Yesterday in Aldi car park I dropped my mother off. As tried to pull away I could not get it to go into 1st gear, it was just like it wasn't there. After about 15 tries it went in and its been perfectly fine since.
I have had the odd difficulties before but rarely and I have always put it down to me. My question is it likely to me or the car? I am reluctant to take it in as it happens so infrequency it won't do it at the dealer.
The clutch fluid is fine and the the clutch itself doesn't seem to be slipping, it feels more like a linkage problem.
The car has done 10,100 miles mostly city mileage.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Wed 15 Aug 12 at 11:18
|
Not sure about your gearbox, but most 1st (and reverse) gears are straight cut, not helical. The teeth on helical gears are cut at an angle to the face of the gear and thus merge together seamlessly. Straight cut gears just don't line up 1st time every time.
Easiest solution when this happens is to put it into 2nd gear, then into 1st.
|
A lot of manuals sometimes baulk when trying to select first.
Unlikely to be anything to worry about unless it happens all the time.
|
|
My Wolseley Hornet used to do that.
|
You just beat the synchromesh Rats, nothing unusual in that.
As recommended above, either put it in second then into first without lifting the clutch inbetween, or lift the clutch with the gearstick in neutral then depress it again after 5 seconds and select first gear as normal.
It gives you a moment's double-take, and that's all the time you should dedicate to it.
|
>>Not sure about your gearbox, but most 1st (and reverse) gears are straight cut, not helical. The teeth on helical gears are cut at an angle to the face of the gear and thus merge together seamlessly. Straight cut gears just don't line up 1st time every time.
You would have to be looking at quite an old gearbox to find a sliding mesh first gear. When selecting a forward gear, the gears themselves are not moved or slid, and they remain in mesh the whole time. What does happen is that the desired gear is connected to the shaft it runs on - usually via synchromesh mechanism.
Putting the gearbox in 2nd is a good suggestion - this uses the less worn synchromesh of 2nd gear to stop the gearbox input shaft, and then, selecting first is easier.
As mentioned by Dave_TDCi, waiting a few seconds with the clutch down for the input shaft to stop is always a good idea - saves a lot of synchro wear.
Is reverse crunching? (or does this gearbox have the needless luxury of synchromesh on reverse)
Is the gearbox oil level OK? A visual check for leaks will tell you all you need to know.
|
>> ........... in Aldi car park I dropped my mother off. ..............
Too much information!
;-)
|
FIAT Panda - 10 1.1 Strange gear selection problem - VxFan
