View Full Version : Just been rescued by the RAC :(
I had just joined onto the motorway, doing about 65mph in 5th gear and then i heard a grinding noise. It got worse when i put my foot on the accelerator, so i eased off and thought i'd get off at the next junction and have a look what's wrong. When i had slowed down abit i went to put it in fourth and i couldn't get it into gear, so i pulled over on the hard shoulder.
I had to call the RAC out because it won't go into 3rd, fourth and fifth gear. The electrics come on, but it won't even turn over-nothing happens atall. I think i burnt out the starter motor trying to start it. It seemed to be jammed and was turning slowly and then started smoking.
The clutch pedal feels fine, but it seems to be in gear even when 'out' of gear. I think the gearbox has gone, which would explain not being able to get gears and i think i can rule out the clutch as it seems okay.
Has anyone got any ideas as to what has happened? I wasn't pushing the car atall before anyone asks. How easy is the gearbox and starter motor to change?
Any help really appreciated
great thanks for that, i have a long drive tomorrow and i believe my gear box is on the way out. Will sleep easy tonight and not dream about being stranded 250 miles from home lol.
Did you check gearbox oil?
Alex, mine whines like a mofo, but it's still strong. yours wil be fine i'm sure.
if it were gearbox oil, it would've started making a grating/whining noise a while ago and gradually got worse i would have thought,
gearbox is not too hard to do, i've changed mine, just follow haynes manual. Hard bit if popping the shafts out of the gearbox (mine were terrible) and then kind of Supporting the engine, whilst supporting the gearbox and slowly moving them apart, it's handy to have a little winch crane. !
yeah luckily mine came out fairly easy last time (after coating my hair in the oil lol.
Very handy to have a crane/winch
That's the prob, i don't have a crane lol. It hasn't made any noise atall before and this happened quite suddenly. So you think it is the gearbox? Is it worth getting the whole gearbox or could it just be a bearing or something?
So nick, did you have a crane? I suppose i might be able to make a 'make-shift' kind of crane somehow :?
nope i didn't have a crane
i supported the block on a big flat peice of wood with a trolley jack underneath,
then i had the gearbox balanced on another trolley jack with people holding it, and kinda slowly lowed the box, which trying to ease it away from the block.
To get it to the stage where your ready to pop the drive shafts out and start undoing the G'box bolts takes 1/2 hour.
I got a dodgy box the 2nd time, so the 3rd time i took it to a garage and got it done properly (to eliminate any error on my part) and yet again i got another dodgy box. (?80 is a reasonable charge, even cheaper somewhere else)
Cheers mate, i just hope it is the gearbox that is the problem! I don't know for sure, but don't see what else it would be. Is there any real way of telling weather a g/box is dodgy or not? What happened to you when your went? Does it sound similar to mine going?
What happened to you when your went? Does it sound similar to mine going?
LMAO get ready for this one.
When fitting my digidash, i accidently dropped a spare bolt into the transducer plug hole.
Finsiehd the dash, went off for a nice drive to admire my handywork.
Kept hearing a crunch,crunch noise. so i stopped and saw the huge hole in the bellhousing, bit's of metal splatter over my engine bay and gearbox oil everywhere.
i was about 40 miles from home, and it made it back fine, running like new, better than my 2 new box's have run.
hmmm.... jack up the front of the car, on axel stands. Crawl under and you should beable to turn the cv joints/driveshafts by hand (at the Gbox end) and see what sound is coming from the box. If it's a grating,crunching sound then it's most likely the gearbox if it does it on both sides. Also check the linkage hasn't snapped ? and the UJ is nice and tight.
it's probably not the best advice but as i had a large hole in mine, i didn't need to do much problem finding lol
Does the car roll down a hill in gear ? with the engine turned off ?
No it wont move unless the clutch is down. Unlucky on yours then mate, kinda funny though :lol:
I'll have a look tommorrow, it was too dark to have a look earlier and i didn't want to be near the car on the hard shoulder tbh. Cheers for your help
ooooh right, so when the clutch is down, the car will move ? regardless of what gear you put it in ?
hmmm, well it'll move with the clutch down, but i'm not sure about the clutch down in a gear. I've just been out with the car, but it's really difficult to try to move the car whilst pushing down on the clutch :?
I've just tried starting it and i can hear something that may be the starter motor trying to move but is jammed/can't turn. I think it can move with the clutch down and out of gear, but not clutch down and in gear. Well that's how it felt when i tried to push it from in the car lol.
Do you know what it means if it moves with the clutch down+out of gear, but not when in gear?
well if the starter motor can't turn with the clutch not down, then it sounds like something is resisting it from turning.
i.e when you try and start the car in gear.
if the gearbox was well and truely jammed, then it would back logging the engine with a massive amount of resistance, thus overpowering the starter from starting the engine ?
but then, it should beable to start the engine if the clutch is down, as the gearbox wouldn't be affecting the engine trying to start. ? unless you've damaged the starter trying to get it going.
but if the gearbox was well and treuly jammed, i don't know why it would roll with the clutch down.
i'm no gearbox expert lol
nick
nova_kev
27-01-05, 09:18 PM
defo gearbox gone chap
it took me and a mate about 2 an hour and a half to do a gearbox change. as for supporting the engine, we used a trolley jack to support it. 8)
I think maybe i've knackered the starter then. I tried starting it (out of gear with the clutch up) and it just jerked forward when i turned the key. The RAC bloke then tried turning it over with the clutch up but out of gear and it started smoking, so probably fooked it.
I imagine it was trying to start it with the clutch up and out of gear. If we had tried starting it with the clutch down maybe it would have started, because it will roll when the clutch is down.
I think i'm quite convinced i just need a new gearbox now though (and starter lol), so that makes life easier. There's nothing worse than having a problem with your car and you haven't got a clue what it is.
Ben, you have been PM'd!!! And if anyone else has a f16CR box (?This is the gsi'gte box isn't it?) let me know please!!!
Cheers Nick, been a great help :wink:
no worries
now delete this post before anyone finds out about me dropping a bolt in my g'box :? :? :wink:
ANDYRACER
27-01-05, 10:07 PM
hang on isnt the gsi gearbox called the f13 not the f16
Could be mate, i get abit confused with gearbox numbers lol
ANDYRACER
27-01-05, 10:27 PM
i think it is called a f13 coz i alwayz gt confused coz u think f16 4 a 1.6 and f13 4 a 1.3 bt its f10 4 a 1.3, f13 4 a 1.6 and f16 is the one that 2.0 8 valves cum wit im pretty sure sum 1 will correct me
No that sounds about right, cheers mate
It is an F13 you need, F16 is for big block engines.
Definately the gearbox is fuct, mine got stuck in reverse, I had to get it towed with my foot on the clutch the whole way home - not comfortable!
Try starting it with clutch down (but do not let go of the clultch at any point as its stuck IN gear which is why it jerked forward when u started it) then u will know if the engine has any damage (unlikely).
F13 for a 1.6 engine
Took me about 4 hours to change the box over on my own with 2 trolley jacks and lots of planks of wood for support!
You can just tug hard on the driveshafts to get them out, just make sure they are straight when you are pulling them and have something to catch all the g'box oil!
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