Hi,

My very reliable Skoda Fabia has recently developed a fault in that every now and then it won't go in to first and second gear. It had a new clutch put in 18 months ago and its done about 10,000 miles since then. The car has 111,000 on the clock and the gear box has been cleaned up and 'tweaked' which helped for a short while.

The mechanic that put the clutch in is sure that its not the clutch as it only seems to be bad in 1st, 2nd and reverse. His argument is that it would be bad in all gears if it was the clutch. The mechanic that looked at the gear box thinks its the Clutch!

One theory is that its to do with air in some pipework to do with the clutch and that I should wedge the clutch pedal down overnight and let the air rise to the top and see what its like then. I tried this and the following morning it wouldn't go into any gears at all! It did free up though and was fine for a while, just a little clunky going in to gear which its always been like to be honest.

At present the car won't go into any gears while the engine is running and I'm pulling my hair out. I don't want to spend more money than I have to as the car is reasonably old but I also know its a good car and there must be lots more life in it.

Any advice would be most welcome as I'm thinking I'll just sell it cheap and let someone else pay to have it looked at.

 

With thanks

Joe

If it's going into 1st and 2nd fine without engine running then sounds clutch related.

 

Most likely causes:

 

Leak in system

Air in system

Master cylinder

Slave cylinder

 

First to do would be have the system checked for leaks and blead the brakes and clucth (they share the same system).

 

If that doesn't work then it's like the master or slave cylinder. The slave cylinder is routinely replaced with a clucth as if it goes it needs the box off again and they do wear.

 

Was the slave cylinder replaced along with the clutch do you know?

 

Phil

Welcome.