Stopped going in to gear???

6th March 2009, 21:07

Picked up a new car today, after about 50 miles on the way home the car stopped going in to gear completely, so we pulled over, and after starting the car up again, it was fine

What's going on?

Its a cammed vtr with a 1.3 rallye gearbox in it, this might be something to do with it?

the "thanks" button will be used for any help

6th March 2009, 21:49

did the gears feel stiff? asin not going into gear, or did it slot in but not drive?

6th March 2009, 21:54

and was it grating when u tried or not?

6th March 2009, 22:11

Yes mate it was grating and just wouldnt go in at all, what you reckon?

6th March 2009, 22:18

synchro fucked, gearlinage not on properly, driveshaft bearing mashed in the box end..

could be a few things

6th March 2009, 22:19

or if it wouldnt go in atall when running it might be more of a clutch issue, input shaft etc..

6th March 2009, 22:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan

synchro fucked, gearlinage not on properly, driveshaft bearing mashed in the box end..

could be a few things

Ok, it wouldn't go in to any gear at all when the clutch was fully compressed, then as i say, stopped a second, restarted the engine, and it seemed to be fine, but it did grind like f*ck while it wasnt working, how sortable are the things you mentioned cost wise?

We thought it could be a clutch issue, as above, are these big jobs as i dont want this car to start costing a fortune!

6th March 2009, 22:40

clutch is cheap if you do box on and off yourself.

if the internals have any damage the box wont be cheap to fix as the MA box is a bit of a bastard to work on eg. If the diffs shot you need to remove the entire gear set to get at it.

It sounds more clutch/driving issue, if it would go into gear at idle but not at speed if that makes sense? eg the shafts are not spinning at a high rpm etc...

Box off and have a look tbh.

6th March 2009, 22:42

It wouldnt go to gear while just driving along though, just stopped suddenly, and it was just after it went above 5k revs for the whole trip,

6th March 2009, 22:46

gearboxes are NOT fun..

might be worth pming alexR

seeing how much he will want to have a look/try and fix it.

6th March 2009, 22:52

Grim. lol I will have to do that then. so whats your final verdict?

6th March 2009, 22:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slammed_Posi_Vtr

Grim. lol I will have to do that then. so whats your final verdict?

it can be many things...

box off would show if the clutch etc.. is shot, and box off also can show if theres damage to the diff etc...

atm you are just making educated guesses on why its fucked. although i expect an s1 boxed cammed car wont have had a mild life

6th March 2009, 22:57

hehe you are right, easy just to chuck a vtr box back in? or just keep it and worry about money later?

6th March 2009, 23:02

depends on if its a fucked box or not doesnt it.

6th March 2009, 23:03

Yeah, Dont know too much about gearboxes so im just fearing the worst at the moment

6th March 2009, 23:04

if the box is shot, its not gonna be easy finding an s1 box either.

it could be something very simple, but you cant tell unless you have a poke around

6th March 2009, 23:06

will the engine be modified to suit the s1 box then?

6th March 2009, 23:07

nope, its an MA box, so whatever box from the MA range (TU engined cars) will go on.

Its just the ratios/final drive of the rallye which gives it a better in gear performance, but a shit top end (poor MPG)

6th March 2009, 23:17

ok cool, what does ma and tu stand for? and do you think the 1.3 box will cause it a lot of issues in the future? the engine has had thousands spent on it recently including a full rebuild so that should be ok shouldnt it? what else would be affected by the cams and box in terms of reliability?

6th March 2009, 23:24

MA is the type of box
TU is the engine type (for example a 16v engine is the TU5J4)

1.3 box wont cause issues other than shit mpg lol! Its the same gear cluster as a vts box but with a different final drive. The engine should be fine if its just had a decent rebuild. The box wont really effect engine reliability more the other way round in big power cases, eg big bhp killling boxes

6th March 2009, 23:27

ok cheers mate, youve been a lot of help, where does alexR live and is he pretty handy with this sort of stuff i take it? getting it MOT'd tomoz, is it worth asking them to have a look? i never really trust garages these days!

