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Hello from a Newbie, it's taken me ages to find a site of this calibre. My problem is that on my MK11 I have to crash it into reverse gear . I am sick of the looks I get from passers by who must think I'm a learner. Apart from the obvious changing the gearbox oil (saving up for a drainkey!) is there anything else I should be looking for? All forward gears are ok with selection, although clutch sometimes grabs in first.
This is a great little car and my second one, just trying to sort out poor idling at the mo - converted the pooberg to manual choke last year and was perfect until recent cold weather, now revs die away to stall. have to sort for daughter coming home at Easter. Cheers, Mark.
Hey, welcome to the site.
The reverse gear crunch is unfortunately very common and a lot of the time it's just something you have to live with. There are a few fixes / ways around it though:
First off, it's usually caused by a worn or badly adjusted clutch. Ideally the best thing to do is just replace the clutch if it's not been changed before and the car's covered quite a few miles. However, before you think about this, just adjust the clutch cable to bring the bite point higher. If you trace the clutch cable to the top of the gearbox, there are two nuts on the end of the cable. Tighten these nuts a few turns until the bit point of the clutch is reasonably high, but make sure that you don't take it so far that the clutch starts slipping.
If this doesn't work and you don't want to change the clutch, and changing the box oil doesn't help, then a simple workaround is to bring the car to a complete stop, give it a couple of seconds, then change into second before you change into reverse (you don't need to lift the clutch in 2nd or anything, just move the lever into second before moving it into reverse). I don't honestly understand gearboxes, but somehow the synchromesh on 2nd gear helps you to select reverse. Magic and/or witchcraft I suspect. However, I will attest to the fact that it works very nicely. Just don't rush the change into reverse and it'll be fine.
Easy answer is push the stick down (as in into the floor) while you select reverse. It's gated, and not a lot of people realise that.
Sometimes that doesn't work. There is a fancy flick of the wrist trick too. but it varies from car to car, it's normally left, back, left, forwards.
Other candidate is worn linkage bushes. Stick it in gear and see how far the stick can wobble from side to side. The bush kit is pocket money, but it's not the easiest thing in the world to put on and set right.
Thanks peeps for the tips and the welcome, just need some warmer weather to start messing around under the bonnet again. Fantastic site. Cheers , Mark.
lol whut.... if you can get reverse WITHOUT having to push it into the floor, then your linkage alignment is knackered. the gating flap thing is built into the cabin-end stick assembly...
Simpler method still - just make sure you've got the clutch all the way in for a good 2 or 3 seconds before trying for reverse, should be smooth and silent then as you've allowed time for all the whirling bits and pieces (half of which are directly connected to the engine when the clutch is up) to spin down to a halt. Reverse doesn't have syncromesh, you must remember... it's a safety measure so you don't get it in place of first!
If it won't go in when you've done this, quickly lift and re-depress the pedal and try again. Occasionally the teeth will line up just *so* and you can't move the lever, giving it a quick spin usually clears it.
BUT... if your symptom is actually a continual grinding (see what happens when you s-l-o-w-l-y push the lever home) that doesn't seem to change speed (a "gr-r-r-r-r-r" noise rather than a "groink!" or "voot") or only slowly comes to a stop when you push it to the biting point, then your clutch cable needs adjusting and it's not fully disengaging... good enough for synchro'd forward gears (may be causing that "snatch") but not reverse.
Thanks Tahrey 1043, it is the last scenario - whatever I do I have to crunch it into reverse . Will try adjusting the clutch cable again tomoz. Thanks mate, Mark.
when we bought my mk2 we were able to select all gears including reverse without pushing down but thats cause the mechanism that pushes the gear stick up was knackered! easily fixed and all was good!
both my mk3s crunch into reverse now and then. i find holding the clutch down, putting it into second and then into reverse stops it from crunching!
Welcome to the forum by the way, i hope we can help you with any of ur dub questions!
Thanks Spikey. I have spent today trying to get the car to run from cold without the revs dying. Cleaned up all electrical connections on the coil, cap etc, sucked all tubes on carb that can be sucked and cleaned with carb cleaner. She ticks over a treat now but oh dear the 2nd gear then into reverse does nothing. Ive adjusted the clutch cable up so the bite is high up but still no good, it is as if the clutch is not disengaging. Bite point does seem to vary on the clutch as though something is sticking - I wonder if a new cable would make a difference before I change the oil. Will have to wait a while for warmer weather to drain the box & refill.
you could get a very strong person to heft on the release lever with all their might with their foot......
your only other recourse without getting deeply mechanical (either on your own time or paying for it) is to kill the engine each time you need to go backwards then restart in reverse with the clutch down!
cable could be stretched beyond what the adjusters can do, i guess, but i'd be surprised if it didn't just snap instead. having to arse about with the nuts could well be a sign that your clutch is shagged out anyway and might last you another 4000-5000 miles at best.
(i never had to touch my adjusters, even after replacing a snapped cable, until the clutch wore out on me)
. I am sick of the looks I get from passers by who must think I'm a learner. Apart from the obvious changing the gearbox oil (saving up for a drainkey!) is there anything else I should be looking for? All forward gears are ok with selection, although clutch sometimes grabs in first.
