I suspect I already have the answer but I do like a second brain on problems in case I'm missing something.

 

Yesterday I got in my Mk3 4x4 manual (about 70k on the clock) and discovered neutral was the only 'gear' I had. 

If I held the lever forward to first she would creep slowly forward, but that wasnt going to get me off the drive and to work.

The day before as I left work I'd noticed the first change was a little hard to get into but afterward everything was fine.

 

Cycles through the gears fine when the engine is off and the clutch is nice and firm when I push on it with my hand.

My current thinking is reset the linkages and drain and refill the gearbox.

Would the brighter minds than mine on here concur? 

 

 

Hello Igol, when you first noticed a problem, were the gears 'crunching' as you attempted to engage them - Do they now?

As you push the gear lever into 1st, does the lever appear to move full-travel?

I suspect clutch failure.

1 hour ago, Igol said:

Yesterday I got in my Mk3 4x4 manual (about 70k on the clock) and discovered neutral was the only 'gear' I had. 

If I held the lever forward to first she would creep slowly forward, but that wasnt going to get me off the drive and to work.

 

Neutral is not a gear, the rest does not make sense, do you mean that you engaged first gear but when you released the clutch the car would only creep forwards regardless of engine revs?

 

I sincerely hope that you didn't mean precisely what you said and didn't say, that you forced the lever towards first gear without declutching or perhaps the clutch was not disengaging, holding it there would indeed cause the car to creep but also burn out the 1st gear synchromesh baulk ring, if so then you may have to add the cost of a gearbox rebuild to that of replacing the clutch that is not disengaging.

In first gear and clutch depressed, can you start the engine or does it jump forward?

6 hours ago, ords said:

In first gear and clutch depressed, can you start the engine or does it jump forward?

With it being a quick turn around at work I've not really had much time to play with it other than first thing when I dry cycled through the gears.

 

Just gave it a go and it did both.

It now seems to be engaging everything (though I'll not be digging deeper into it until my days off and will stick with the wifes car) before it was purely side to side and felt as if the gate had been replaced with a slot.

It was a little 'floody' the other night when I came home so I'm wondering if thats had an effect somewhere?

 

I'd had clutches go before an either and a pedal on the floor or a lack of power were the symptoms.

By way of an update to this after draining and refilling the gearbox it seemed to be fine except the bite point seemed a little high.

Possibly paranoia on my part but for under £500 to stick in a new DMF & Clutch on a car I'm not getting shot of anytime soon I figured its worth the hit rather than the recovery wagon fees and having to do it when it had certainly gone.

 

And as an aside, I've not posted too many times on here. 

I've been a Landy owner for years and by virtue of that was on many LR Forums, you know that somewhere there will be another with Green Oval disease who has had the same problem and fixed it or you've had it and can pass on the advice.  The shared masochism seems to result in a friendly camaraderie, on here among the helpful suggestions there is always a Bellend.

I'm sure they can work out who they are.

 

If you look in your account settings there is an ignore user feature.

Hope you get it sorted, it does sound like the clutch dragging.

A clutch problem is the obvious answer.

 A leaking master or a slave cylinder . I believe the latter is difficult to examine and may be an engine out job.

Thanks for the replies and ignore list suggestions.

 

I stuck a new clutch and DMF in. 

Which in winter, on the drive with an occasional gazebo (windy too) for a shelter - was fun.

Dropped the subframe to give me a little more wiggle room to get past the prop which helps, along with gravity.

The refitting was less fun as gravity was no longer my friend and the gear and transfer box are quite a heavy unit.

 

5 hours of adjusting cargo straps and adding another quarter turn on the lifting chain while using my third (and indeed forth) arm to push the engine forward to clear the donut and get the prop relocated.

 

I would say I'm in no rush to do it again, but the wife's Fiesta needs a clutch too.  Least its smaller and same engine as my old Focus which by comparison was a doddle.

 

 

Well done ! Last clutch I did on the drive was on a Toyota Aygo, probably half the weight of your gearbox and I said never again after that.

68kg with the transfer box 😯

 

Having done one in a pit I could if I had to do one on the ground but would move heaven and earth to avoid doing so, it made me determined to have a 2 post ramp here but its not looking possible unless it was outside.

 

I (well we actually I had a helper) used ratchet straps as well, also an engine support beam bought for the job, one unforeseen difficulty was that having dropped the gearbox the car then has to be raised much higher than working height in order to remove it. I did mine working from a pit and lowered it onto an aluminium scaffold platform.

 

@Igol I really hope you changed the concentric slave cylinder at the same time.

Think this must be the 5th one I've done over the years and was the worst.

There is a pretty good vid on 'tube for the Mk3 but it's not a 4x4 so it only takes you so far.

A big thumbs up to LuKs Technical Dept who when you're faced by a mass of options for the DMF/Clutch kit you need are quick to point you in the right direction.

 

My spring/summer plan is to widen the drive by half a meter.  Currently its 2.5m wide with a hedge one side and step the other, both of which make it tight for a trolly jack and you're always conscious of dropping the nearside off the driveway when you go on. 

Then if I have the need for winter maintenance again; a 6x3m popup garage bolted to the deck which I can butt up to the garage (where the woodburner is), the difference the £8 clearance gazebo made when it was just raining was noticeable.

Edited 14 December, 20232 yr by Igol