Reverse gear - the beat goes on

[Ralf85]

I have had no gear changing problems, since getting the nylon ball at the bottom of the gear stick replaced four years ago. Mine is a 4 speed. After leaving Busfest today I got home and reverse is crunching when trying to get it into gear. Gutted. Could a replacement for the nylon ball cure it, or could it be something else? I want a view before I take it into the garage for repairs. I have checked the wiki but cannot find anything (probably me being useless). Cheers.

[scottbott]

that is a bummer,hope you get it sorted

[pionte]

Hi neighbour, great to park up next to you at Busfest...

I dont think that the crunching will be due to the gear linkage, it could effect how easy it is to select the gear IE the movement of the lever , but crunching seems to suggest clutch how does the pedal feel ? does it go into first ok ? does pumping the clutch pedal help ? Im thinking more slave cylinder. My linkage is a little wayward but never crunches.



Martin.

[Ralf85]

Hi neighbour, great to catch park up next to you at Busfest...

I dont think that the crunching will be due to the gear linkage, it could effect how easy it is to select the gear IE the movement of the lever , but crunching seems to suggest clutch how does the pedal feel ? does it go into first ok ? does pumping the clutch pedal help ? Im thinking more slave cylinder. My linkage is a little wayward but never crunches.

Martin.

Cheers mate. Good to meet up at last. I have a new clutch and slave cylinder, but as the first new replacement(a Sachs one) slave failed in a few days, I will have a look see. Thanks for that. Is there a better make of slave cylinder?

[pionte]

Ive not had to replace mine yet ( had the van 5 years ) so cant comment on what make is a good one, but as I say, crunching is a sign that the clutch hasnt disengaged the engine from the gearbox fully. Reverse gear doesnt have a syncro fitted so any spinning motion will cause it to crunch. It is only a best guess so please if anyone else has any other ideas ? Obviously Aidan is the expert on boxes, maybe he will agree with me or offer another idea.

Sometimes after a long journey any laziness in the slave cylinder will show up more prominently, try it again in the morning and see what its like.

[Ralf85]

I'm popping down to Mike's garage on Thursday to check the problem out. I will post again when it has been sorted.

[Ralf85]

Last weekend at Busfest I asked Ian Hulley and Mocki to check out a rattling noise when revving the engine that had developed on the way there. They obliged and I started the engine, revved it and not a sausage - no rattling noise at all. So I drive home and reverse gear graunches as I slip it into gear.

I popped into Mike's garage today. He tried reverse gear over and over again - no graunching, but heh the rattling returned when revving. His diagnosis is that it seems to be coming from near the gearbox. So off I went in the van to do some shopping. When I got home, guess what - reverse gear is graunching again. So it's into his garage on Monday. Maybe these two things are connected, maybe not.

Don't you just love these vans. They give you problems and then try to make you out to be a lier, paranoid or plain mad!
Resist!

[Ralf85]

As I thought at Busfest the rattling was a loose heat shield. The reverse gear problem has been treated by bleeding the clutch system. Problem should now be cured. Fingers crossed. Now to advertise a set of alloy wheels in the for sale section. Cheers.

[pionte]

glad its all sorted , and an easy cheap fix !! keep an eye and if problem reoccurs then I would check master and slave cylinders incase a seal is leaking and allowing air to enter.

[Ralf85]

I know. I'm hoping that the second replacement Sachs slave cylinder that replaced the first that leaked is not an ongoing problem. If it is I'm going back to Brickwerks for the OEM expensive one.

[Ralf85]

Last weekend on the run home from meeting the Suffolk crew at Wissington another clutch problem cropped up. Clutch biting when the pedal was barely off the floor and having to force the van into 1st and 2nd gear aaaaaaargh! Seems like the old and original master cylinder this time. Should have changed this when the clutch was replaced. Silly me. Back into the garage this morning. Of course from cold it all worked fine today!

[The Bishop]

Good luck Pat

[Ralf85]

It goes on. It turns out that the new Sachs clutch is the problem. Thank goodness this didn't crop up on our summer holiday.

I went on to Brickwerks to get a replacement from them instead - they are out of stock of the £99 ones (I'm not buying the expensive £240 Black Diamond option, unless somebody can convince me to do so - should I?). So annoying. I will just have to wait until they have them back in stock.

[pionte]

What a pain.... Have they told you exactly what part has failed? It's a very simple operation.
Not much to go wrong.

You push the pedal, the master cylinder forces fluid down the pipe into the slave cylinder, which moves a rod that pushes against a lever, this lever pushes against a bearing that sits against metal fingers of the clutch disc, as you force the pedal down the metal fingers bend moving the clutch disc very slightly away from the flywheel so disengaging the drive to the wheels.

In my experience it is very unusual for the disc to fail, unless subjected to huge abuse, sometimes it can stick on the gearbox splines, maybe if they weren't cleaned and lightly greased when the clutch was changed.

I would still suspect a problem with the hydraulics... Especially as it's intermittent and worse when hot?

Keep us informed and fingers crossed for you!

Just as a side note, I fitted a complete clutch from JK, it was around £95. That was 4 years ago, and I fully expect it to last 50k plus miles!

Martin.