Van revving but no power

[Jason4479]

Hi All

Wondering if anyone can give me any pointers on a problem I may have with my van.

I was taking my daughter to school in it the other day. On my return journey, when I went into 4th gear, the revs went straight up, the rev counter went straight to red, but there was hardly any power. I dropped to 3rd gear with the same result. As the van slowed down I had to drop it to 2nd gear to finally get power. This happened a couple of times on a 1 mile journey.

A few weeks ago the van got me from Brighton to St. Ives with no problems, so looks like a new issue.

Any of you helpful chaps have any ideas before I take it to a garage???

Cheers,
Jason

[Ian Hulley]

Slipping clutch ?

Ian

[kevtherev]

yep your clutch is slipping as Ian says.
Either the pressure plate has called it a day or the friction plate has worn out

new clutches available from GSF it comes in a nice kit. (pressure plate , friction plate and release bearing.
Just tell them you reg No. for the correct one

gearbox has to come off.

[CovKid]

You'll really notice it flooring it up a steep hill - thats if you move at all

[Plasticman]

You'll really notice it flooring it up a steep hill - thats if you move at all

yep but it will spool up to max power real quick, bit racey infact
mike

[Jason4479]

Thanks for the replies (even the witty ones!!!)

If the gearbox comes off it could be expensive then I guess...

[CovKid]

Can be if you're not doing it yourself. I did mine recently using an unused but slightly shop-soiled clutch (£60) in a day. If you feel you might be up for having a go, we'll all talk you through it I'm sure and there may even be someone close enough to assist.

[Ian Hulley]

Clutch kit itself is ~£100 plus about 4 hours labour. It's heavy and dirty work but not rocket science, get a Haynes manual and get down and dirty with it yourself, as long as the clutch plate is aligned correctly and the selector rod goes back on the right side of it's mountings there's very little you can get wrong.

Change the gearbox oil while it's out, lube and check the spigot bearing as well as the clutch operating lever, check the clutch slave cylinder and it's hoses/pipes.

Ian

[dugwiththevwbug]

Could be slipping clutch due to wear or perhaps a oil leak on your flywheel oil sea contaminating your clutch plate clutc kit about £130 + oilseal £10 + worst case a days labour if someones not familiar with t25 s
Regards doug

[CovKid]

A warning here though. Some years ago I went to fit a clutch for a fella in a bug, Half a day, lots of tea and charged him £70. I thought that was steep till I learned his mate not two miles away had taken his type2 (basically same set up) to a local garage the same day. It took them TWO days and flip they charged him £480 - and that was 15 years ago. I've never forgotten that. I reckon the garage were charging him for their lack of experience

[jed the spread]

A clutch isnt that hard to fit if you have a mate to hold stuff for you. We did the one on my syncro doka a couple of weeks ago and it could have been done in 5 hours with all the protection bars taken off and re fitted if we didn't get drunk half way through. We used a spare input shaft to line the new clutch up, I say new it wasnt really, it was a very good one T'onion gave me for my old van ages ago

jed

[pionte]

I did mine on my own in about 6-7 hrs, nearly killed me ! These boxes are proper heavy as they have the diff inside aswell, I lined the new clutch up by eye using an socket extension bar wrapped in masking tape to get the correct ish diameter .... Its not complicated work, just dirty and heavy.

I used a couple of trolley jacks to help align the box but getting it the last couple of inches up and in would have been much easier with someone else helping.... I am bloody stubborn tho and refused to ask for help

There is a link in the wiki about making up a jack support that fits onto a trolley jack to keep everything in place, I wish I had seen it before I did mine.

My best advise would be allow 2 days, this way if you get it out and find that other things need doing then you have the time to go get the parts required, not so easy if you have the van in pieces on the drive blocking another vehicle etc ....

Good luck

[Jason4479]

Seeing as i'm sh*te at mechanics, and haven't got any tools or facilities, I'd better leave it to the professionals, especially as I need it on the road asap as it's my 2nd car.

My dad is a HGV mechanic and I've never even done an oil change on a car before (although I did do one on an armoured personnel carrier once!!).

Shame my old man lives 250 miles away as he would be able to do it for me.

I've got a good contact near me in Brighton who doesn't rip me off. He's looking at it tomorrow (if anyone in these forums live in Sussex and need a good mechanic then he's pretty sound).

I really need to learn how to do some mechanics!!!

Thanks for all the replies.

[kevtherev]

Seeing as i'm sh*te at mechanics, and haven't got any tools or facilities, I'd better leave it to the professionals, especially as I need it on the road asap as it's my 2nd car.

.

Well, I hope you have deep pockets pal.
Because some of this stuff is ridiculously easy and the garage will be laughing all the way to the bank.

this is not a comment about you personaly Jason..

It never ceases to amaze me why folks buy a 25 year old van or car, from a time when some DIY maintenance was expected, with no mechanical knowledge at all... then moan about costs
the only time a mechanic comes anywhere near mine is when MY costs outweigh the garage.

[Jason4479]

Blame the missus. She wanted the van!! And we knew it wouldn't be a cheap hobby.

I'm probably selling myself short a bit, as I do endeavour to try to do stuff myself (I'm too tight to pay out willy nilly). For example, I had a overheating cavalier, the fan wasn't working properly, so I decided to try and change the fan myself after looking at the Haynes manual. I was surprised how easy it was. I've also fixed the electrics on my van. So I'm sure a lot of the problems I get will be easy to fix

But taking a gearbox out is way beyond my scope, not because I don't want to do it, just that I haven't got the facilities or the time (it would probably take me a month to figure out why I have a spare bolt left when I've finished!!)

But if there's anyone near Brighton who wants to give me free lessons......