Moderators: IMOC Moderators, IMOC Committee Members
After eventually wrenching it out of reverse, mananged to find 3rd we got it home. 1st gear can be found be pushing hard on the stick, 2nd & 4th grind on slow release of the clutch, then slip in on the second attempt. ....sounds to me like there may be a dragging clutch or perhaps something's amiss with the gear lever cables....... If it's dragging slightly that's enough to load up the gears and make the idle shaft spin while it's in between gears - both things that make gear selection difficult. The thing is though if it's dragging slightly then the bite point may still be in roughly the same place. I'd be tempted to flush through some new hydraulic fluid and see how it feels after that....I'm not overly sure about this at all - I've never heard of it, but I wonder if while the car has been laid up some moisture has worked its way into the gear shift cables and caused some corrosion or similar - perhaps they're a bit stiff and not transmitting all the movement back to the gear selector forks - this may make things feel nasty too. that even when the clutch was fully in it still felt like it was in gear. I'll try that, as for the cables it could be corroded as it looks like there could be a coolant leek around the exhuast manifold.