crunching engaging third gear and reverse

[loz1971]

Hello again,
I got the clutch changed on my 406 about three weeks ago, drove back and forth to London a few times from the west country and everything has been fine. Suddenly this morning (sunday 26/10) I take it for a drive and it's started making a crunching noise when I put it into third gear and reverse. Any ideas??

[steve_earwig]

Mine too, I think the gearbox is getting old... Umm, there's no synchromesh on reverse, are you giving it enough time for the input shaft to stop spinning and making sure the car's stopped? It could be that your clutch isn't fully releasing but the reverse is the test.

I often make mine cruch going into reverse, usually when I'm trying to reverse into my driveway and a car screams round the bend coming down the hill, I don't trust them to slow down or even see me - most drivers are insane here. My 3rd gear thing probably is age, the oil was changed not too long ago but I probably should check the level.

[mjb]

I've always found these gearboxes have issues going into reverse. The solution is to come off the clutch slightly while putting light pressure on the stick. Just before biting point the stick will glide in

[teamster1975]

I've always found these gearboxes have issues going into reverse. The solution is to come off the clutch slightly while putting light pressure on the stick. Just before biting point the stick will glide in

Mine's the same, I quite often have to double declutch to get it in reverse.

[loz1971]

It's got a lot better going into reverse, I might just have been a bit paranoid about the whole thing, but the crunch going into third is still bad and nothing I try while engaging it makes it better. I've tried,
double de-clutching, still crunches,
i've tried putting it into gear slowly, still crunches,
i've tried putting it into fourth first and then going up into third, still crunches,
i've even tried catching it out and putting it into gear really quickly, still crunches (you cant fool them, can you)
the only thing that seems to stop it is if you're going downhill and you engage third gear slowly. the other funny thing is if you have the enging running and you try to engage the gears without putting your foot on the clutch, there appears to be something stopping the gears engaging, except on third which with even a small amount of pressure tries to force itself into gear making a lovely grinding noise. It's almost as though the car is never fully in neutral!!
Having just spent over £600 for the clutch and to get it through it's last M.O.T. I am more than a little p***** off at this new situation, the car appears to be turning into a money pit!!!

[mjb]

Having just spent over £600 for the clutch and to get it through it's last M.O.T. I am more than a little p***** off at this new situation, the car appears to be turning into a money pit!!!

Did the grinding start before or after this?

[Welly]

the car appears to be turning into a money pit!!!

Did someone call?

I would say the gear selector mechanism is at fault and was possibly miss-aligned and/or fiddled with during the clutch surgery.

Take it back to the garage?

[steve_earwig]

Stop using 3rd! At least 'til you can work out why it's doing it. There's always the possibility that they either forgot to fill it up with oil again or the put the wrong stuff in it.

I think I'm in the same boat, I know the guy who changed my clutch filled it up but I went to the shop he normally goes to and they don't actually sell the right oil!

[loz1971]

Having just spent over £600 for the clutch and to get it through it's last M.O.T. I am more than a little p***** off at this new situation, the car appears to be turning into a money pit!!!

Did the grinding start before or after this?

The crunching started a few weeks after the clutch change, I am already not using 3rd gear, and to be quite honest I cant say i'm missing it! I just hope the syncromesh hasn't gone on third gear.
This coming weekend I will have a good nosey under the car, check the gearbox oil, gear linkage etc, if everything is ok (and knowing my luck it will be!!)I'll get some molyslip or similar from halfrauds to see if I can make it any better, does anybody know if this will work, or if there is anything available on the market that will help? and does Anybody have any idea roughly how much a replacement gearbox fitting will cost?

[steve_earwig]

I'd think it would be better to change the oil, at least you'll have one "known" to work from.

I'm trying not to use 3rd myself but it's a pain with the traffic in town here. Looks like I'll have to go into ZG tomorrow for the right oil

[loz1971]

the car appears to be turning into a money pit!!!

Did someone call?

I would say the gear selector mechanism is at fault and was possibly miss-aligned and/or fiddled with during the clutch surgery.

Take it back to the garage?

The guy who fitted the clutch for me is a friend, and I have to admit I trust him completely, although he did suggest that I check the oil level in the gearbox, so is my trust mis-placed? he also agreed that an engine mount could be on it's way out!

so how much has your money pit cost this year, so far i've had 4 new tyres,4 new brake discs(front and back) front and rear pads (including handbrake) new radiator, new lower coolant pipe, new brake compensator unit, new cat, new rear box, new handbrake cables(rear), new coil pack, new spark plugs, full service, new battery, aircon top-up,new headlight washer cover (old one flew off somewhere!!) 3 new wheel bolts (old ones rusted on!) and various bulbs and a new set of wiperblades ( I got flat aero blades off E-bay, which I must say are the best wiperblades i've ever owned).And i've just found out that the roof is rusting from the indide out.
I have a real love hate relationship with this car, when it's all working it's a fantastic car and it actually relaxes me driving it, but when it's like this I could happily drive it into the crusher myself.But I think its" better the devil you know", I could buy another car and have to do all this on it again, at least with my Peugeot I know that its done!

This gearbox problem might be the final straw though

[loz1971]

I'd think it would be better to change the oil, at least you'll have one "known" to work from.

I'm trying not to use 3rd myself but it's a pain with the traffic in town here. Looks like I'll have to go into ZG tomorrow for the right oil

Let me know how you get on.
I think I could live with it if it wasn't so harsh, it still makes me jump when it does it first thing in the morning,when, for one sweet moment, I forget that my car is turning into a piece of c**p

[Welly]

so how much has your money pit cost this year

Well, I was thinking about this last night....

Air con 300.00
snapped spring 90.00
radiator fan 280.00
bottom pulley 220.00
snapped spring 160.00
middle eggsauce 90.00
egr, engine mount, cat, back box, intercooler hose, *full* service 900.00
In-tank pump 230.00
Tyres 180.00

That's £2,450.00 in 3 years + cost of car 3,300.00 = £5,750.00

£5,750.00 = a fleet of 9 V6 D8's

[mjb]

I'd get the gearbox oil changed. Could be he forgot to replace it or got the level wrong by not doing it on the flat or something. Even if this is the case, the damage may have been done by now...

[Welly]

Does 3rd and reverse engage easily with the engine off? if it's still bad then it would point to selector probs IMO.