Not going in to 1st and 2nd gear

[s2_bo]

Sorry if this has been covered before by my brothers mk1 leon 1.4 has developed a bit of a gear change issue.

When the engine is off and both with clutch pressed and not pressed all gears engage as they should.

When the engine is on and the car is stationary with the clutch pressed in its very hard to engage 1st or 2nd gear (the other gears are easier)
When the car is moving its equally as hard to engage 1st and 2nd. It feels to be resisting and you really have to ram it in. It also makes a strange rubbing noise as the resistance starts.
Once its in gear it drives fine and going out of gear is no problem.

Is this likely to be the realise bearing on the clutch or the gearbox synchros?

thanks again!

Bo

 

[cuprar1985]

at a guess id say sincro mesh is goosed wants a gearbox

 

[Muttley]

Sounds like the clutch is not disengaging fully to me.

Check the hydraulic fluid, if it is low the clutch is the first thing to go as it takes fluid from higher in the reservoir.

If this is a cable clutch, check that there is not too much slack in the cable.

Also check the pedal box, to see if it is cracking up and flexing when the clutch pedal is depressed, resulting in a short stroke.

When there is no drag on the clutch the gears will shift easily as they are not being pulled out of line by the slipping clutch.

 

[sockpuppet]

Slave cylinder is a common fault on these, but the fault is normally intermittent so most of the time the gears engage and then sometimes they don't and it gets steadily worse.

If it wont go into gear try pumping the pedal 3 or 4 times and see if it then goes into gear, if it does then try:

1) change fluid
2) Change master cylinder (cheap to change)
3) Change slave cylinder (5 hour job as it's inside the gearbox casing)

 

[SlimsLCR]

Slave cylinder is a common fault on these, but the fault is normally intermittent so most of the time the gears engage and then sometimes they don't and it gets steadily worse.





If it wont go into gear try pumping the pedal 3 or 4 times and see if it then goes into gear, if it does then try:





1) change fluid


2) Change master cylinder (cheap to change)


3) Change slave cylinder (5 hour job as it's inside the gearbox casing)

My brother and i replaced the slave cylinder on my lcr, fitted two new drive shafts, fully serviced it and 4 wheel aligned it in 3hrs 40mins, fair enough we didn't stand round chattin, but some garages really do take the piss when they charge for labor! Sorry for going off topic, just feel like a rant!!!!

 

[MikeAllam]

My brother and i replaced the slave cylinder on my lcr, fitted two new drive shafts, fully serviced it and 4 wheel aligned it in 3hrs 40mins, fair enough we didn't stand round chattin, but some garages really do take the piss when they charge for labor! Sorry for going off topic, just feel like a rant!!!!

Book time is 3 hours for slave and 0.9 for master, where I work we always charge book time, swings & roundabouts so to speak.

 

[the parrot]

could also be the cable adjusters have worn.
youll notice the pedal will feel odd if the slave has started to go.
dont do like myself and leave it till it completely dies.
its a pain

 

[s2_bo]

Thanks for all the help guys!
I think your right and its the clutch not disengaging.
The pedal does feel really soft for the first 75% of movement and then gets really firm and almost impossible to push in.

I also tried the following.
Park car on flat ground with engine off. Engage first gear and press clutch all the way in. Switch on engine and the car starts to pull forward slightly. As soon as the engine is switched off it stops.
So must be that the clutch is not disengaging.


Ill have a look for the parts on ebay and try to change them over the next few days.
I can see a pipe feeding out of the hydraulic fluid reservoir about half way down before the brake cylinder so i assume its not a cable operated clutch but will remove the pedal cover now to check..

Thanks again!

Bo

 

[sockpuppet]

Hydraulic clutch on these cars, it shares the fluid resovoir with the brakes.

 

[s2_bo]

Thanks for confirming that. I have found the part and its got the part number: 1J0 721 261 F

Im just wondering why its quoted as such a long job as i can see the slave cylinder and its just under the battery try.
I would presume once a few things are moved out the way its really easy to change as it just bolts on to the box and then presses down on the push rod or am I missing something here?

Thanks.
Bo

 

[sockpuppet]

Thanks for confirming that. I have found the part and its got the part number: 1J0 721 261 F

Im just wondering why its quoted as such a long job as i can see the slave cylinder and its just under the battery try.
I would presume once a few things are moved out the way its really easy to change as it just bolts on to the box and then presses down on the push rod or am I missing something here?

Thanks.
Bo

Could be a different setup on your engine, the slave cylinder is inside the gearbox casing on mine (TDI150) and needs the gearbox dropping to get to it. The clutch master cylinder is on the outside and more accessible.

 

[SlimsLCR]

As far as I know the slave is only inside the box on the lcr, and or 6 speed boxes! What you driving? Too lazy to look sorry!lol

 

[s2_bo]

Hi, ok thanks, Its a 5 speed 1.4 engine.
thanks for the info.
Thanks.
bo

 

[the parrot]

your a lucky man then lol.
easy fix

 

[s2_bo]

Ok, so we changed the slave cylinder and bleed the system and it didn't make any difference.

I also noticed that the push arm that is pressed down when the slave cylinder is usually engaged at the side of the gearbox is already almost as far down as it can be. It can be easily lifted by hand and just drops back down. So there is no resistance coming from the clutch.

I would presume on this setup the clutch is usually pressing the push arm up, and that when the slave cylinder is engaged it pushes it down. This barely happening as the push rod from the slave is already 95% extended and the push arm is down.

So perhaps the clutch has failed and thats why its not going in to gear anymore. (now not at all with the engine on)

What do you guys recon?

Thanks again.
Bo

 

[s2_bo]

Could someone confirm if the push arm on the side of the gearbox that is operated by slave cylinder is horizontal and can be moved towards vertical depressing the slave means that the clutch pressure plate has failed?

Withe the push rod on the slave cylinder pushed in that push arm can be moved around freely with out any resistance.

We are just trying to work out what parts we need to order to get the car running again.
Thanks.
Bo