Hi, 

 

I have a citigo. It’ll be 3 and due it’s MOT November. It was used when I got it, 1 year ago. 
 

yesterday I noticed the gear slipping, took a few attempts to get into 5th (thought I’d just lost the knack or something) , today on my way home I couldn’t get into 5th at all, it slipped into 3rd 6 times, I stopped at this point. 1-4 and Reverse all work fine. 
 

i then noticed the windscreen steaming up but from the outside, luckily I was minutes from home and made it home and parked it. 
 

I popped the bonnet and it was very hot, so I’ve just left it to cool down. It was 27 degrees today and my car was sat in the car park for that for 12 hours whilst I worked. Don’t know if that’s relevant. 
 

I will get it checked but I know very little about mechanics so am glad to have found this. 
 

can anyone tell me what it is likely to be. There’s no noises from the gearbox, it just won’t go into fifth. 
 

no warning lights have come on, at all. 

 

many thanks 
 

 

Sorry meant to say when parked and stationary it did seem to go into fifth but definitely would not whilst driving 

What is meant by 'gear slipping'? Not being able to get into a gear sounds like a clutch problem, but normally that would apply to all gears... it could be a misalignment of the gear linkages.

 

27 degs is no big deal, probably not relevant to the gear selection thing. It's odd that the windscreen steams up from the outside. Have you checked coolant level? Does the car drip on the ground? But really, this can happen if you run Aircon directly on to the screen, and are stationary, and if it is very humid outside and may be nothing to do with coolant leaking...

 

Edited 2 July, 20214 yr by freemansteve

@freemansteve

thanks for your reply, by slipping I mean I go to put it into fifth (from fourth) and it doesn’t engage, and instead ‘slips’ into third. I appreciate there’ll be a technical explanation 

 

I am going to check the coolant level, I did glance at all the levels but I didn’t actually know which was which til I googled the manual. It could be the air con stationary thing but it’s never happened before and the bonnet was red hot. 
 

 

Like it physically would not go into fifth, it was like bouncing out of it 

Jesus 😆 I need to read up on this stuff just read back my replies. Working in icu in a pandemic comes more naturally than these mechanics 

Ok - it could be slack in the cable linkage between stick and 'box. Worse, it could be selector forks inside the 'box.

 

I'm puzzled by a 'red hot bonnnet' Sure, they get quite hot from the engine and from the sun, but.... Coolant aside, does the radiator fan come on?

 

@Nurse123 - Before I say anything else, "thank you for your service".

 

Now, back at your car, my first thought was of a gear linkage misalignment. I can't recommend someone since I don't know where you live or work, but any VAG specialist will understand the phrase, and fix the issue in about an hour.

 

As for the "very hot", start with the basics and check the engine oil and coolant levels. If they're low, that may fix your issue with the bonnet temperature.

@freemansteve @KenONeill

 

thanks very much 

 

I live and work in the central belt of Scotland

 

i don’t know if the radiator fan comes on or not?  How would I know ? 
 

im very much of if I can drive the car it works, until it doesn’t

 

the bonnet could well get hot like that, I suppose I’ve never checked 
 

 

Start the car 30 mins after a drive.

Lift bonnet onto the stay.

Keeping hands and clothes well away, look in gap between the radiator and the engine. At some point, the fan will come on and you will hear it and see it spin.

 

I suspect it works fine - if it did not, sooner or later when driving you'd get a dashboard light on to tell you the coolant is too hot. It will boil if you let it!

 

I think your skills may be in other areas, and so, you may need to get the car checked at a good garage.

 

The philosophy of "wait until the thing goes wrong" is usually the most expensive course of action. For sake of argument, let's say a car is leaking coolant. That could be £5 hose, 10 mins of time, plus a few quid for coolant. If you ignore that, the car could boil dry. If that happens it could seize, and that would be £150 for recovery and £3-4000 to get an engine replaced if you get towed to a dealer...