Hi everyone - I'm hoping someone might be able to help diagnose the catastrophic failure that brought my beautiful HST to sudden halt this evening.
Its the TD4 with autobox, and approximately 5 miles from home i started hearing very strange scraping sounds coming from under the car. It almost sounded like i was running on a flat tyre.
I quickly diagnosed that wasnt the problem and noticed that the engine was revving fairly freely, but the box wasnt responding in kind. Sort of like a clutch slipping.
I tried popping it into manual, but that just seemed to make things worse.
There were several very strange clicks and clunks as i tried accelerating again, but there was no real uptake in speed.
Then the car suddenly felt like the brakes were being applied (they werent), coughed a few times and then cut-out completely.
No matter what i tried, it wouldnt re-start. It was spinning over very quickly, but the only way i can describe the sound would be to compare it to trying to start a petrol engine with no spark plugs fitted.
Ended-up having the car recovered for the last half-mile home.
There were no warning lights coming on before it stopped, although the oil light flickered on briefly earlier in the day. No idea if that is connected or not.
The car is covered by 3rd party warranty, but i have no idea what to tell them is wrong with it.
Is it a gearbox issue (which is how it started), or has something terminal happened to the engine? Or both?
Just 40K on the clock - Dealer serviced from new - And the stronger Diff bearing fitted only 2 months ago.
Pretty gutted at the min, so any thoughts / suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Oh dear, sounds fairly catastrophic, one thread here that may sound similar, a sad way to join the forum but I hope you find a decent solution.
http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic13837.html

Thanks.
The outcome does sound similar, but in my case the car had (until the last few miles) been running perfectly normally from Birmingham to Monmouth.
It hasnt been serviced since May, although i did add some oil a week or so ago.
I wonder if an engine failure of this type would effect the autobox though?
That was the first sign that something wasnt right. The engine was revving perfectly freely, but the box effectively couldnt keep up.
I actually opted-out of our company car scheme for the first time in many years, to buy this particular HST.
Unfortunately its looking like a possible huge mistake at this point!