Hi Guys,

The issue is related to torque converter endplay on a rebuilt transaxle.  The reason we've halted is that this issue suddenly appeared recently despite the fact that since 2005 we have many hundreds of thousands of trouble free miles on Bostig auto conversions, we haven't had a single instance of the issue, and despite the fact that the zetec itself and the system as a result has much tighter tolerances(less crank endplay which helps ensure an even more accurate TC endplay number than the original boxer) suddenly we encounter it this year with nothing having changed on our side, and folks with no problems running from the very same design revs and batches of parts.

You need 3-5mm of endplay on the TC according to Ken @ German transaxle.  If you don't have adequate endplay you can ruin the torque converter seal, and  you can ruin transaxle internals causing a rebuild.

The first failure in this case the torque converter seal was ruined due to suspected lack of endplay, although it was also mentioned that the TC was the wrong part number(which according to ken is only related to stall speed, not dimensions). The transmission was pulled, seal and TC replaced by a shop(unfortunately a porche shop with high labor rates). Upon re-install, the shop told both Ken @ german transaxle and us that the endplay was "fine"(having been told the spec by both Ken and us) and of course neither he nor us was present to check it ourselves. We also offered to send shims overnight if the spec was not correct. They decided to reinstall and assured us it was fine.

The second failure occurred after about 700 miles, this time though there was enough damage to require a complete rebuild. The shop wasn't going to pay for it, German transaxle wasn't going to pay for it, and theoretically we shouldn't pay for it, leaving the customer screwed. But we agreed to pay for it. We agreed to the cost of the rebuild partly because the customer was very patient, reasonable, and withheld judgement until we(german transaxle and us) felt we knew what the cause was and could correct it, and mostly because  this type of thing has a way of exploding online, regardless of real culpability or responsibility.

So transaxle was rebuilt a second time by Ken, re-installed by the same shop with the shims this time, and the customer went on his way. 1400 miles later, we got the call that the trans had again belched all it's trans fluid onto the ground again. It was taken to someone's home, and we located a place nearby that had a seal.   The customer pulled the trans again, replaced the seal and headed for home. The new seal started leaking again(or another leak started) on the way back,  and this is the last we've heard. So the bottom line is, 3 pulls, 3 seals, 2 TCs, 1 full rebuild, and we don't know the cause of the most recent issue until it is pulled again and inspected... all the while we must do everything essentially via photos requested. It is unrealistic to demand the entire trans be returned to us for inspection, so we have to trust Ken(which some have pointed out is bit of a conflict of interest since he's the rebuilder, but I sincerely hope and believe that we can trust him until proven otherwise), and the shop(which clearly we cannot now), however I think under the circumstances we are warranted in being gunshy at this point and suspending sales until we know for a fact what is happening.

Not only can we not afford to sell ourselves into a similar situation, but it's no good for the customer who was trying to avoid problems and suddenly has a HUGE amount of new problems.. it makes no difference ultimately what the cause is from the customer standpoint, it's still the whole process that has created the problem specifics aside, and we are attached to the process making us a part of it like it or not, responsible or not.  So we'll wait until we think we know what happened to our satisfaction. That has not happened yet.

One of the big problems is that a rebuilt transaxle was installed at the very same time as the conversion. If it had been the case that the original trans was re-installed with the conversion and had it operated trouble free after that, but then started exhibiting problems only after a rebuild was installed, clearly the responsibility would fall to the trans rebuilder. However since they were done at the same time, it is much more difficult to make this separation.

Our first responsibility is to our existing customers, so adding new ones if there is even a glimmer of an issue we might have caused is completely irresponsible.  If the potential remains for a repeat, then the potential to drain resources that need to be used to bring the current customer to where they need to be also remains. That is unacceptable, so we halted. Halting is a luxurious possibility for a business, and hopefully our mainstream sales of manuals and syncros(which is our personal primary focus, syncros rock in all forms)  will carry us through until we have resolution(autos are normally only 9% of sales, but were 40% of this most recent group of deposits, which we are refunding and will hurt our cash position greatly).

One possibility is to offer the auto again but in a lower development status(I hate working backwards, but sometimes the rug gets pulled), meaning it's more risky,  we offer it at a lower price, but with the full understanding that there are risks we cannot account for fully at this time, and the customer has to explicitly take full responsibility for the results of the conversion with regard to the transaxle should there be an incident(we currently don't cover or warranty the work of others, but since it's so unclear at this point what is happening, we will break our own policies if we feel we need to).  Unfortunately we observe the tendency to immediately point to the conversion provider, even with regard to this incident, statements made online tend to follow the "I hope they[Bostig] solve the problem" meaning it has already been assumed by potential customers and outside observers that we are at fault and it is our problem to solve. This is another condition that the halt to production alliviates and prevents since with no involvement there are no further incidents, and no outcomes to decide. But in any case, it's a waiting game until we figure out what the heck is really going on. We have a number of theories, but we must prove them. That takes time. I hope folks can understand our position, we appreciate it.

Jim Akiba