Club 80-90 Forums

Couple a days ago noticed that in 1st gear there's a whirring. It's a kind of noise made by cars when they reverse. Once in second it's normal and the van goes well. Until this morning that is. Drove fine for 20 mile, paused in car park then tried to go again. Could not get into first gear at all. Clutch feels ok under foot. Then tried reverse, again not a chance. Put stick into 2nd gear and tried to drive. Managed to go a bit forward but under duress. Clanking/clanging of a sort and a judder no one wants to feel.

AA turned up and we towed the van home. Once at home, unhitched van and started it. Tried and easily slipped into 1st. Moved forward a little. Then tried reverse and same result, no problem. Back into 1st....nope, then reverse ...nope. Then 1st again, slipped in nicely moved forward with a small clangee/clankee. Switched off and came on here. AA guessed it may be gear box or clutch. He asked if I've got oil in the gear box. I looked daft answering .......I don't know if there's a seperate filler for the gear box. He didn't know either. Is there?
Not budging ow until I know and solve the issue. All advice and instructions welcome. Fill ya boots please.

Yes there is (or at least should be) oil in the gearbox, and yes it is totally seperate from the engine oil.

There is a guide in the wiki at the top of the page on how to change the oil. That's as good a place to start as any but it sounds to me like your geerbox is shot. Mine had similar symptoms before packing up altogether. Although if it's driving ok once you actually get a gear then that would suggest a clutch problem.

*bumped*

spigot bearing?

when mine went, that was a grinding, clunking noise I NEVER want to hear again. gear box out, bearing puller, £10 part, gear box back.

Em
xx

ah of course. That sounds promising.

have a word with Aiden the gear box guru .

neil

Yes indeed Aidan is your man for all things gearboxy.....I would have agreed with ermie571 on the fault being a collapsed spigot shaft bearing ONLY...that doesn't take into account the whurring noise you have been hearing just in first gear. Whilst I still think the spigot shaft support bearing may be the fault, I can't help but think some sort of gear or shaft bearing has collapsed inside the box itself.
Either way...box out job to investigate.
Martin

Garage has quoted 48 pound hour for diagnosis. What do you tink folks?

Do yourself a massive favour and talk to Aidan. I managed to kill my gearbox at the end of last year and he brought it back to life. Hundreds of miles later and it is as smooth as silk. A true gent into the bargain as well!!

I understand what your saying folks. It's done. But I'll still need to have a local garage fix it.........wont I?

No
mm
Aiden will work out not only cheaper in the long run but 100%better than the local outfit

Hello,

You're still not listening....

AIDEN AIDEN AIDEN

Feel better now.....


Seriously, he is the man.

Cordialement,

Calling all Aidens......AIDEN AIDEN AIDEN.

I think what folk are saying is these things are very specialized now, you local garage, however skilled, will resort to mainstream suppliers for parts. If it turns out to be a gearbox repair they won't do it themselves rather use a local specialist who will do there best, charge a fortune and not complete the job to anywhere the standard that Aidan would.
However....before we go completely overboard with our very focused recommendation, Aidan is very busy and we cannot speak for his availability.

Martin

if in any doubt about condition of gearbox drop the oil and see what the plug says
you don't say if it's a 4 or a 5 speed
it could be a linkage issue, it could be a box issue, but noise in gear suggests there's a problem, gearbox should be unobtrusive in operation