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Technical Can't change gears

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Technical Can't change gears

I've read the other thread. Bleeding his hydraulics gave a temporary cure, suggesting it may have had air in, meaning a leak somewhere, not necessarily fluid out. That may mean master cylinder drawing in air, quite possible when worn.

Lubricating his pedal pivot seems a strange "cure". This is only useful if the pedal travel is restricted. If you wish to try this, use spray silicone grease (white grease), not WD40. Spray grease will ooze in while the solvent evaporates, then stay there. WD40 will just wash out any grease already there, is not itself a good lubricant under any pressure, so the situation would feel better immediately, then very quickly much worse.

Try the pedal lubrication.

Bleed the clutch hydraulics. If this effects a cure, be prepared for a new cylinder soon. If there are no fluid leaks at master or slave, the master would be drawing in air. If there are leaks at either, that will be the culprit.
 
portland_bill said:
Try the pedal lubrication.

Bleed the clutch hydraulics. If this effects a cure, be prepared for a new cylinder soon. If there are no fluid leaks at master or slave, the master would be drawing in air. If there are leaks at either, that will be the culprit.
Click to expand...

Ok, great, I will re read this in the morning as right now I feel confused :rolleyes: but I'm sure it makes perfect sense..:D
 
portland_bill said:
If gear selection is ok when engine off, cables are not the issue.
Unable to select or deselect gears with engine running is a clutch issue, not disengaging. This could be down to hydraulics, most likely, or clutch failure, less likely. When the clutch pedal is depressed, the arm on the gearbox should move to operate the release bearing inside the bell housing. What we need now is someone with a diesel Multi to tell us how far it should move, so that a comparison can be made. If it is not moving far enough, either slave or master cylinder will be the cause. If it does move far enough, then gearbox would have to come out to look at the clutch, probably to replace it.
Click to expand...

I've videod mine today, will try to put a link to it tomorrow, see if people think it looks like it should, it's very squeeky...
 
hastingsmum said:
I've videod mine today, will try to put a link to it tomorrow, see if people think it looks like it should, it's very squeeky...
Click to expand...

Is it the pedal that is squeaky, or the lever on the gearbox?

Pedal squeak may be sorted with spray grease, as an earlier post suggested.
Squeak at the gearbox suggests that either the lever pivot bushes need lubrication, or the clutch is well worn.

Looking at the vid, the lever does seem to move a reasonable amount, but I would hope another Multi owner might confirm good or not.

Any signs of fluid leaks at pedal or slave?
 
Mines temperamental but it moves more than that ..Mine needs bleeding again but Im replacing the O rings first ...My one is okay one day the next it crunches a little but gets better as I drive..Nightmare to bleed
 
Glad you've found it.
Just looked at ePER, the part number required is 46558369, but at June last year was £88.

With its unusual ends it may not be possible to make one up like a brake pipe, but a garage may be able to make a pipe for the most of it, and use connectors to join near the ends.

Might have to phone/email these guys and see what they can do for you.

http://www.ricambio.co.uk/
http://www.eurocarcare.net/
http://manodalys.lt/ This last one is well recommended in other threads here.
 
Hi Hastingsmum
I'd really suggest the clutch master cylinder. My multi started to play up with gears in a similar way. When I got the master cylinder replaced it was found the spring inside had broken (giving some action but not fully working).
The spring breaking in relatively common. I had the master cycler replaced, but the garage said it was a more difficult job than he thought initially and I've heard other people say similar. I have heard of someone who took the spring from a new cycliner and just replaced that rather than the hassle of the whole lot (although having looked at the dirt from the broken spring, I'm glad my mechanic replaced everything and fully flushed the system through too).
hope this helps.
 
rc3675 said:
Hi Hastingsmum
I'd really suggest the clutch master cylinder. My multi started to play up with gears in a similar way. When I got the master cylinder replaced it was found the spring inside had broken (giving some action but not fully working).
The spring breaking in relatively common. I had the master cycler replaced, but the garage said it was a more difficult job than he thought initially and I've heard other people say similar. I have heard of someone who took the spring from a new cycliner and just replaced that rather than the hassle of the whole lot (although having looked at the dirt from the broken spring, I'm glad my mechanic replaced everything and fully flushed the system through too).
hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Sorry you've not seen my update... found a leaking clutch pipe, if ever I find a cheapish way of getting it replaced I will hopefully have the car back to driving again...
 
