NOTE : Please note that I no longer own this Rover 800, and may not be able to help with technical queries anymore for this vehicle. These pages are here for information only.

Replacing the Automatic Gearbox on a 1988 Rover Sterling

Points to Note:

• Although there are other methods for replacing the gearbox other than described below, this is the method I used.
• I did not have any lifting gear available, so this method describes a way to remove the gearbox without any winches.
• Many people say that It is easier to remove the complete suspension and sub frame assembly as one with the gearbox. Whilst this method may be easier when you have lifting gear available, the method described below used a minimum amount of disruption to the vehicle.

Removal

1. Disconnect and remove the battery.
2. Slacken the road wheel nuts. Raise the vehicle at both sides and support on axle stands. Take care when lifting the car unevenly whilst one side is on an axle stand, and the other is on the jack. You don't want to put a hole in your floor pan. Remove the front road wheels.
3. Drain the Gearbox of oil, by removing the sump plug on the bottom/end of the gearbox.
4. Take the weight of the engine, using a trolley jack, blocks of wood, bricks etc.
5. Undo and remove the bolts securing the main longitudinal member from beneath the engine. Once underneath the vehicle it should be obvious which bolts to remove to free this member. Withdraw this member completely.
6. Remove the bolt securing the suspension bottom ball joint and also the split pin and bolt securing the track rod end. Split both these joints. And repeat on the other side of the vehicle.
7. On the passenger side only, remove the long bolt which secures the forked leg to the bottom suspension arm. Also remove the three nuts which secure this leg to the strut mount in the engine bay. Remove the complete leg.
8. By Lifting the remaining suspension and calliper upwards it is possible to release the bottom ball joints, so that the legs may swing freely. From underneath the vehicle on the passengers side, place a large flat bar between the driveshaft inner joint and the gearbox. It should be possible to pop the shaft from the gearbox. (You may get the release of some fluid from the box here). Repeat this procedure on the Drivers side of the vehicle, but noting that the driveshaft needs separating from the intermediate shaft joint, and not the gearbox.
9. It should be possible, with a little bit of squeezing to swing the passenger side calliper arrangement back, so that the driveshaft is completely free from the gearbox. Tie this arrangement up out of the way, but take care not to kink or break and flexible hoses, and not to place too much strain on the CV joint.
10. The view below shows the suspension tied up and free from the gearbox.



