21 replies to this topic

[liam-ds]

hi all been out driving about in the mini today after passing my theory test earlier . i pulled up at some traffic lights and it took me three attempts to put the box into 1st but sometimes it just slides straight in its the same with 3rd gear but 2nd and 4th just slip straight in was just wondering if any one's gearbox is the same?

liam

[Midas Mk1]

Do you find it hard going into 3rd, when changing from 2nd? Is it easy going into reverse?

Mine after you had been driving 10+ minutes would be make it impossible to select the above, and reverse needed two hands to engage.

In the end I had the box refurb'd, and the idler gear bush had failed

[liam-ds]

Do you find it hard going into 3rd, when changing from 2nd? Is it easy going into reverse?

Mine after you had been driving 10+ minutes would be make it impossible to select the above, and reverse needed two hands to engage.

In the end I had the box refurb'd, and the idler gear bush had failed

yes when i was trying to reverse into the garage i had to use two hads to get it into reverse and yes sometimes 3rd is hard to select but somtimes easy

[Midas Mk1]

Sounds like mine, with the reverse idler gear bush walking out

Sometimes it was fine, but at the start of a motorway I was accelerating from 2nd to 3rd, and it would not physically go in 3rd or 4th,
and with no run off, it was a "oh ****" moment, and something had to be done.

lol

Id check the gearlinkage mechanism is all free of crud, and greased properly aswell, a pretty easy job, and should improve things anyway

Edited by Midas Mk1, 28 June 2011 - 09:54 PM.

[strothow]

Is it first time driving the mini, or still getting used to it?

I remember when i had got into the bad habbit of putting the car i learnt in into 1st miles before i needed it instead of going down through the gears, you can't do it in a mini, as i kept finding out for the first couple of days of driving lol!!

[liam-ds]

Sounds like mine, with the reverse idler gear bush walking out

Sometimes it was fine, but at the start of a motorway I was accelerating from 2nd to 3rd, and it would not physically go in 3rd or 4th,
and with no run off, it was a "oh ****" moment, and something had to be done.

lol

Id check the gearlinkage mechanism is all free of crud, and greased properly aswell, a pretty easy job, and should improve things anyway

yep its just like that but had no problems with 4th yet ill have a look at the gearlinkage at the weekend busy with other things at the moment

Is it first time driving the mini, or still getting used to it?

I remember when i had got into the bad habbit of putting the car i learnt in into 1st miles before i needed it instead of going down through the gears, you can't do it in a mini, as i kept finding out for the first couple of days of driving lol!!

no its when accelrating or putting it into first when setting off and 3rd when coming up from 2nd never noticed it doing it coming down from 4th. my mini is the only thing i have drove on the road upto now so im getting pretty used to it now all the rattles and noises lol

[Retro_10s]

You should try double de-clutching and see if that helps.

and when was the last time you changed the oil and filter?

[Big_Adam]

I have a thing where my car will not go into 3rd ... unless you slip into 4th first.

Don't take the clutch off, just sling it back quick. No idea why but its been fine like that for 3years now.

[Duff]

not sure if relevant - but mine was hard to get into reverse from time to time (had to get out and push it back!), but then i lost the ability to get into 2nd for awhile then it came back, i also had screaming noise from the front.

pulled the gearbox out and found the idler gear bearing had disinigrated and was missing, the gear itself had teeth 1/2 chewed off and was eating the inside of the casing, (not a happy time) also looked like the put the idler gear in the wrong way round.

if only i had opened it up earlier. . . . . . . . . . . .

best of luck, would be interested in what you find.

Duff

Edited by Duff, 02 July 2011 - 11:06 AM.

[liam-ds]

You should try double de-clutching and see if that helps.

and when was the last time you changed the oil and filter?

the oil and oil filter where changed about 650 mile ago just before london to brighton the oil had only done about 250 miles running in the new rings big end's etc and was pretty mucky is this normal its a little off colour now

I have a thing where my car will not go into 3rd ... unless you slip into 4th first.

Don't take the clutch off, just sling it back quick. No idea why but its been fine like that for 3years now.

never had that kind of problem yet its just hard to select sometimes take two or three attempts which is annoying at traffic lights and when driving

not sure if relevant - but mine was hard to get into reverse from time to time (had to get out and push it back!), but then i lost the ability to get into 2nd for awhile then it came back, i also had screaming noise from the front.

pulled the gearbox out and found the idler gear bearing had disinigrated and was missing, the gear itself had teeth 1/2 chewed off and was eating the inside of the casing, (not a happy time) also looked like the put the idler gear in the wrong way round.

if only i had opened it up earlier. . . . . . . . . . . .

best of luck, would be interested in what you find.

Duff

very similar to that but i haven't lost 2nd yet ive got a whine in first but my friends does that as well and he has no problems with his gearbox so it probably not related to my problems will have to whip out the engine and box once i have passed my test and got some driving experience its a good excuse to drop in the mg metro engine and a recon one of my spare gearboxes

liam

Edited by liam-ds, 03 July 2011 - 08:29 PM.

[wildman]

Having read this thread, I highly suspect it's the reverse idler bush on my 1986 A+ City E that's causing the stiffness I've found when changing across the gate. It's really bad and actually gives me a sore elbow if I've driven the car for a long journey.

 

I am a newbie and I've never worked on a gearbox before. I'm not counting out trying, I'm willing to learn a lot. But perhaps this is too big a task for me to fix this time?

Would anyone like to suggest an estimate price on the job of fixing the reverse idler gear bush? I live in Dorset, and I don't know of many mini specialists close to me- I could be very wrong about that though. Seems like I'm going to have to go looking or live with it!

[Rocket.]

Having read this thread, I highly suspect it's the reverse idler bush on my 1986 A+ City E that's causing the stiffness I've found when changing across the gate. It's really bad and actually gives me a sore elbow if I've driven the car for a long journey.

 

I am a newbie and I've never worked on a gearbox before. I'm not counting out trying, I'm willing to learn a lot. But perhaps this is too big a task for me to fix this time?

Would anyone like to suggest an estimate price on the job of fixing the reverse idler gear bush? I live in Dorset, and I don't know of many mini specialists close to me- I could be very wrong about that though. Seems like I'm going to have to go looking or live with it!

 

Guess works is your man

[Spider]

'Trouble' getting it in to 1st in the way the OP described is normal for a Mini.

 

In regards to 3rd gear - just to be clear - are you having trouble finding 3rd gear or actually moving the lever in to 3rd?

[Spider]

 

I am a newbie and I've never worked on a gearbox before. I'm not counting out trying, I'm willing to learn a lot. But perhaps this is too big a task for me to fix this time?
 

 

I understand why you feel you are put off from trying to do this job, but sincerely, it is an easy job. Probably the 'hardest' part is arguably removing the flywheel. It is an engine out job.

 

If you feel you are capable of pulling the engine out, then you are well up to fixing this problem.

[wildman]

To put it another way- my mini has a very stiff gear lever moving anywhere side-to-side whilst trying to select gears.

Edited by wildman, 21 June 2016 - 10:47 PM.