I'm sorry to hear you've not yet found a solution. I assume no joy from the options I suggested, or at least not at the right price.
Obviously it is a steel pipe that has rusted. I've not seen one, but I assume the end fittings are plastic.

If you can remove the whole thing without changing its shape, you might be able to take it to your local hydraulic hose people and see if they can repair or make a replacement. Worth a try.
Put "hydraulic hose" into Google and see what pops up. Or try these: http://www.pirtek.co.uk/

These people are normally dealing with hydraulics on tractors, farm machinery, industrial and factory stuff, etc., but if they can fix it, are usually helpful
 
portland_bill said:
I'm sorry to hear you've not yet found a solution. I assume no joy from the options I suggested, or at least not at the right price.
Obviously it is a steel pipe that has rusted. I've not seen one, but I assume the end fittings are plastic.

If you can remove the whole thing without changing its shape, you might be able to take it to your local hydraulic hose people and see if they can repair or make a replacement. Worth a try.
Put "hydraulic hose" into Google and see what pops up. Or try these: http://www.pirtek.co.uk/

These people are normally dealing with hydraulics on tractors, farm machinery, industrial and factory stuff, etc., but if they can fix it, are usually helpful
Click to expand...

Thank you! Things don't happen very quickly in my house it seems, lol. Just waiting for some people to get back to me and should have it fixed in a flash ;)
 
Just a quick question again... when i fit a new pipe, is that likely to rust badly too, as the soundproofing (?) stuff it's pressed up against is soaking wet. Is it normal for this to be so wet?

Or should I not worry so much as the pipe is likely to outlive the car anyway? :rolleyes:


Also, people were talking about possible leaks as there was a puddle under my Multi, it's water coming from here.....

 
Sadly, any steel pipe is subject to rust, especially when water is held against it. The soundproofing may be wet because the weather is horrid, or some may be brake fluid, which will never dry out. Before fitting the new pipe, paint it with an anti-rust paint, like hammerite. Any colour you like. Where the pipe fits into its clips, try to position the pipe away from the soundproofing. Not easy when you are upside down under the car.

The pipe you are pointing at is the drain from the heater plenum chamber. Sounds posh, but below the windscreen is an area that the heater air passes through before arriving inside the car. The air goes down, and then up into the heater, to prevent water and debris getting in. That area of course gets rain in it, and these tubes, there's usually two of them, let it out. Keep them clear, hook out all the dead leaves and any other stuff, insects, etc. If they block up, you'll eventually get water inside the car.
 
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Those drain tubes are designed to be given a squeeze at the end every so often, which opens up the slot to let any accumulated c**p out.
They're also designed to drip smelly water on you as you lay underneath while working on the car :yuck:

hastingsmum said:
. . . it's always been very strong and will keep moving forwards even when my feet are off the pedals altogether, where other cars I've driven would have stalled . . .
Click to expand...
Was thinking of this the other day, had a 'play'.
Without touching the throttle pedal, I can go up through the gears on mine (on level road) into fifth, where it will smoothly chug along at around 22mph.

Later, going up a 1:4 hill in crawling traffic I found you could sit in second and it would happily pull up it without any throttle input.
 
BikeDoc said:
Those drain tubes are designed to be given a squeeze at the end every so often, which opens up the slot to let any accumulated c**p out.
They're also designed to drip smelly water on you as you lay underneath while working on the car :yuck:


Was thinking of this the other day, had a 'play'.
Without touching the throttle pedal, I can go up through the gears on mine (on level road) into fifth, where it will smoothly chug along at around 22mph.

Later, going up a 1:4 hill in crawling traffic I found you could sit in second and it would happily pull up it without any throttle input.
Click to expand...
Yes it is very strong isn't it? My 1.6 couldn't do this....

Fascinating about getting all the way up to 5th though can't wait to get mine back on the road to try this (y)
 
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