question time!

[ChrisssRFC]

hello lads and ladies!

i am looking at purchasing a newer ibiza mk4 - a PD160 cupra this time

the chap i am buying from has mentioned to me that he had a problem on one isolated occasion that he was unable to get into reverse?

he seems like a decent honest bloke, so i trust him when he says it is isolated. more just wondering if any of you clever people know anything about common faults with the PD160 clutch or geabox?

very quickly searched about problems - but there was only 2 reports and both were horror stories!

hopefully they were just unfortunate people!

as i say i trust the bloke and will still buy the car subject to it driving as nice as i expect it will!

any and all help will be much appreciated!!

cheers


chris

 

[goatboy]

As a bit more background info… (its my car!)

After driving home from work (about an hour with no issues and gears shifting smoothly) I pulled up and try to engage reverse and the gearstick simply won’t go in to reverse. It doesn’t crunch or grind or slowly go in if you try and force it. Its just like the gearstick is blocked by something...

If you declutch and re-engage it then seems to go in OK. This has only happened a couple of times in approx 4k miles and only when the car is warm.

The first time this happened (exactly the same scenario, long drive no issues, just parking up) I adjusted the linkage and gave it a liberal spray of Silicon lubricant and all was fine again until last night.

There are no signs of the clutch slipping, clutch (brake) fluid levels look fine and the car drives perfectly in every other respect.


Thanks for the nice words Chris I don’t want to sell you a lemon…

 

[mjstokes85]

I used to have this issue in my 1.2 SX, no idea why!

 

[Badger]

Have you tried topping up / changing gearbox oil? See if a flush clears the system.

Also try re-bleeding the clutch incase there is air there.

 

[Lavery]

I get this from time to time (pd160). Did/does the journey consist of a bit of stop/start - low gears? Gearbox is smooth as a baby's bum so I've just put it down to constantly being in and out of low gears when the car is barely moving, previous car did it (non seat) so I've just put it down to my commute being a lot of stop start.
Turn the car off and start it again 15 mins later and it's smooth as a baby's bum all over again!
Had my mechanic check it over who I trust a lot and he said there is no issue what so ever and changed oil why it was there.
Tbh it happens so infrequently it doesn't concern me, and I'm not somebody who avoids splashing cash when it comes to maintaining my car.

 

[Chino_UK]

I've had this happen on a few cars I've driven, if it's a rare occasion it's probably not worth worrying about. It may have even happened on my 20vt FR once or twice, but like you say, de-clutch and try again. If you're worried maybe change the gearbox oil, but other than that I wouldn't worry much.

 

[cheshire cat]

assuming the rest of the box is OK it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me -- reverses have no syncro and are usually more like a multi tooth dog clutch, unlike the rest of the cogs which are cut helically and have syncro cones there's a slim chance it stops tooth to tooth and will not slide on it's shaft until it moves around (turn) a fraction then it's happy

 

[Gorbstein]

I get this from time to time on my little 1.4 and strangely my other half's Mk3 also does it occasionally. If I either declutch and try again, or bring the clutch to biting point while pushing up into reverse, it slides in perfectly. Slightly annoying when trying to maneuver into a passing place with someone waiting on you.

The post above about reverse lacking a synchro seems to explain it perfectly.

 

[Chriswaite130]

All cars I've driven have this - put into neutral, foot off clutch, foot back on to clutch, and straight into gear.

I was told its to do with the fact that reverse is a straight-cut gear and therefore less forgiving when trying to engage, so releasing the clutch helps this.

No big deal and like I say all cars I've driven do this!

 

[aceman]

assuming the rest of the box is OK it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me -- reverses have no syncro and are usually more like a multi tooth dog clutch, unlike the rest of the cogs which are cut helically and have syncro cones there's a slim chance it stops tooth to tooth and will not slide on it's shaft until it moves around (turn) a fraction then it's happy

Ditto this has been a characteristic of every car I have owned too so to the OP I certainly wouldn't worry about it as the above explanation is exactly what is happening and not a fault as such.

 

[fluffmitten]

I've had this a couple of times on the 1.8T, popped it into neutral and tried again and it was fine. (Used to happen more the old Astra and that ran for years.)