Hello all 

 

Recently I have been experiencing a crunch in the gearbox when I go into reverse gear or change from first to second when the gearbox is cold. Some people have suggested I should replace the gearbox oil to solve the problem. However I don't know where the fill and drain plugs are for the gearbox. Does anyone know where these fill and drain plugs are? By the way my fabia is the 1.4 16v model. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

 

 

Really this is a waste of time in all honesty -

I  assume that you come to a full stop (no vehicle forward motion) before putting it into reverse

The fact is that you are experiencing a lack of total disengagement of the clutch.  This means that the first motion shaft is still turning when you have the clutch pushed down and attempt to put in gear (No synchromesh on reverse remember). As to changing up, suspect worn syncro's within the 1st/2nd speed hub

Clutch adjustment/check is the first thing to do - thereafter the usual cause is that the first motion shaft spigot brg is tight (dry) where it enters the flywheel.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Thanks for the reply

I will definitely give the clutch a check and make adjustmants if necessary. I didn't really consider the syncros being worn as the car has only done 69k miles. Will have to be extra careful withe the gearbox then.

Not totally sure what gearbox you'll have, but if it's an 02T type, the plugs are shown on this pic.  Drain is a little lower than fill, for obvious reasons, pretty much right under the N/S drive flange.  If you do drain/refill. make sure the car is (spirit) level fore-and-aft and side to side before filling, or you won't get the right quantity in. Not sure there is a such a bearing as 2ndskoda refers to on an 02T?

 

 

Thanks for the photo. Draining the oil should allow me to see if any damage has been done to the gearbox as there will be pieces of metal in the oil.

Firstly, I am assuming that the gearbox is a manual one, and vehicle has a conventional clutch. This being the case the bearing mentioned is found where the first motion shaft enters the flywheel. Some vehicles have very small ballbearings, but most have a phosphor bronze sleeve fitted within the flywheel centre.  When the clutch is operated and properly disengages - the flywheel is free to revolve, and the first motion shaft can slow and then stay stationery. Any tightness or seizure at this point means that the 1st motion shaft will continue to revolve.

 

Fabia 88 - if the syncro rings are shot you will not necessarily have 'pieces of metal' - but very fine particles of yellowish deposits - rings are normally a completely different material from the main gearbox components.

IF you do find pieces of metal - this is going to cost you! 

Just thought

the other 'usual' problem is the clutch plate not freely moving along the first motion shaft splines - quite a common problem.

On ‎27‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 23:09, 2ndskoda said:

the bearing mentioned is found where the first motion shaft enters the flywheel

Thing is mate, on these the input shaft doesn't 'enter the flywheel'.

I did the clutch on the missus's 1.2 at Christmas (I know, generous present, right?!) and had to make an alignment tool whose key diameters were a shade under 15mm and a shade over 20mm. The crank has a 15mm dia hole in it that such a tool can go into, but there's no bearing there. The spline drive on the input shaft is 20mm dia, and there's no projection on it that could fit into the 15mm hole in the crank.  Ebay pic of input shaft end and (poor) pic by me of flywheel on the car:

 

 

Edited 30 August, 20178 yr by Wino
sorted pics

This is interesting stuff, thanks for the info.  So instead of front support for the shaft, it depends on the accuracy of the clutch plate to ensure a 90 degree fix to maintain centralization of the first motion shaft.

Would favour an extended shaft into the rear of crank to establish fixed accuracy. Guess I'm just old fashioned.

Still the prospect however of partial seizure along the splines is a possibility.

Edited 30 August, 20178 yr by 2ndskoda