Hi guys,
My '00 V6 had the popular "
stuck in 3rd gear problem", ie on the highway, it will downshift to 3rd gear and won't go into 4th.
I thought I was screwed, have to overhaul or get recon/chopshop gearbox.
Took it to a guy who worked at Proton before. He said have to "replace valves and solenoid" for
RM6K 
But warranty 1 year, which is long. Said all those other recon gb's will still fail after a few months. I was almost tempted, since he was recommended by a friend and also the workshop reportedly does good work.
Then I spent a few hours online doing research, including searching for recon/used gb's on mudah.my.
What I found was
1) Those cheap
RM1.3-1.5K recon gearboxes are hit-and-miss. Can last long time, and can also fail after warranty period if seller did a crap recon. Mentioned "big" recon gb sellers are M-Scope & EH Autolink (but service reportedly sucks ever since their South African guy left).
2) Better bet in terms of longevity would be 2nd hand gearboxes from Japan. Might be Eterna gearboxes. Better manufactured to begin with. Still susceptible to failure if have been abused. More expensive at RM2-3K. Go to a mechanic who knows what he's doing, who will check these 2nd units first before selling to you.
3) If your problem is only those "stuck in gear" issue :
only have to change the valve body, for < RM1,000 inclusive of top-up oil and labour.
4) Important preventive measures are
a. to install an ATF oil cooler (new from eBay for RM450, or chop shop for ard RM200).
b. change ATF oil every 15,000 km, about once every year. Some people change every 6 months.
- some swear by the original Proton Type III gear oil, if bought from Proton Edar (too many fakes)
- some swear by the Toyota Type IV gear oil, or other funny obscure oils.
Anyway, I took my car to another workshop that services Mercs in PJ. I thought was going to be very expensive. The owner took a look, then said only have to change the valve body. RM650 for used valve body, RM150 for installation, plus another RM80 or so for fluids. Done in half day! (If anyone wants to visit them, can PM me).
Who wants to guess how long my gearbox has lasted?
...
Still using the original one from year 2000. So up to this valve body replacement, it has been
11 years. Who says Perdana GB's always fail
often?
- if it matters, the 1st owner changed GB oil every 6 months religously
- on my side, I installed Hayden ATF cooler (RM450) about 2 years back, and changed GB oil about 1-2 a year.
- I sometimes drive fast on the highway up to 140km/h, but rarely accelerate too fast, ie didn't race the engine at every stop light. The Perdana V6 is an excellent cruiser, not really a sports car.
I think issue is, mostly those who have problems post online. All those who don't, can't be bothered to mention it much. Those who managed to get a good recon gb, just happily driving and never post again. Those who had to replace 2-3 times, keep condemning non-stop (can't blame them). I think the problem of the gb is overstated, esp if more owners know how to maintain well. If the problem is way more serious, there would be very few old Perdana's still on the road. Compared to the Proton Tiara - now
that's a problematic car and that's why rarely see them on the road.
Thanks to
DanzEterna , our moderator here, who also provided useful advice to me about the Perdana GB's!
Hope this info is useful to someone who face the same issues.
