Technical Gearbox thinks it's in 1st when in neutral!

[koalar]

I doubt anything at the moment is wrong with the gearbox. Just the selector

I wouldn’t start the engine until we are sure what’s going on

I wouldn’t start the car with the selector off

It’s possible to accidentally select two gears at the same time and cause a lot of damage.

I be tempted to drop the car onto its wheels and gently try pushing it in neutral

I'll second that.

Never start an engine if you suspect any part of the transmission is not free to move as intended.

Move the parts by hand, using as little force as possible, until you discover what exactly has locked up.

The car isn't pushing *fine*, I can feel the engine compression as I'm pushing it (feels like pushing over a speed bump).

Not sure where to go with this

I thought we were just dropping the car and rolling it to see if it’s the angle of the driveshafts in the differential causing a problem

Not shoving so hard it turns the engine over

I feel what stared as a simple problem is going to end in tears

 

[WildFeraligatr]

Not sure where to go with this

I thought we were just dropping the car and rolling it to see if it’s the angle of the driveshafts in the differential causing a problem

Not shoving so hard it turns the engine over

I feel what stared as a simple problem is going to end in tears

Respectfully, I've been trying to ask questions throughout this process to better understand what's happening and many of them haven't been answered properly or have been ignored.

I was clear in my videos as to what was happening when the gearbox appears to be in neutral. I am not a car expert. I do not know what is supposed to happen when you push a car forward. I am learning this as I go along. I got told to push the car to see if it changes anything, so I did.

If there are no more useful suggestions then I guess this is months of work wasted and the car is going into the shop to see if they can fix it.

 

[koalar]

It was answered

The wheels do turn when in neutral clutch pedal up. This is as expected. There is drag on the internal parts of the gearbox. This normal behaviour

That’s why you can’t tell easily if it’s in neutral with the car in the air

Also in neutral turning one wheel forwards will turn opposite side backwards. This is again as expected.

The differential is designed to allow the front wheel to spin at differen speeds.

We can see the initial problem with the selector lever falling down and loosing its place in it slot as per one of the early photos

Regardless of the state of the gear selector

If the levers on top of the gearbox look like this

And the car does not roll easily you have something seriously wrong

 

[koalar]

Not sure on how to further diagnose the problem without dropping the gearbox

Maybe see if the car rolls easy clutch down

 

[DaveMcT]

It's easy enough to diagnose. Remove the gear shifter cover and set the selectors into neutral (all aligned as in Post 63). If the car does not easily roll along, you have a problem within the gearbox. If the reverse gear ball joint is engaged correctly (use a torch and mirror to check) then there is something more seriously wrong within the box. Looking down from the top as shown in Post 63, reverse selector is located at about 8 o'clock.

However, anything really nasty would surely have been discovered by now with nasty noises and/or no drive at all.

 

[WildFeraligatr]

It's easy enough to diagnose. Remove the gear shifter cover and set the selectors into neutral (all aligned as in Post 63). If the car does not easily roll along, you have a problem within the gearbox. If the reverse gear ball joint is engaged correctly (use a torch and mirror to check) then there is something more seriously wrong within the box. Looking down from the top as shown in Post 63, reverse selector is located at about 8 o'clock.

However, anything really nasty would surely have been discovered by now with nasty noises and/or no drive at all.

This thing?

 

[koalar]

This thing?

Yes

Looks right

 

[DaveMcT]

That's the reverse gear selector. All looks ok.

When you move the selector across it's travel, you should feel it wants to stop in the middle with more effort needed to go one end than the other. If there's no bias then you need to make sure the springs are correctly located. Your's shown in Post 25 look ok.

Set the shifter and the box in line and all should be good.

Ignore anything "odd" about the road wheels turning in neutral when its jacked up.

 

[koalar]

It’s easy to see what’s going on if you just jack one wheel off the ground

Here’s mine in neutral and in gear

 

[WildFeraligatr]

Bit of an update as I haven't been able to work on the car due to training for a competition.

For some reason the wheels are now spinning freely and not turning the engine over but now reverse gear isn't engaging (see attached vid)

Think it may be something to do with a bolt i removed thinking it was the gearbox drain plug but having looked at some videos of the same gearbox being taken apart it looks to be a bolt that has something to do with the reverse gear?



Any advice on how i can resolve preferably without dropping the gearbox?

 

[DaveMcT]

Remove the pressed steel end cover and go from there.

 

[WildFeraligatr]

Remove the pressed steel end cover and go from there.

The cover over 5th gear etc on the wheel end?

 

[WildFeraligatr]

5th gear also isn't working right - it clicks into place but then springs back out again

 

[koalar]

yes bolt supports the end of the 5th gearshift

as long as it was undone then tightened straight backup I cant see it being your problem

as far as i remember it just has a threaded hole that clamps the shaft to the gearbox casing

as long as the the treads remained lined up and and the bolt screwed straight back in it shouldn't be a problem

 

[WildFeraligatr]

yes bolt supports the end of the 5th gearshift

as long as it was undone then tightened straight backup I cant see it being your problem

as far as i remember it just has a threaded hole that clamps the shaft to the gearbox casing

as long as the the treads remained lined up and and the bolt screwed straight back in it shouldn't be a problem

It was out for a while if I recall so could be an issue.

I think I'm just gonna drop the gearbox at this point and take a look inside - now that the end cover is off 5th gear seems to be working ok for some reason but reverse is still moving freely.

 

[koalar]

It was out for a while if I recall so could be an issue.

I think I'm just gonna drop the gearbox at this point and take a look inside - now that the end cover is off 5th gear seems to be working ok for some reason but reverse is still moving freely.

no idea why i wrote 5th trying to talk and write at the same time time, can only do one thing at once

meant to write reverse

anyhow as long as the threads lined up and it screwed back in i think should be okay

selecting reverse should make a nice clunk noise.

 

[WildFeraligatr]

no idea why i wrote 5th trying to talk and write at the same time time, can only do one thing at once

meant to write reverse

anyhow as long as the threads lined up and it screwed back in i think should be okay

selecting reverse should make a nice clunk noise.

If I'm being totally honest i don't even know if the bolt I put back in is the right one

You can see in my video above, the reverse selector just moves freely side to side without making any sort of clunk or anything (unlike the other gears)

 

[koalar]

If I'm being totally honest i don't even know if the bolt I put back in is the right one

You can see in my video above, the reverse selector just moves freely side to side without making any sort of clunk or anything (unlike the other gears)

yes

its the only one that's straight cut and no synchromesh. If you select firmly you get a nice clunk noise

 

[WildFeraligatr]

yes

its the only one that's straight cut and no synchromesh. If you select firmly you get a nice clunk noise

I am selecting it firmly, and as I said it just moves side to side freely. You can see this in my video.

 

[DaveMcT]

Before removing the gearbox, you really should check that shifter shaft is working correctly and the springs are seated as they should be. As I've said before - the roll pins do fracture. With no pin holding it in place the across gate action will slip . Moving the lever from 1-2 to 3-4 or 3-4 to 5-R won't work properly.