I have a problem...
Please help , this is making that 1600 irs kombi box i got very very very tempting to throw in at the moment.

heres my situation:

when i start my car, the clutch doesn't seem to fully disengage (thats disconnect right? from the engine right?) with the gear box. u can feel it initially that it has. the car revs easier, u can feel it. but the shifter doesn't go in (In goes out of gear, but not back in when it is in NEUTRAL).

the feeling of clutch disengagement happens only when its already in gear. NOW... another intersting thing is that my car is able to start in gear... i assume it could be the relay bypassing something along the way...?

the gear stick contacts have been cleaned, they work fine, the solenoid is all wired up, and can hear it going, the plumping is all tight and holeless... wasn't originally, could here hissing.... etc. but all has been rectified. But the clutch still won't fully disengage, if any...

i looked in my auto stick manual... they have some measurements for the testing of the correct amount freeplay etc in the clutch. I tested it, and it seems to be in sufficient amounts (readings taken by measuring from clutch servo). Also with the measurement tests and readings etc... the clutch disk is super plentiful with heaps of space between the gearbox housing and that lever that the clutch servo moves...

Now heres even more a pickle, tonight there was an occasion where i drove the car in, hit the handbrake hard, and then i switched off the car. it was in gear, tried to start it, didn't start. I put it out into neutral, then it started, and went into gears properly, then after 5 seconds of amazment, it died again, and it hasn't done that again (after all the playing i have been doing)

Now, apparently the clutch disengagement is suppose to be activated by the starter inhibitor switch in the gearbox (which is suppose to earth the control valve solenoid when its in neutral, and suppse to prevent the starter motor from turning when its in gear).

Do u rekon this could be my problem? is it common of starter inhibitor switches to have fits? are there just easy contacts to clean?

By the way, the earth on the gearbox is fine, so external of the switch, it should be able to earth easily. the starter motor has no trouble spinning, and therefore the earth should be alright.

Cheers guys... these things are much more complicated then the manual. Torque convertors... inhibitor switches, atf pumps, atf circuits, control valves, clutch servos, shifter contacts.... phew its nutz! wierd thing is... i'm understanding it more than eva now... EXCEPT THIS!

regards
chris.

any help is great,
thanx fellas.

Oh, by what i mean when u can feel the clutch disengage when its in gear, when its in any gear, and i put my hand on the gear lever (therefore earthing the control valve solenoid which moves the clutch servo), u can feel the clutch disengagement kicking in

hmm.... was just thinking, in regards to the clutch servo, and the adjusting sleeve, is it possible to have toooo little freeplay?

this is where my adjusting sleeve is at, with the plumping disconnected from the clutch servo... i don't have figures but the end of the sleeve cannot be seen as it goes in the clutch servo..., rather than out a bit. the mechanics handbook says the sleeve bottom should be out NO MORE than 4 mm from the base of the servo bracket... lets just say mine has hell long travel before it reaches that....

mm could be adjust and find out

Chris,
Easy checks to hard.

The neutral safety switch could be faulty. You can just link the wires together, but you'll be able to start in any gear. It is easy to remove, and you can test it easy enough as well. Spare battery and a test light.

How is the shifter coupling and gearstick bushing?

Have you taken off/apart anything to do with that G' box? Ie, Servo, clutch arm etc etc. It will be tricky to reset it all. Let me know if that long arm came off!

A word on adjustments etc. You'll have it nearly perfect doing it this way.

Take out the pin connecting the clutch arm and servo.
Push servo arm ALL the way back into the servo.
Rotate the clutch arm toward the servo until you feel resistance.
The gap between the centre of the servo eyelet and centre of your clutch arm should be 35mm give or take 1mm either way.

If the switch is OK and/or you splice the connections to bypass it and the problem still happens it may be your plate itself.

Your clutch plate may be stuck on the carrier plate.
You can feel/hear the pressure plate releasing, but that doesn't mean the plate is being released off the carrier plate.

Go over to vwar, and a fella there in the tech section managed to unstick his. You could start in drive range 1 (not L) and wind it out, then foot off the accelerator and at the same time push down on the stick a few times and see what happens.

Regards
Sean

[ Edited on 18/11/2006 by ctefeh ]

cheers Paul & Sean, greatly appreciated mate, will look into it 2night.

i haven't changed a thing on the gearbox, nor taken anything off... but will play with the adjustments... its interesting, the fella i bought the car off, said he test drove the thing, everything was operational before he took things off.... maybe he adjusted something on the way to removing the engine before he sold it to me....

ah well... will play with it. THANX FOR THE HELP GUYS!

Chris,
And the fix was? Unless it was a Shamefile jobbie or a Homer Simpson moment?:P


Ctefeh