11. Now remove the intermediate driveshaft from the vehicle. It is secured with two (or is it three) bolts which hold the intermediate shaft bearing housing to the engine. Again with a flat bar, pop the intermediate driveshaft from the gearbox, and remove the shaft.
12. While you are underneath the vehicle, there is a large bolt which sits above and to the front of the drivers side driveshaft entry point to the gearbox. It runs from the engine into the Gearbox, and should be removed now.
13. Three large bolts secure the Snubber bracket to the base of the gearbox. This is the item with a rubber block on it, which would normally rest on the longitudinal member. Remove these three bolts and the bracket. One further small bolt should be removed to release the bell housing cover which sits behind this bracket.
14. Whilst someone revolves the engine (using a socket and wrench on the end of the crankshaft) it should be possible to remove all the bolts securing the torque converter to the engine. It should be possible to spin the torque converter by hand.
15. Remove the single bolt which secures the selector cable cover to the gearbox, and remove the cover.
16. The selector cable must be released from the gearbox, which can be accessed through the same point as the torque converter bolts. There is a split pin which secures the cable arrangement to the selector lever. This can be quite tricky, but persevere, you will get there. Once the split pin is removed, use a long but small flat blade screw driver, through the cable entry point, not the large hole, and prise off the pin. The cable should come out freely, but make sure you find and keep the collet which sits in the end of the cable.
17. Working back in the engine bay, remove the air cleaner assembly. (Large pipe at front, large pipe at back, two bolts securing the filter arrangement and one bolt which ties down some cables to the filter box. Withdraw the filter box and the large pipe which goes to the throttle body.
18. Underneath the filter box, you need to remove the kick down cable. This is simply a case of slackening the locknuts and withdrawing the cable.
19. Unbolt the body to gearbox earth strap and tie this away to the car body.
20. Unbolt the main battery feed from the starter motor, and also remove small wire. Tie this wiring out of the way.
21. Remove the two main bolts which secure the starter motor to the gearbox. One is not visible underneath the starter motor, but a bit of feeling with the socket's should get you there. Remove the starter.
22. Remove the jubilee clips securing the two fluid cooler feed pipes at the front of the gearbox. Remove these two pipes. (Fluid will leak here)
23. Unplug the two main electrical connector plugs on the top of the gearbox. A small electrical screwdriver is handy for removing these plugs. Note also that the main wiring loom is cable tied to a bracket and will need freeing before lowering the box.
24. Working down the rear of the engine bay, pull up the rubber cover on the speedometer transmitter and remove the split pin. Pull out the sensor and tie this back somewhere.
25. Remove the small bolt which secures the speedometer drive gear assembly to the gearbox. (A long extension was needed for this). It should now be possible to pull out the drive gear arrangement from the gearbox without disturbing the two pipes which connect to it. Tie this back out of the way.
26. Stand back for a moment. Everything that is connected to the gearbox should be removed.
27. SUPPORT THE GEARBOX NOW!!. I found it handy to get a large plank of wood. About 1 meter long and half meter wide. Put this wood in between the trolley jack and the gearbox. This way one person can keep this wood level, whilst the other person lowers the jack later. The gearbox should sit nicely on this piece of wood, if placed at the right angle.
28. The picture below shows my crude arrangement for supporting the engine and lowering the gearbox. But hey!! It works.
29. All three bolts must be removed from the front engine mount. The lower of these bolts is not easy as you cannot get a socket in there due to the mount itself. I ended up using a monkey wrench on this bolt. The others were a squeeze, but I was able to remove them using an array of sockets and extensions.



30. There are two bolts which secure the engine stabilizer to the gearbox. The stabilizer is the black mount arrangement which goes from the top of the bulkhead to the back of the engine. Both of these bolts must be removed, but leave the mount in place.
31. Working underneath the vehicle again, remove only the two bolts which secure the bottom rear engine mount to the gearbox. Leave the third bolt intact as it secures the mount to the engine.
32. From inside the engine bay again, locate and remove the three main box to engine bolts. Two of them are on the front of the box, and one is at the top. These bolts are similar in size to the large bolt that you removed from the drive shaft area earlier. Take care to only remove these three bolts. There are other bolts which secure various innards of the gearbox here.
33. All being well the gearbox can be carefully pulled away from the engine. Taking care to support the wooden board horizontally. Whilst lowering the support jack down, make sure that the gearbox is still not connected to anything in the engine bay, and lower to the floor. Make sure that the torque converter goes with the gearbox.
34. All being well, you should have something that looks like this below. This is viewed from the passenger side wheel arch, and shows a big hole where the gearbox should be.

Installation

Installing the new gearbox should be exactly the reverse of the above. Noting the following points

1. Torque all the bolts to the correct settings.
2. When refitting the track rod end joints, mine suffered from the usual turning freely and not tightening up syndrome. To get past this, get a large bar and lever the track rod downwards at the ball joint end. By applying sufficient downwards force it should be possible to lock the ball joint while the nut is tightened.
3. Be sure to fit the collet back in the end of the selector cable before refitting, and also use new split pin.
4. When fitting the kick down cable, there should be between 2 and 4mm of slack in the lever when the accelerator pedal is fully depressed.
5. It may be necessary to get the front suspension realigned after this job, but most good garages will do this job for around £15 to £20 quid.
6. When refilling with fluid, once it reaches the top of the mark on the dipstick, don't assume that it is full. A slow drive round the block and back again, will result in quite a shift of fluid. Recheck and top up. Repeat this until no drop in fluid is seen.