Gear changing issues
 

Hope someone can shed light on this one which is causing me a headache! I hope there isn't a limit to the length of a post as this will be a long one!
I had been experiencing the occasional difficulty engaging 1st gear and persuaded myself that the clutch was past its best Rover 75 cdti tourer with 140,000 on the clock still on original clutch.
After a few enquiries on this Forum I entrusted the work to Chris at Marshall Performance Motors in Derbyshire even though it meant driving there from Kent. I picked the car up once the new clutch was installed and drove the car to my daughter's home near Nottingham about 30 miles away. Most of that was in top gear on the M1 but when I left the motorway I had some difficulty shifting down through the box and by the time I reached the A610 and had to stop I had trouble persuading it to go into 1st gear. Same again as I left the 610 at the IKEA roundabout but I managed to coax the car round to my daughters about a half mile away. I called Chris and he said that there must be air in the line which would need bleeding. I left the car for a while then once it was cold I attempted to drive it again and it seemed ok if a little 'sticky' I decided to drive it back to Chris's in the morning and if worse came to it I would call on my breakdown service. I got there without any problems and Chris bled out a small amount of air and sent me on my way. I went home to Kent and my journey included at least an hour crawling along the M25 in 1st and 2nd gear without any problems and I used the car for several errands for the next week or so. Then one night a couple of weeks ago I set off to a meeting 22 miles away in Bromley. I drove in top 'til I left the A2 at Crayford and noticed that my gear changes were not clean as they should be and by the time I reached my destination I had a job to get the car into reverse to park up. A couple of hours later I left wondering how far if at all I would get so I picked a route which would involve as few gear changes a possible. I did manage to get home though. I turned into my backs and lined the car up to reverse into my garage couldn't get into gear nor would it go into any forward gear. I stopped the motor and could engage reverse so with the clutch depressed I started her up. The car lurched a bit but I had control and got it into the garage without a problem.
The day after I found that the clutch pedal was stuck half way down so I pulled it up into position and drove the car round the block and all seemed well!
I called Chris and explained what had happened. He was of the opinion that the master cylinder was at fault and recommended I buy a new one from DMHRS so I ordered one and arranged with a local garage to have it fitted. A bad choice as they failed to read the instructions that came with it and after a couple of days gave it up as a bad job!
After several calls a garage in Ebbsfleet said they could do it so it went in on Wednesday this week. They had the car for a morning and called to say it was done and that it was a pig of a job swapping the master cylinders and subsequently topping up during bleeding operations.
Well, all seemed OK as I drove off £90 lighter. However I have used the car this morning for several local shopping trips and my Bromley experience occurred again! I struggled tp park up at Morrisons but got on with my shopping and would worry about it when I was done.
To my relief it went into reverse ok then into first if a little reluctantly but I got home and the car is back in my garage so HELP where do I go from here.

Did you get a "full" clutch change, of cover plate, driven plate and slave cylinder? Do you have any clutch fluid leaking from the bell housing at the gearbox end of the engine? Any leakage there would indicate a failing slave cylinder, which would lead to dropping fluid level at the master cylinder and air getting into the system.

what is happening to the clutch pedal? Does it go to floor, does it spring back up?
part of your OP matches with a failed master cylinder, the pedal staying part down and lurching when started in gear , fluid by passing the master cylinder pushrod seal and staying in the master cylinder. Now you have changed the master what is happening to the pedal. I assume they did bleed the system again.

could lack of gear box oil be a problem?

macafee2

The pedal comes back and I am assured the mechanic did bleed the system as he complained at how tricky it was!
The gearbox oil? Presumably I would have to drain and refill. A local gearbox specialist reckons that if I can select gears when the motor isn't running would eliminate the gearbox as the problem though this was my first thought.

Gearchange issues as yet unresolved
 

Following my post of several days ago I wonder what readers might make of this!
I set off in my 75 Diesel tourer from cold, no problems changing gear during five minutes, couple of miles before joining motorway followed by dual carriageway - fifth gear all the way for a half hour and 30 miles. Leave dual carriageway on slip road and find that I have difficulty changing down and as I approach a roundabout and have to slow have all manner of trouble getting into second gear. Limp to garage!
This is now the fourth time this has happened. The system has been bled several times and the master cylinder replaced.
All this follows a clutch replacement before which all was well.

It is a faulty slave cylinder, I've heard of this before.

What brand of clutch kit was installed, and was it carried out without the subframe being removed I wonder.

Brian :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by marinabrian (Post 2777314) It is a faulty slave cylinder, I've heard of this before. What brand of clutch kit was installed, and was it carried out without the subframe being removed I wonder.

Many thanks for your input. I wasn't present when the clutch was replaced so don't know what kit was used or whether the sub frame was removed.
Your comment about the faulty slave cylinder - do you know if this was a new installation? I understand that the chap who did my clutch replaces this component as a matter of course.
I would appreciate any information that I can present to my mechanic as I suspect he is going to take some persuading to take the gearbox off again.

Eddie

Only just seen this thread. But in regards to Eddie's 75.

The 2 piece clutch kit is off our specification and design which is about 30 percent better than the originals. And the slave cylinder is the dmgrs OEM Q one.

In regards to Eddie's car the selectors were quite worn which we did inform Eddie at the time annoying but we did come out to his car on the other side Nottingham to sort for him just before christmas.

Now in regards to the clutch pedal issue that appeared after a couple of days of running we found this to be a faulty slave cylinder which we replaced free of charge.

We do appreciate the frustrating side of it and the annoying bit about it but were working g with scott to find a permanent solution to the current problem with the slave cylinders that are available o the market. And I belive scott now has a upgraded dmgrs q slave which comes with 24 months warranty!

I wish Eddie all the best as well.