No Gears!

[jmt1]

Hi All,

I'm new to Cerbie ownership (less than a week), so I thought I'd ask for some advice here.

Drove the car Wednesday - was a bit difficult to engage 1st when cold, but no probs once she'd warmed up.

Today - can't engage any gears at all - so it's just sitting there on the drive.

Just wondering whether it's something I could tackle, where to start, or is it a garage job?

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Cheers,
John...

[gazzab]

Sounds like you cant tackle yourself. If you have to ask etc...

[ajcerb]

not much of a techy and am sure someone else will be along soon who can advise you better than me but have had this happen twice to me - once it meant it needed a new clutch as the fingers had gone (common problem), and last week clutch pedal travel disappeaed to next to nothing - AA low loader to Racing Green, checked and bled the system and now aok. First one was £1300, second was 10% of that at £130, incl a couple of other small things done at the same time. Hope yours is the second or something equally simple.

What yr is your Cerb and how many miles - clutches are notorious for going at about 20k.

[jmt1]

Yep - let's hope it's the 2nd option!
It's a 4.5 1999 with 44000 miles - It had a new clutch at 23000.

[sonnylad]

Is it parked facing up hill, if so it's prob low on fluid.
Had same prob with mine a while back, for a couple of days starting off from drive it had no reverse so rolled out of drive and once car levelled off got clutch back.
Once filled with fluid it was as good as new.

[Extra 300 Driver]

Does the clutch pedal feel normal? If it doesnt then its fluid, or fluid related. If it does feel normal then I am affraid its your clutch gone.

The fingers go on the clutches, between 20-30k miles but there are some exceptions.

Do you have a warranty? If you do then your laughing as its a material failure, not wear and tear. If not then about £600 for a clutch, if you can get one, and 7-8 hours labor to fit it.

[Extra 300 Driver]

Just seen ur in the S/E, where abouts?

[kojak]

Sounds like clutch fingers broke.


...added to say. if it is the fingers, and you need a new clutch, they are like rocking horse shit. Rare.

>> Edited by kojak on Friday 30th September 19:21

[Extra 300 Driver]

kojak said:

Sounds like clutch fingers broke.

haha!

Beat ya!

[kojak]

Extra 300 Driver said:

kojak said: Sounds like clutch fingers broke. haha! Beat ya!

I'll beat you next time.

[ajcerb]

Tecchies to the rescue!... and they are competing so you should have plenty of good advice now - that is the great thing about PH - always plenty of friendly helpful people keen to help in one way or another. Good luck, hope's it the cheaper option.

[SXS]

What you have there is a classic symptom of a clutch failure.

You can tackle this yourself if you have access to a ramp and some tools, and a CLUTCH! which like already said, is as rare as finding a packet of fags at Cream 2005!

Get the clutch fixed and then sell her on.
God knows what will go next on a 44k cerbie

[GreenV8S]

When you say can't engage, do you mean it won't go into gear with the engine running (clutch not releasing, possible hydraulic problem) or once in gear there is no drive (catastrophic clutch failure)?

[jmt1]

Thanks for your help - this does seem like a great place to get advice from people who have been there.

Don't really know the car well enough to know if the clutch feels "normal" (I've only driven it twice!), but it doesn't feel too bad...

I'm in Frimley/Camberley - Gonna update my profile...

Think I might have a leak - Seems to be some fluid on the garage floor. I guess this is good news? (Relatively)

[Extra 300 Driver]

jmt1 said:

Think I might have a leak - Seems to be some fluid on the garage floor. I guess this is good news? (Relatively)

Well wouldnt say good, but maybe not as bad. Where did u get the car from? Dealer? If yes I would take it straight back.

[c3ber]

Like you John I am a new owner but instead of a clutch I need a UJ for the steering rack. James at TVR-MADs is doing his best. Keep smiling by summer all will be sorted. lol.

[marcus1970]

First thing to do is to turn everything off. Depress the clutch and push the gear lever into first or third. If it goes into gear then its probably your fluid even if it doesn't, try the following. Next, open your bonnet and take off the top part of the engine cover (the bit that goes from the windscreen across the battery etc.)- should be bolted on about half way down towards the front of the car near to the wings - will also have to disconnect the washer tubes and release any sealant that may still be in place at bottom of windscreen - unlikely though as this part comes off more often than Bruce Forsyth's wig. Next you'll see a black fibre glass moulding around a foot from the windscreen on the drivers side - again probably with half a ton of sealant around/on it. The clutch fluid reservoir is underneath this - you'll probably have to stanley/screwdriver this off!!! Once in, take the cap off and have a look. If there's no fluid then top up with around half a cup full of universal brake/clutch fluid - most places sell it, it has to be DOT 4 and preferably conform to SAE J 1703, which you'll see on the back of the bottle. Replace the cap and start up the car and try the clutch again. If it feels better and you can engage a gear then top up with the rest of the bottle until the fluid is level with the top of the little bulge near the top of the neck - get down to your local TVR bod as you will most probably have a leak somewhere. If you still can't get a gear turn everything off, then put in another half a cup or so and try again. If still nothing then you may have to bleed the system if the clutch fluid has completely disappeared - you can get a kit from Halfords for about a tenner and it has instructions on the back top up as necessary - put all bits back on and monitor how quick your reservoir goes down. If you still can't engage your gears when you've done alln this then you'd better get your wallet out and hope that its got around 1500 quid in it!!! - and even if this does solve your problem, then you've probably got a leak somewhere so you'd better get it down to your nearest TVR bod and hope its not too serious - seals, bell housing etc, etc, etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc...

Good luck

MB

[Extra 300 Driver]

Nice post Marcus, just would you use DOT 4? I have always used 5.1.

Just a thought.

[marcus1970]

I actually asked my local TVR garage about this and they said that they use DOT 4 on all of the TVRS that they do, the reason being that 5.1 is usually used for cars that have ABS and as we all know, TVR haven't heard of ABS yet. They might be wrong and so might I but just going on what they told me. WESTOVER was the garage...

I did actually contemplate 5.1 myself as I thought that the bottle looked far more TVRish and was a bit more expensive so I thought that it would be better for my system - WESTOVER swore complete faith in DOT 4 so I bowed to their expertise.

Still I may be wrong - anyone know for sure???

Regards MB

PS lovely weekend for tinkering.

[Extra 300 Driver]

marcus1970 said:

PS lovely weekend for tinkering.

Yep! Just got the seats back in after replacing the carpet.

Joolz just told me to use 5.1 as in extreem heat, traffic jam, you can get fade as the pressure line runs near the manifolds.

Just wondering thats all.