7th March 2009, 12:45

Sounds like dodgy synchros to me, if it's crunching and not going into gear, the synchro rings aren't meshing well enough, but if you rev match it should still go in. Does it do it all the time? I can actually have a drive of it if you want and give you a verdict? If it's got a 1.3 box on it's fair to say that it's probably seen better days!

7th March 2009, 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexR

Sounds like dodgy synchros to me, if it's crunching and not going into gear, the synchro rings aren't meshing well enough, but if you rev match it should still go in. Does it do it all the time? I can actually have a drive of it if you want and give you a verdict? If it's got a 1.3 box on it's fair to say that it's probably seen better days!

Thats the thing, it drives absolutely fine all the time, it only happened that one time after we gave it a bit of stick and I'm just talking accelerating through 2nd and 3rd,. nothing silly like 1st or anything, drove it this morning and it seems fine again, but it really did seem fooked when it stopped altogether, its as if the clutch wasnt down?

I have over £4000 worth of receipts for the engine for work carried out over the last year, and its all top notch stuff, ie competition valves and springs, stage 3 headgasket etc, and the engine itself looks mint, so i dont think its been ragged around too much to be honest, and yes mate, you can drive it if you want, whereabouts are you based???

7th March 2009, 14:02

Live near groombridge! I'd not worry about it until it starts doing it regularly. It will be hard to track down otherwise.

7th March 2009, 16:28

another tunny wellian. mine always crunches on every gear change. Has done since I bought it 2 years ago mt clutch also squeks.

7th March 2009, 18:09

Near groombridge? nice, i live about 2 miles from groombridge!! do you do private work then alex? and i take it you know tooooo much about french cars?

took the car out today and it all seemed fine!!

8th March 2009, 19:18

My vts started doing the exact same thing before it stripped the clutch a couple days later, lol.

8th March 2009, 22:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by r_i_c_h_1

My vts started doing the exact same thing before it stripped the clutch a couple days later, lol.

I''l look foward to that then

9th March 2009, 00:08

Not saying it will happen to you aswell, but take it easy till you sort out whatever the problem is. Probably didn't help mine had been owned by a middle aged couple since new it had the same clutch from new at 103,000 when I got it and started driving it to its 'full potential' lol.

9th March 2009, 11:33

Lol, I like your Phrasing "ragging the tits out of it" more like, lol, might just get a new clutch then if that's what's needed.

9th March 2009, 11:59

It might be the synchro as both alex and myself said, and being the S1 box thats a high probability.

A new valeo would be good though, but id expect they fitted a new clutch when the engine went in, unless they were a tard

10th March 2009, 08:39

Cool, I'll have to look through the paperwork that came with the car then, does Alex work on cars himself? would he be able to do it???

Oh, and isn't it a bit weird that it has only happened that once? Now that it has been driven around properly and it hasn't done it since?

10th March 2009, 11:06

might have just been a freak incident, hitting a bump and knocking it out or something daft.

alex does work on the cars, hes looking after mine lol

10th March 2009, 13:39

Nice, so do you bring the vtr down to groombridge for that? I wouldnt mind having a look at it at some point, could he fit throttle bodies do you reckon? and I know this is asked every day, but because my car already has cams and stage 3 head etc, what sort of cost would I be looking at for a full set up ?

10th March 2009, 17:47

A decent set up of bodies will cost alot.

Remeber you need ecu + mapping (standalone)

Alex can fit them depends if he has time/can be arsed.

You can go cheep and fit bike bodies but im really not a fan as seen alot of engines run shit with them

10th March 2009, 23:23

What bodies would you recommend? and the price of standalone & re-mapping to match?

10th March 2009, 23:25

Jenveys are the most poplular.

Ecu wise depends on budget/how good you are at wiring.
Budget 1k for ecu mapped and fitted.

10th March 2009, 23:30

Total amatuer at wiring tbh mate, would like to get it all done by someone in the know really, so what you reckon then, still around 2k in total?