Hi

 

I have a 58 plate 1.4D manual Roomster that has done 35k miles.  Over the weekend, once the car has warmed up, the gear change between 1st and 2nd, and to an extent 3rd becomes much more difficult and there is significant resistance to get gears to engage.  Once in gear it drives fine and doesn't sound any noisier than usual, and the clutch "bites" without issue.  Reverse gear is also more difficult to engage and there is a "bounce" in the drive train when it goes into reverse (and sometimes a bit of a crunch).

 

When cold there is no problem with the gear change (which has previously been very fluid and much easier than my Octavia), it only occurs when when the car has driven for 25 min.  There is a faint whiff of warm oil when the gear change starts to play up which makes me suspicious.  The fault is also intermittent, if I stop the car for a few minutes the gearbox is OK when restarted but will play up again after 10min.

 

There are previous threads suggesting there is a known Roomster 2nd gear synchromesh issue on cars of this age... do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone with those issues?

 

My local dealer (Bickerton) have suggested, over the phone, it sounds like the clutch is failing (£650 to replace) and it's booked in to see them on Wednesday.  It's previous owner for 3 years was elderly and did mostly town miles so a clutch problem wouldn't shock me but I don't want to start replacing expensive parts if there are other (cheaper) things to check.  

 

Any advice / suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks

Iain

Hi Helicon and welcome to Briskoda.

 

Have you tried changing the gearbox oil and slightly overfilling?

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/241786-second-gear-crunch/?hl=%2Bgearbox+%2Boil#entry3233590

 

Might be worth a try before going to any further expense.  Hope this works for you.

Hmm, I'm also thinking oil, maybe wrong grade, or not enough of it...

If getting it changed, probably worth considering whichever grade of Millers (of Brighouse) Oils would suit your gearbox, their website will help you select that; their engine oils and diesel additive are excellent, btw, been a user since 1988 when "Diesel Car" mag first appeared and I saw their ad, their lab used to offer to analyse a sample of your (used) engine oil to tell you how much longer a change-interval you could manage if switched to their oil (we're talking Mk1 Astra 1600 indirect injection non-turbo diesel, 4500 mile interval! )

Worth a phone call to see if they can analyse a sample of your used gearbox oil, tell you what grade and how much metallic bits in suspension....!

Welcome to the site, very helpful and friendly bunch!

Richard

my 1st to 2nd was always problematic once the engine warmed up. It would crunch unless I gave it a half second in neutral between the gears.

Got the gearbox oil changed at the next service, and since then hasn't done it once. For the small cost it's definitely worth trying