Reverse & 1st Gear Problems AND (Possible) Rattle From Gearbox

[Dennis_87]

Hello everyone! My wife & I have recently (about 6 weeks ago) purchased our first campervan - a 1987 T25, in fire-engine red, aptly called Dennis!
He is originally a 1.6 Diesel (code CS I think)... but had his engine replaced with a 2002 1.9 Diesel 1Y (from a VW Caddy). It appears only the engine was replaced, all the other mechanics remain in keeping with the origin engine.
(the previous owner didn't have a wealth of knowledge regarding the engine change, and we have minimal paperwork for the work)


We have driven him approx. 400 miles since we bought him, with no problems at all.

However, we have recently noticed a high pitched rattle (imagine shaking a bowl of small spanners).
We have since diagnosed that this sometimes occurs when the vehicle is in neutral, engine running, although it is no very pronounced. However, when you are in reverse and lift the clutch peddle, the noise starts (louder, and more pronounced) the moment the clutch engages (in time with vibration through the vehicle). The moment you dip the clutch pedal, the noise stops instantly.
The same also occurs with 1st gear, however not as loud of pronounced. As soon as the clutch pedal is lifted all the way up, the noise stops again. The noise does not appear to occur with 2nd - 4th gear.


This weekend we have discovered another problem, which appears intermittent. My wife took the van away on her own, on a short journey of less than 20 miles each way. She reported problems getting in to 1st and 2nd gear. When she returned I took the van for a spin, and noted the same problem.
At times, it is impossible to engage 1st and 2nd gear. The gear stick will physically not go in to 1st or 2nd, when using more then a reasonable amount of force. When I attempted to get it in to reverse, the was a painful grinding noise the moment I tried to push the stick into the reverse slot.

After I had let the van roll backwards out of the parking space (thankfully we were on a small hill, otherwise the lack of reverse gear would have left us stuck!), I managed to engage 2nd. I pulled away in 2nd, and drove a short journey round the block. Once I was moving I had NO problems at all getting in to 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th gear - it was as if the problem had completely disappeared. When I got back home, I tried all 4 forward gears and reverse gears. All worked fine, however it did feel & sound a bit 'clunky' getting into reverse. However, it did work & drive okay!


I appreciate that any definitive answers will be near impossible without a professional/someone who knows more than me having a proper look at the van.
But if anyone does have any advice or experience with similar issues, it would be gratefully appreciated.


On a side note, we live in Milton Keynes. If anyone has any recommendations on a nearby garage who may be well suited to this type of vehicle, then please do let us know.

Thanks everyone!



 

[Aidan]

probabaly when the engine was fitted the idiots doing the conversion didn't fit a spigot bearing in the engine, at least at first. Ultimately this could have led to a failure of the input bearing hence the noise, more noticeable in 1st because the load between the mainshaft and the 1st gear is directly behind the bearing, and in reverse because of the fulcrum effect as reverse is as far away as possible from the input bearing causing the shaft to cantiliver on the mainshaft bearing, causing wear, which could lead to major failure; this could lead to damage of the mainshaft and 1st gear, also if the splined sleeve has become free due to circlip failure the sleeve could be rubbing on the differential.
I would advise dropping the oil and seeing what the drainplug has to tell you; but also expect to drop the box and check there is a spigot bearing and that there is not an oil leak from the box into the bellhousing where the clutch is.
This is so common an issue still, people doing conversions who really don't know what they are doing and not doing the  research first. I'm rebuilding a box at the moment that has £2k of damage to the gearbox all because of the omission of a £7 bearing, and this despite the engine conversion being done 14 years ago (during which the van has only done 16k miles) and the vehicle having had multiple clutches and possibly a gearbox replacement, and it arrived here still without a spigot bearing fitted in the end of the crank.