Sticky gear selection

[jimf]

Hi folks, been reading the Wiki but I'm still a bit confused on where to begin with this.

My car occasionally either won't go into 1st or 2nd gear or sometimes it won't let go. A couple of pumps of the clutch is needed and eventually it will feel ok.

Do I look to the slave cylinder first or something else?

[milescook]

Fluid levels ok?

[jimf]

Hmm, just checked them, no it is low. Will get that sorted. I just assume the worst with this car straight away?

[milescook]

Outside of remembering clutch fluid has it's own reservoir (not the same as brake reservoir as on LHD cars), it's not a great sign I'm afraid. My slave went at around 100,000 miles, the master was replaced according to the history about 2000 earlier.

Check for leaks, in the footwell is an easy spot for the master cylinder. The other big culprit is the slave on the gearbox, but it's a little harder to spot (as wiki article). THos are the weakest links in the chain anyway.

It doesn't sound like yours is going as suddenly as mine did when I had the slave go, maybe top up with fluid (you'll use the rest of the bottle anyway if you do a cylinder change) and see how quickly it goes down initially?

[jimf]

I had actually read that the brake and clutch reservoir are the same but i seem to have a seperate one!

[milescook]

Yep it's because LHD the clutch is nearer the brake servo so they use the same one, where as it was easier for them to run the clutch to a seperate reservoir closer for some reason... so LHD vs RHD is the reason why.

You can see the seperate reservoir here http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... _Cylinders

[Brianmoooore]

Check that there's no fluid leaking from the hose between the reservoir and the cylinder, especially from the plastic elbow at the cylinder end. If there's no problem there, then bite the bullet and fit a new master and slave.

[jimf]

Topping it up seems to have helped matters, will keep an eye on level now.