98 xantia 3rd gear crunch

steve lake · Unread post by **steve lake** » 29 Sep 2010, 20:24

hi there i have 98 1.9td xantia which crunches in 3rd gear any ideas please?

Chris570 · Unread post by **Chris570** » 29 Sep 2010, 21:32

boned synchros probably, happened to my td. swapped box over.

i put up with it for about 10k, then got bored of double-de-clutching etc

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 29 Sep 2010, 21:37

Chris is spot on Steve. The 3rd Synchro hub is a bit of a weak spot on the BE3 gearbox and can fail because either the clutch goes and the car gets rammed into gear (especially likely if the clutch clip fails) or the 'box has been run with the wrong grade of oil in it for some time. The only oil is a 75W/80 grade and is not mainstream.

The job can be DIY repaired and here is how to do it. However, new synchro cones are very expensive so Chris's method might be the most economical!

Most good synchro cones are rescued from scrapped 'boxes. They're all the same across all ratio sets...

Sid_the_Squid · Unread post by **Sid_the_Squid** » 30 Sep 2010, 09:51

Perhaps you might be able to reduce the problem with a simple gearbox oil change, can work wonders sometimes.

Unread post by **citroenxm** » 30 Sep 2010, 12:40

I had someone buy a Xantia TD with 100k on it, gearbox appeared fine untill I fitted a new Clutch!!!

I then to my horror after re fitting the Box 3rd gear crunched!! So badly, double de clutching didn't make a difference!!

So, yes, I had to swap the box for another one...!

My Xantia TD with 234k has still the original box from what I can tell. Ive no reason to beleve its a replacment, but no proof other wise so I only assume it has..

Also my Taxi man's last 1998 TD Xantia ran to 289k on the original box, that I know for a fact! The box still sounds good with no whining! Its retired now does about 2k a year..

Paul