Car Hesitates To Shift Into First

[Usual Suspect]

hey fellas,

just got a drama with the 'line. It wont shift easily into first when sitting at a set of lights in neutral etc. it will get into first 95% of the time without crunching, but it is getting worse. it will slide in fine when its rolling, and it has no issues in other gears.

i've changed the gearbox oil but didn't do anything. the obvious answer is syncros or is it? And does anyone know how much syncros will be, or whether i could get away with just changing that syncro.

i've got a friend with a hoist who could probably install it/them if nessesary.

cheers

Edited November 22, 2006 by Usual Suspect

[N1GTR]

Check there's no leaks - i had that problem and found there was a leak so a top up of fluid and it was fine

But.....it should be hard in all gears if its out of fluid

[Usual Suspect]

...and it only seems to be a problem when its cold, during the first 10 mins of driving it is horrific.

oh it affects reverse too.

its has really got worse over the last week.

pls help someone.

Edited November 27, 2006 by Usual Suspect

[MrStabby]

...and it only seems to be a problem when its cold, during the first 10 mins of driving it is horrific.

oh it affects reverse too.

its has really got worse over the last week.

pls help someone.

Did you put a fully synthetic oil in? Synthetics have far superior cold temp performance compared to minerals. I went for the Redline lightweight shockproof, as there were many on the list who swear by it for use in tired gearboxes. My personal guess would be that any decent synthetic would probably do, but the shockproof completely fixed the cold temp gear selections problems i had (this was back in winter).

BTW i sometimes found that when it was sticky i could get it in first by selecting second, then first.

HTH,

Kot

[Duncan]

do you have trouble getting the gear when the car is moving, or when it is stationary.

If its when you are stationary its not the synchros, it is becuase the clutch isn't disengaging fully.

Check the slave cylinder is working OK, and the fluid is topped up, and the master cylinder is not leaking (most often it leaks through the firewall and into the pedal area).

If all those are OK you might just need to adjust the rod from the pedal to the master cylinder so it is a little longer (great fun job on the drivers side floor) Don't adjust it too far or it won't engage properly causing the clutch to slip.

But normally if its worse when cold and only happens when moving it is due to worn synchros, try the redline stuff or add the nulon friction modifier to help for a while - but long term the only fix is new synchros or another box.

[VB-]

yeh i got the same problems in the VL. fisrt is hard to grab, either when stationary or moving, altho there is that one sweet spot where it slots right in.

i have a combination of clutch being very fine and not dissengaging properly (i think) and syncros. crunches 1st 2nd and 3rd, wont go into gear sometimes at all, will just sit there and grind, with the clutch right in, even rollin at like 5-10km'h, while trying to grab second.....

[Rolls]

Im having similar problems, most gears crunch when cold, 4th and 5th always when at high revs, its quite hard to get into and out of gear as well. Really gotta pull on the lever. Im going to do the gearbox fluid anyway but is it possible the clutch just isn't disengaging properly, as even at a standing start its a bit hard to get it into first.

[Usual Suspect]

i'll try redoing the transmission oil with something more suited to a tired box. it has a 'everyday joe' castrol oil (GL5??) in it now, as circumstances (hilarius story!) prevented me from puting penrite GL4 'light', which will probably go in next (or that redline stuff)

i don't think the clutch is the problem, as the pedal has a bit of movement in it before it starts to bite, and there's no visible leaks.

i'll fill you all in on the outcome of the next oil change