944 gearbox

[jabriel]

When changing into 1st and second gears (both when the car is hot and cold), I sometimes find I'm fighting a loosing battle with the gearbox. I get a loud crunching type of sound. This is infrequent (roughly 5 times in 3 months) but it does happen nevertheless. I have had to let the car roll along in neutral for a few seconds and then have been able to put the car into gear without any problems.

Anyone have any idea's as to what causes this problem. or how I can fix it?

The car has been regularly serviced since day one. All other gears work fine. The car hasn't really been thrashed around. It has 105,000 miles on the clock.

If I need a new gearbox, I'd rather arrange for that before it clonks out completely.

Also, anyone know where I can get my gearbox rebuilt and how much it would cost. I don't mind paying a little extra if i have to, but I want to know the work has been completed to a high standard.

Cheers

[dogsharks]

First thing I would do would be to loosen the transaxle filler plug first, to be sure you can get it loose, and then drain the gear lube out of the lower plug. Then I would do a refill with Amsoil Series 2000 75W90 synthetic gear lube. It made a huge difference in my transaxle that has 160,000+ on it. Shifting was much easier and it is more quiet now too.

Also, if your clutch is not fully engaging, it can make shifting a crunching experience. Warning: Don't slap that gear shift lever too hard, as it's held to the shifting rod with a weld that I managed to break. It will cost you $300 or more to have that one fixed, as they have to pull the transaxle to get it out.

Dogsharks

[basil brush]

It can be early signs of the rubber centre of the clutch disc breaking up, but probably something more simple. Have you checked the clutch fluid level? I had a leaking slave cylinder on mine which made the biting, and hence release, point of the clutch move.