken teeth every where on the diff.

Pics

Big Wex fan

punisher5112 wrote: »

If you feel it is worth replacing gear box usually best to change clutch while your at it unless the clutch is still very good or had been changed previously.

The gearbox on them almera and primera are absolute pure muck.

We get lumped with the UK built rubbish.

Do I need to get a clutch disk or the 3 piece kit?

Aineoil

Big Wex fan wrote: »

Can I get some advice lads,
Wife's Almera - 2006 180K gears really stiff & tearing between gears so assuming on the way out.
How do you know if 2nd hand gearbox is not going to have the same problem? Does the clutch have to be changed as well?

Lady here and I'm no mechanic.

From my own experience a second hand gear box can have the same problems.

The mechanic that put my gearbox in, put in two that didn't work. The third one

worked. In fairness the lads never charged me for putting in the two that didn't

work. I didn't need a clutch as I had to replace it 9 months previously.

jobless

I had a similar problem with mine, got it reconditioned in dublin but just in the nick of time

davo2001

Had the same issue on my 02 almera about 4 years ago. Got the gearbox reconditioned by a fella in ennis for 550, still going today.

jobless

davo2001 wrote: »

Had the same issue on my 02 almera about 4 years ago. Got the gearbox reconditioned by a fella in ennis for 550, still going today.

mine too.... i paid 600 for mine and not a peep out of it since, i was pissed off at the time though! .... since then ive only had a timing chain problem...

9935452

Big Wex fan wrote: »

How do you tell if a scrap yard gearbox is any good?

Put it into a car and see if it works.
Its a lottery. The only real way is to open it and check it.

I would assume check the input and out put shafts and see the bearings are good and tight, check for play in the shafts
turn the gearbox shafts in all gears making sure there is no roughness or binding/sticking. Take out the oil plug and see what the oil is like, are there particles in it , what colour is it , is there oil in it

Aineoil

Just want to add a bit here.

Newish enough clutch, the gearbox replaced. Then the car wouldn't go into gear, just a few days before Christmas

with the turkey and ham in the car! The clutch had rusty fluid in it. Again the guys in Ennis were fantastic, they didn't

charge me a cent.