2nd gear crunch

[cupra20v.t]

4.2 cerb. at lowish revs it goes into 2nd with no grinding/crunch noise

at medium and high revs it crunches going into 2nd.

why is this? synchro mesh, low oil, something else. all other gears are fine, reverse and 1st etc.

[JensenA]

You seem to be having loads of niggly problems with this car - if you fancy a blast up to Gloucester, bring it up and lets get some of them sorted.

[volospian]

What's the mileage on your car?

When I first got mine I could "beat the syncro" going to 2nd under hard acceleration, then after a while the gears got harder to engage, and more crunchy, until the clutch slave cylinder let go altogether and I needed a new clutch.

Mine was around 40k when it went and clutches are known to have a relatively short lifespan on this car. It *could* be first signs of the clutch wearing out?

[cupra20v.t]

the mileage is 36k.

before i bought the car it had a problem with going into 1st gear. the seller had the box removed and inspected. it turned out to be a shim or collet around a selector that had worn and 1st gear wouldn't engage, anyway he sorted this out and it was fine. but from day one of ownership 2nd gear has always crunched under mediumish acceloration.

Jensen what can you do for me my friend? i wouldnt mind a long blast up your neck of the woods. have you a garage or under cover premise?

[cupra20v.t]

the mileage is 36k.

before i bought the car it had a problem with going into 1st gear. the seller had the box removed and inspected. it turned out to be a shim or collet around a selector that had worn and 1st gear wouldn't engage, anyway he sorted this out and it was fine. but from day one of ownership 2nd gear has always crunched under mediumish acceloration.

Jensen what can you do for me my friend? i wouldnt mind a long blast up your neck of the woods. have you a garage or under cover premise?

[JensenA]

Can just give you some tips 'n tricks, sort out a few niggles, show you whats what - that kind of stuff - don;t expect me to go dismantling the gearbox for you though

[cupra20v.t]

i was hoping you were a cosworth nut and could repair my box free of charge lmao.

no i wouldn't expect that mate. but would love to pop up and maybe you can help me rectify some of my niggles and let me admire that cerb of yours.

[JensenA]

Welcome anytime - just let me know

[cupra20v.t]

you available on weekends?

when and if the waether gets better i will pop up on a saturday or sunday which ever you prefer. email me your mobile number and i will give you advance notice of when i intend to pop up. [e-mail]

[jammy_basturd]

With my un-expert knowledge I would say your car has previously done a fair amount of town mileage, and the synchro is now just wearing on 2nd gear so that it can't work quickly enough under medium to hard acceleration. If it was the clutch I would expect the problem to occur in all gears under similar acceleration.

[JensenA]

cupra20v.t said:

you available on weekends?

when and if the waether gets better i will pop up on a saturday or sunday which ever you prefer. email me your mobile number and i will give you advance notice of when i intend to pop up. [e-mail]

Shayne can possibly manage manage a few hours this Saturday if the weather is st, if the weather forecast is good I'm going away for the weekend (NASC Show in Felix 3 days camping, Bars, food, toilets and about 1000 big Yank V8 cars) I'll let you know Friday.

[volospian]

jammy_basturd said:

With my un-expert knowledge I would say your car has previously done a fair amount of town mileage, and the synchro is now just wearing on 2nd gear so that it can't work quickly enough under medium to hard acceleration. If it was the clutch I would expect the problem to occur in all gears under similar acceleration.

• shrugs* on mine, it was the clutch. at first it was only noticable at first on 1st to 2nd, v. crunchy under acceleration, fine the rest of the time. Some days it wouldn't select 1st or 2nd very well at all, although 3rd, 4th and 5th all seemed much easier to select. I thought maybe the selector was worn as occasionally you really had to ram it into the first two gears, but the rest were fine. Then one day it just went altogether and no gear would select. I drove all the way to Warwick and back in it without an issue, and then the next morning, the clutch had gone completely and I couldn't select any gear at all.

Since I have had a new clutch, it has been fine.

[cupra20v.t]

will have to look into this come winter time, at the moment all gears bar 2nd select fine and smooth, reverse is a bugger sometimes but thats just tvr for you.

so would only 2nd gear probs still indicate the clutch?

I cant really use 2nd gear at all. if im going around a bend and i try to drop in down in to 2nd it just crunches like mad until im at crawling speed, then it will slide in smoothly. if i launch in 1st and go for second, it sounds like an amplified athritic old mans knee doing 10k sea swim. oooohhhh

i can only go from 1st to 2nd sensibly then gun it in 2nd.

[pjenni12]

Pull the box out and strip it yourself, there pretty straight forward and the parts are cheap if you buy them from the states. Mine was jumping out of second and crunching also, turned out to be 10pence worth of plastic that sits on the end of the selector fork. Because the gear had been crunched so bad I changed it also along with third which didn't look it's best. Think parts were around £100 for both gears Inc shipping (I was quoted more than that for each gear in the uk!)

As for reverse crunching you are putting it into fifth first before selecting reverse aren't you?

[volospian]

cupra20v.t said:

will have to look into this come winter time, at the moment all gears bar 2nd select fine and smooth, reverse is a bugger sometimes but thats just tvr for you.

so would only 2nd gear probs still indicate the clutch?

I cant really use 2nd gear at all. if im going around a bend and i try to drop in down in to 2nd it just crunches like mad until im at crawling speed, then it will slide in smoothly. if i launch in 1st and go for second, it sounds like an amplified athritic old mans knee doing 10k sea swim. oooohhhh

i can only go from 1st to 2nd sensibly then gun it in 2nd.

Well, not if it's that bad, by the sounds of it. Mine crunched if you were over, say 2500rpm, but under that it was OK. Generally. Sometimes it would be a right bh to engage, but only occasionally, and when it was really playing up, 1st was also an arse to select.

If it's only 2nd, and it's always a bh, then I'd suspect the 'box itself, but if other gears start to play up, then it could be the clutch. I'd suspect the 'box myself, but I know mine turned out to be the clutch in the end. I really thought mine was the selector being worn. If it hadn't died altogether, I'd have been stripping the 'box as well as it was only 2nd gear, and occasionally 1st that was the problem.

[cupra20v.t]

anything over 2500 rpm is a bh to engage. below that is fine.

all other gears are fine and 1st is fine to engage. 2nd gear doesnt seem to have times when it plays up its like it all the time. which i why i think its the selector or synchro mesh or something.