sticky first gear - ae111 6spd.. help!

[jezza323]

id still put my money on clutch adjustment

[chiksluvit]

id still put my money on clutch adjustment

exactly what the gearbox specialist said, he said the problem lies in the clutch/ clutch releasing mechanism
the clutch pedal adjustment was done after the problem occured, but that didn't seem to fix it, maybe it needs to be adjusted again but i'll look into that again later.
he said the gearbox linkage is fine, if that was the problem then i'd have problems shifting all the time. the synchros are good, or otherwise i would've got problems going into gear but i don't.
he reckons that sometimes when the clutch pedal is depressed, the clutch plate is still slightly engaged, which still allows the revs to drop but still locking the first gear in.
he showed it to me by holding the right foot on the brake, go in first gear, and releasing the clutch pedal very slowly until it reaches a point where the revs only dropped very slightly, like only dropping 100rpm or something and holding it there, not stalling the engine, then he told me to try pull the first gear.. and he's right, the first gear won't move.

oh well, at least i don't have to go around searching for 2nd hand 6spd boxes now. i guess i'll just rebleed the clutch and maybe change the clutch line and see how it goes..
cheers guys

[JP]

it's a pain to get under the dash to adjust the pushrod, but 1/2 to 1 full turn outwards should fix it unless it was adjusted too far in previously.

[jezza323]

ive also heard of shifter cables fraying and getting stuck occasionally in only 1 direction for a while before breaking completely. but id adjust the clutch first before checking for this.

[chiksluvit]

thanks, will also look into that
gotta agree with that pedal adjustment, i tried it once and wasn't the easiest thing..

[psychofox]

Yeah it sounds like its a clutch adjustment thing.

One thing I would be seriously avoiding is using any of the redline shockproof oils in any FWD transaxles. The recommended oils for these boxes is always there MTL/MT-90 oils as they are specifically designed for Synchromesh gearboxes. They contain friction modifiers for correct synchoniser engagement, whereas the Shockproof oils are designed for racing dog boxes and Limited slip diffs and do not contain any of these modifiers. This causes accelerated wear on the synchros when using the Shockproof gear oils. This info is not just my opinion, it was gained by speaking directly to Redline technical staff when I was having similar issues with my Celica 6speed.

[merc-blue]

i can confirm psychos opinion with real life uses we dont ues redline in any of our boxes anymore as its over priced even for a big budget race team seaing as we do regular gear oil changes and instpections but we ran just a plain castrol oil in sycro boxes (specificaly picked weight bassed on type of box) and used to run redline in dog boxes, since then castrol has come to the table with some other oils that work a treat in out boxes and even flatshifting big HP engine had no issues associated with gear oil

[chiksluvit]

hrmm.. i see thanks guys for the advice
i did only find very slight improvement in shift quality with this oil though.. slight enough to be in the imagination error range
but what you guys have said is exactly what i've been told by some honda owners (after i've put in the oil), but I've only heard praise from nissan owners (R32 GTR, R34 GTR, and some Silvias...)
so do you think i should drain it asap and just put in castrol syntrax instead?
or it's ok to drive it for another 10,000 km and change again later?
the car does see the track from time to time so i change my gb oil every 10,000km..
thanks in advance

[JP]

Drain it and put in some Castrol VMX-80, works perfect on C series transaxles with decent syncro's.

[merc-blue]

Just look up what your manual says, it depends on the type of gearbox it is as to the oil you use

[chiksluvit]

Drain it and put in some Castrol VMX-80, works perfect on C series transaxles with decent syncro's.

hrmm.. the manual states 75w90, it's a c160 so maybe castrol syntrax is more suitable?
or do you think vmx80 will be ok?

shouldn't have changed it to redline then, will change it again some time next week

[JP]

I'm using VMX-80 in my C160

[merc-blue]

there may be a VMX style in 75-90

[chiksluvit]

they dont have vmx in 75w90 so i bought the syntrax 75w90
will rebleed the clutch today, and oil change on monday
Thanks guys

[allencr]

Try reverse, cold & hot, and that will tell you whether it's disengaging completely or not & dragging enough to make it difficult to pull out of gear. Even if you don't use the clutch at all, you should be able to easily pull it out of gear when the rpm & road speed are matched.
The clutch as a problem would mean ALL gears equally or none.
I wouldn't bother with different oil unless there is going to be a major change, ancient to fresh, ATF to gear, thick(150+) to thin(70-), etc., not different brands.

I'd really guess at adjustment first, then worn/bent linkage.