Difficult gear change - xantia

mseymour · Post by **mseymour** » 29 Jan 2004, 17:54

Since having a new clutch fitted (by some monkey) I'm finding the gear change difficult.
The symptoms are - can't engage first gear when moving without double de-clutching or stopping completely. 2nd gear is hard work to engage, often a bit crunchy when changing up, third is obstructive.
All is fine when the car is stationary, and gets better as things warm up. When really cold recently I couldn't shift out of first gear when I first set off, and had to stop and set off in second. There's also a tapping rattle sound when the car is in neutral with the clutch engaged.
As far as i can tell the clutch doesn't seem to be dragging.
Any ideas what damage these morons have done to my car?

monkeyman · Post by **monkeyman** » 29 Jan 2004, 18:07

Check to make sure it has gearbox oil in it. Diff seals are easy to damage and the oil can escape through one of these. Check for signs of any leaks by the inner CV joints.
Good luck

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 29 Jan 2004, 20:12

I would get your clutch / cable adjustment checked out too, it sounds like your clutch could be dragging.

mseymour · Post by **mseymour** » 29 Jan 2004, 22:01

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Kowalski</i>

I would get your clutch / cable adjustment checked out too, it sounds like your clutch could be dragging.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I don't think it is, but can't be sure. I did tighten the cable, and that didn't make any difference.

neilsxm · Post by **neilsxm** » 30 Jan 2004, 03:07

hi mseymour
in my opinion they've refilled your box with the wrong oil
did this myself on a 405 peugoet it sounds excatly the same
take it for a good run down the motorway to get it nice and warm
and if the gearchange becomes alright then it's just the wrong grade of oil
--hth--
--neil--

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 30 Jan 2004, 03:11

When they did teh clutch they will have had the gearbox out and will have had to drain it. Make sure it got refilled with the correct quantity of the right oil.
The symptoms you describe can be casued by wrong grade or wrong ammount of gearbox oil. In fact it sounds like you might not have any oil in it at all.
If you don't think that is possible you won't believ the tale of the national chain who performed an engine oil change by draining the gearbox (on an automatic Volvo) then put the required volume of oil into the engine (without checking the level).
To check if the clutch is dragging try putting it in reverse while stationary (with engine running). It will grind if it is dragging.

mseymour · Post by **mseymour** » 30 Jan 2004, 04:02

Thanks folks.. The wrong grade oil does sound likely.
As I say I'm fairly sure the clutch isn't dragging. There's no crunch into reverse. I'll change the gearbox oil and see what's what...
What should it have in there? I will have that info somewhere I'm sure....