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[Clive of India]

Hi Guys

First off I’m talking about a 2.5TD year 2000,  if I start the car up from cold I can’t get it to go into gear, by that I don’t mean the gears crash, they just will not physically shift in, I think the gear stick would bend before it will go into gear.

If I turn the engine off it goes into gear no probs. then press the clutch pedal down and then start the car it doesn’t jerk forward as through its in drive, I can just let the clutch pedal up slowly and it moves away as normal.

After I’ve driven the car for about 15 minutes or so, if I then turn the engine off and then restart it again, it goes into gear no problem at all, it’s as though the problem occurs after its been stood a long time and it’s not warmed up.

I’ve bled the concentric slave cylinder but no joy, the car has done 89500 miles, so I’m guessing it’s the original clutch.

I can’t say that I’ve noticed any clutch slip, in fact if I put into gear and try to drive off with the handbrake on it will stall the engine rather than slip.

Has anyone else out there had a similar problem, could it be that the clutch is not disengaging properly and as a result it’s dragging the gearbox input shaft around very slowly and it’s just enough to prevent gear engagement.
If that is the case I can’t understand why it will go into gear after it’s warmed up, has anyone out there had similar problems, I’d appreciate your comments.

Clive

[TheBoy]

Could it be the transmission fluid needs changing? This can other lead to stiff changes when cold.

[TheBoy]

Does it slip into 1st if you just get the clutch on the biting point?

[Clive of India]

TheBoy thanks for your swift reply, I’ve just been out to the car started the engine and applied a steady pressure to the gearstick and slowly let the clutch pedal up and nope it would not go into first gear at any time throughout the pedal travel.

I’ve also changed the gearbox oil, I even bought it from the main agents just to make sure it was the right stuff I was putting in, still can’t help wondering if it’s the input shaft being slowly dragged around because the clutch is showing signs of wear.

Giving my age away here but donkeys years ago when I fitted a new clutch in a Vauxhall Victor I had the same problem, just could not get the gearbox to go into gear, not crashing, it just would not go in period.

Stripped it all down again and found out the friction plate was slightly distorted so it just gave a slight drag on the input shaft, I took it back to the shop and spun it on a mandrill to so they could see the wobble on it, they changed it for another one but needless to say I miffed off having had to do the work all over again, but it solved to problem.