[richardeaton]

Hi

Over the last few weeks I've found my 1997 900 Turbo (manual transmission) more and more difficult to get into gear (any gear) and in the last week or so its got really difficult. I had a look under the car last week as I'd noticed some oil spots and the driveshaft oil seal was leaking so I thought the problem may have been caused by low gearbox oil. The seal was replaced last week but the problem still exists and I read in the archives that this may be the clutch cable.

I changed the clutch cable last night (3 hours of a fiddly nasty job!) but today it is just the same. I'm pulling my hair out now so any help with a diagnosis would be appreciated.

The symptoms are that it is very difficult to change gear and it feels like the clutch is not always engaging fully. Sometimes its just difficult and requires alot of force and sometimes I get a crunch no matter which gear I try. It also seems to be worse when the weather is hot (maybe why its only just started happening too?) and it was so bad the other day that I couldn't gets 1st gear and when I tried you could feel the car trying to move forward as I tried to engage the gear.

Thanks for any help

Richard

 

[DougR]

We'll if you fixed the tranny leak and replaced the missing fluid, and also replaced the clutch cable, I would imagine there may be a problem with the clutch itself. Or maybe a syncro issue, could it be possibly they got damaged due to the low tranny fluid? How many miles are on the current clutch?

p.s. Take everything I say with a large helping of salt, just trying to help out but I am far from an expert, just going off other things I have read.

 

[earthworm]

Your must have about 15 to 20 mm of free play at the pedal at all times.

Too much and the clutch will not fully disengage causing shifting to be very difficult.
Too little and the clutch is always disengaged a little ..Soon she slips continuously and is ruined

Probably, if adjusting does not work, the disk is worn out...

 

[JMarkert]

I agree with earthworm. Have you tried to "adjust" the automatically adjustable clutch? Getting it tight should help some. The FAQ has some instructions in case you haven't seen them yet.

 

[richardeaton]

Many thanks for everyone's help on this!

Unfortunately I hit a major problem on Friday and couldn't select anything but 1st and 4th gear Then things got worse and the gear level didn't feel like it was attached to anything. I took the gear gaiter off and was faced with a loose spring and circular plastic bit floating around no longer attached. :roll:

Anyway, I managed to figure out how it went back together so got that done and could select gears again . I then followed the advice on the forums FAQ (I didn't know this existed until now!) and got a friend to push down the clutch while I pulled the spring on the clutch cable and heard a satisfying "click click". I'm now pleased to report that all is well and I can change gear easily and without any crunches, hurrah!!! :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:

Thanks again for everyones help.

Richard

 

[JMarkert]

Wow, I don't think we've seen that kind of failure before, we usually see other parts fail first. Why do you think the plastic bits came apart? It's good to hear you were able to take care of it.

 

[hunt.dogshome]

The plastic ring and spring came off mine before:- the nugget who moves cars at the garage wasn't sure about the reverse lift/lock and sproinged it out whilst fiddling with the gear and the key.

Just a note that it can go in three positions. Only one gets the spring tension right though.

 

[richardeaton]

I think it was just the "brute force" approach I was having to use to get a gear that caused the plastic ring to come adrift. Put it this way, after using the car for the day my shoulder was actually really painful that evening!

And yes the plastic ring had to be positioned correctly to make sure that the spring stays in place. If its in the wrong position then it will either fall off or won't stretch far enough!

Cheers

Rich