Gearbox from cold start, hard to put into gear from neutral

[xpress]

after coming back to the van from a while left standing, i couldn't physically put the van in first gear with clutch down, it sounded crunchy so i turned her off and put her in reverse gear with clutch in, then started her and was able to move her to my relief and then with clutch pedal in, i moved through all the gears and all was fine across all four gears.

today i had to do this again, left standing for a couple of days hasn't been taken for a long run yet only a couple miles.

any ideas or could you shed some light on this?

thankyou.

[xpress]

as you can see, doing a fair bit of reading and enjoying it!

from the wiki ..

"If your clutch is not working there is a good chance your brakes won't be either so watch it!"

going to check the reservoir tomorrow!

[Red Westie]

It sounds as though your clutch is not disengaging fully from cold, you could try bleeding the clutch first but it sounds as though the centre plate maybe sticking on the input shaft splines...as in completely dry and possibly rusty.

Martin

[centro]

I have similar problems. I have recently paid A LOT of money for a recon gearbox. Van was out of action for 3 weeks while this was happening. I got the van back 2 weeks ago and 1 week later I couldn't get it in gear when the engine was running (went in gear OK when engine was off). Took van back to garage - another 4 days out of action. Mechanic said clutch needed adjusting. Got van back last thursday and it seemed ok. I hadnt driven van at all since Friday and this morning I had a real job going through the gears. It got better after about 10 mins of driving.


Now, do I take it back to the garage or do I demand my money back and get someone else to look at it?
The mechanic said the clutch is in good condition. He is a VW camper specialist - although I am now starting to doubt this!

[Ian Hulley]

Mechanic said clutch needed adjusting.

Unless you have an early Aircooled van which has a cable clutch your mechanic is talking out of his posterior, all but the earliest are hydraulic and therefore there is no adjustment possible. The only thing you can do is bleed the system, through the slave cylinder bleed nipple.

If your clutch wont disengage with the engine running it could be that the spigot bearing in the end of the crankshaft is failing and picking up on the spigot shaft.

Ian

[T25Convert]

Hi,

Mine did this as the slave started to fail - it wouldn't work after standing for a while. If you pumped the peddle, it would build up a bit of pressure, and then be fine on local journeys. Worth possibly having a quick look at the bellows on your slave - if there is oil coming out then its time for a new one...

Otherwise, what they all said above - some sort of problem with your spigot bearing or the centre plate. Reading your other posts, the whole clutch may need doing anyway if your crankseal is leaking....

Good luck,

Alex

[centro]

all but the earliest are hydraulic and therefore there is no adjustment possible.

Thats what I thought. Its an 89 plate and has Hydraulic clutch. When we chatted about having the gearbox reconditioned, I was told that it would be worth replacing a worn clutch while the gearbox was out. He said the clutch was fine, so didn't replace it.

[xpress]

in my case for what it's worth, i think it's just lack of use, wasn't used for six months, clutch plate's just been sticking a bit but once it moves off it's fine through the gears, probably just needs cobwebs shaking up.

[boatdog]

i would say its a clutch slave or maybe even master cylinder fault why did your expert not replace clutch plate? he had engine out and the cost of parts is minimal compared with the expense of doing it in the future! if i had the engine out it would have gotten new clutch palte bearings etc as a precaution

[centro]

I will pass my new found knowledge onto him - see what he says!

[Aidan]

just be aware that new clutch may throw up badly adjusted master cylinder pushrod issue, I know it did on mine, new clutch wouldn't disengage (changed while the gearbox was out for other access work - syncro tank straps and brake pipes) so I had to take out the slack in the pedal pushrod which is a pig of a job, not too bad on lhd but a right squeeze twist and faff on a rhd
I now have the tool for the job, 15mm deep socket welded to 14mm deep socket

[centro]

My mechanic said he took the play out of the pedal. I gues this is what he meant by adjusting the clutch. Anyhow it still ain't working and I had a rant to him this morning. He is having another look today. If this doesn't get fixed, where do I stand ? I said at the time when the box was out to replace the clutch if he felt it was in anyway worn. I was told the clutch is fine. It's clear that the clutch is Not fine. I also wonder if there was anything wrong with the gearbox at all?

[Aidan]

if he has taken out the slack correctly, ie there is still 1/2mm free play, and bled the clutch fully then it's either a slave or master issue or a faulty clutch or wrongly fitted or excessively worn release bearing, either way he's got a lot of work to do to sort it.
I'm with you though I would have put a new one in regardless of state of old one as you are already paying for the labour, to do it again in the future is £250 and he should have thought the same way, to save £100 max on a gearbox rebuild and fitting is a false economy imho

[centro]

Well, if he has to replace it, then so be it. I wont be paying for it as it was he who suggested replacing a worn clutch but didnt bother.

[DanO]

had a similar problem recently with selecting gears, turned out there wasn't enough pressure being generated from the (excise ignorance) clutch slave/master cylinder - as some already said. If you pumped the clutch it would work ok. Mechanic replaced with a new one and hey presto works fine, not expensive and certainly wouldn't be looking at a new gearbox.