Hi i am a car mechanic but no nothing about forklifts. My 1970s(?) toyota 2FG15 forklift, which has been working ok for me for the last 9 years on its little 20 foot bit of concrete, had a bit of a shock today when I took it for a 2 mile drive down the road to lend it to someone. the trans oil temp gauge went to about 100°c (never seen it even go up from zero before !) and when I arrived and stamped on the (rubbish) brakes. it never moved since. It has no drive in F or R. Nothing.

www.datman.co.uk/f/forklift3s.jpg

I know the transmission fluid has been looking milky for a while, and after the journey it was bubbling out of the breather and trans was very full as it had frothed up. Out of desparation i changed the fluid but still nothing. I checked the system which automatically kicks the selector mechanism into neutral whenever you brake, all moving fine.

However, down on the left of the chassis, there is a weird square metal thing valve which is connected to some transmission pipes, and another one pressing against it, connected to the brake circuit. Not really sure what all this does, or even if it's at fault.

I spoke to a local forklift place this evening and they couldn't really help as it was so old and they were not familiar with it.

Only other thing I can add is.. over the last few months it has been not very good at going backwards. No power. But putting the selector lever just a bit out of reverse, sort of half way between neutral and reverse, gets it moving fine. Could that have been an early sign of the fault it has now?

help!