M2B4 5th gear issue - 1st world problem

Free Ranj Egg · Post by **Free Ranj Egg** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:18 am

@cutz - Thank you for the advice mate. Its really appreciated. The box was brought from Drax, who I can say is well known on the forum and doubt he would sell me a dodgy box. The poor guy feels bad as it is. I am really hoping its down to the installation. If you could be so kind to take a look for me and PM me a rough price. I cant take any time off work at the moment because ive just come back from being off sick so hopefully you work Saturdays. lol. Oh and there is no short shifter on the car.

@vanzep @rattymclelland - It could well be the fork as the engagement into 5 is quite loose in the sense that it doesn't feel as if its gone into the fork properly. I did drive the car home Ratty and it seemed to work fine with the exception of the problem ive mentioned. Vanzep if I need parts then I will keep you in mind mate.

@merlin - You are a man with vast knowledge, is there anything that you can add that could perhaps help me?

For some silly reason the gearbox decides to engage into 5th sometimes without crunching and other times it will crunch. What does happen is that as soon as the clutch is engaged 5th gear seems to pop out with a crunching noise.

If the box does need to go back to Drax I don't want to keep crunching 5th and making the problem worse.

My worse case scenario is that I fork to have the old box put back in, but in reality if that's the cost im looking at then realistically id like to spend some of it looking into the problem with the hope that it gets solved.

Cheers again for the help guys, I really appreciate it.

Ranj

Post by **Drax** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:54 am

I still feel properly sh*t about this as it's my old box

Cutz · Post by **Cutz** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:55 am

Ranj I can certainly take a look for you.

My phone number is on the website, give me a call and we can discuss when you'd like it inspected.

Post by **Merlin** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:18 am

It sounds like the 5th gear synchro is away. I had to replace all my synchros last year as I had a bad crunch going into 5th. It was much worse at higher rpm.

There is a "bolt" that connects the shifter mechanism to the selector fork, if this bolt is excessively worn it can also cause crunching issues but usually it will be on all gears and not just 5th.

Free Ranj Egg · Post by **Free Ranj Egg** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:34 am

@Drax - Like I said on text yesterday mate don't stress, these things happen. Its part of the joy of modding a car. And it could be down to the installation.

@Cutz - Will call you at lunchtime and see if you can fit me in on Saturday pls. I can be there for 10 for an inspection.
@Merlin - What sort of price am I looking at for syncros? - I used Honda MTF3.

njord · Post by **njord** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:46 am

Have you tried to do the old double clutching when changing into 5th see if that helps any,

I would also check the connection on the gearbox where the cable's connect and make sure they got the plastic shims and and the end moves freely on the pin

You could try dumping the oil out of the gearbox, inspect the oil and then re fill it with fresh just incase something was disturbed which is causing the issue

Free Ranj Egg · Post by **Free Ranj Egg** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 11:11 am

@njord - Yes I have mate. Ive tried the double clutching and it didn't work.

I spoke with a good mate of mine Lee (evildmen) and we tried to do various things which have all failed. Im not too good mechanically mate. Hopefully I cant take it to Cutz this weekend and he can diagnose the issue for me. Im really hoping its not the box and its just the installation

Post by **Merlin** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 12:00 pm

TBH I dont think it is a fault with the installation, the shifter cable pretty much fit or they dont. It it was the clutch it would grind in all gears.

If it is the syncro, at a minimum you would need to replace the 5th gear syncro, maybe 4th as well plus the labour charge (£200-£300)

Post by **Greg-SiR** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 12:01 pm

I'd do an oil change too just for the sake of it, mine had a 5th gear crunch when i got the car and Amsoil went in and it took a couple of weeks driving until it went and it never came back,even had a slight crunch on 3rd under load but that went too,hope it's an easy fix.
Never had it popping out of gear though.
Funny how it's the cruiser gears that falls with this,you would think it would be the more aggressive 1-3 that cause the trouble.

Free Ranj Egg · Post by **Free Ranj Egg** » Thu Dec 01, 2016 12:09 pm

True Greg. Its really weird because sometime the gear goes in fine and other time its grinds. In any event engaging the clutch just makes it pop out of 5th.