Jackaroo - Sand in the bellhousing/clutch - the saga continues

RAA all the way in SA!

Hi J-D,

as promised, checked under my Jackaroo this morning and found 3 potential entry points for debris into the bell housing / clutch area :

1) a small gap (15 mm x 3 mm) in the bottom of the bell housing casting. Probably intended to allow any oil which may pass the main shaft seal to drip out harmlessly rather than building up in the bell housing and contaminating the clutch.
2) a small removeable cover in the bottom of the bell housing. This covers a circular inspection port approx 30 mm diameter. Shine a torch inside and you can see the clutch mechanism.
3) another removeable cover higher up the side of the bell housing in line with the clutch release arm. Allows access to end of arm for lubrication.

My opinion is that under normal circumstances, very little debris would enter opening 1). With mine, the small amount of oil present had mixed with sand and plugged the opening. I used a bent bit of wire to clean it out. Looking through port 2), no contamination visible.

Again, under normal circumstances, openings 2) and 3) would not allow anything to enter BUT if their seals were damaged, or had not been replaced properly after servicing, had worked loose or fallen off (!) - no spring washers fitted, they would be a super efficient way for sand to enter the bell housing, especially if driving on loose sand, which tends to spray up under the car. If Holden had done all your servicing, they should be liable.

Also, I noticed cover 2) was very thin and easily bent, and cover 3) fitted with questionable (ie foam strip type) seal. Both these cover quite large holes which would easily collect sand into the bell housing if not properly sealed.

BTW as I was scrambling around underneath, I noticed that there was only a very small thin sheet steel guard fitted at the front under the engine gearbox area. It was held in place by two bolts to the back edge of the black guard you can see underneath at the front. I was surprised to see two unused captive nuts in a corresponding posiiton at the rear of this area, which suggests to me that there may be a more substantial guard available to protect this entire area. This would also tend to deflect the flying sand spray away from the bell housing area - perhaps this is the missing thing the Holden bloke is talking about (?).

Why is it not fitted ? A few suppositions - I believe Izuzu probably aimed this vehicle primarily at the lucrative North American market (note split rear door more suited to driving on right side of road). Perhaps they removed the cover for the Australian market to give better cooling in this hotter climate ? Have a look underneath and see how exposed the engine sump and front diff are ! So, I'll be fitting a better guard anyway to protect the area and hopefully deflect sand away from the engine area.

Suggestions for you :
1) ask Holden to explain specifically, what 'abuse' could have allowed sand to enter. Even if deeply bogged and the gearbox partly sumberged, I cannot see how sand could possibly enter opening 1). Press them to explain how it could.
2) If Holden did your servicing, and sand has entered via 2) or 3), they must be liable.

- You may be lucky and find that Holden are more willing to 'accomodate' you, if you can develop a rapport based on technical knowledge rather than emotion - not easy, fobbing people off seems to be part of the management development program ! Let them know you know about the covers and the critical fit to give proper sealing, etc..

Hope some of this helps, Good Luck and let us know how you progress with Holden!

Steve.

What's with the attitude, Truckster. All cars have problems to some degree andbleepoff Owners of vehicles different than yours is not called for. You can bleep on holden all you like but The Jackaroo is a great vehicle with off road capabilities and although it hasn't got the strengths of Nissan they are quite capable.

We all know you have a love for rubbing peoples nose in it and I am sure this won't stop you ;-)

Merry Christmas and Happy New year to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sparkie(IE not Y) ;-)

Hi Jammo

Sent you an email

Jacked off, here is what I was able to find out. I’ll post this on the forum for others as well.

Okay this is what I have been able to establish. Sand in the bell housing shouldn’t be creating this problem. In fact sand when it enters should be disposed of through natural gravity. Your problems are symptomatic of some other issue. That issue could very well be the peddle issue that I mentioned shortly. On the other hand if it is symptomatic of a separate issue, until that is established and solved you may very well continue to have this issue.

A possible course to this problem could be how your clutch peddle is adjusted. Bear with me on this one. With the Jackaroo’s the actual peddle at your feet can be manually adjusted with two screws or callipers. This may be adjusted incorrectly so as to cause the clutch to be ‘just’ ‘just’ touching. In normal driving it may not even be noticeable except for reduce clutch life over an extended period of time. Now when you let down your tyres and drive in the sand this obviously results in a tremendous amount of increased stress and strain. Get your hands on a service book and see where the clutch peddle should be. This is apparently a not so common known issue?

However, that doesn’t really satisfy your problem with the dealer. Now the clutch plate is a consumable and there for not warrantable. You won’t get any satisfaction on this front. However, you mention the thrust bearing and other non-consumables. If these parts were replaced by your dealer and are genuine Holden parts then they are covered by a three year warranty. Therefore, the dealer should have replaced these when you had the second problem regardless of how they failed. You should make contact with Customer Assistance again and question them from this line, that is by questioning the warranty of the Holden Genuine Parts that were only 9 months old not the car warranty.

Hope this is of some help.