Crunching gears - how often

[obi_waynne]

How often do you crunch your gears on a gearchange?

I have some friends who seem to have little concept of a clutch or what it does!

Personally I probably crunch a little every day between 1st and 2nd when the gearbox is cold due I think to a worn synchromesh. As it warms up it gets better and if I use the car regularly the problem is less noticable than when I leave the car standing for a day or two.:embarrest:

 

[pgarner]

hardly ever crunch the gears. ocasionally do t in another car if im not used to it

 

[HDi fun]

If they crunch when cold then pick up the clutch in neutral on the way up the box.

 

[aston]

If they crunch, it is time to sell. I have 2 vehicles, one an 1983 (VW) the other an 1986 (shogun with stupid mileage) they don't crunch, youv'e got probs

 

[HDi fun]

If they crunch, it is time to sell. I have 2 vehicles, one an 1983 (VW) the other an 1986 (shogun with stupid mileage) they don't crunch, youv'e got probs

I don't have anything to crunch any more :-(

 

[obi_waynne]

If they crunch when cold then pick up the clutch in neutral on the way up the box.

That's sort of what I've been doing. A bit of a double clutch trouble is remembering to do it on that first early morning gearchange.

If they crunch, it is time to sell. I have 2 vehicles, one an 1983 (VW) the other an 1986 (shogun with stupid mileage) they don't crunch, youv'e got probs

I'll be keeping this car so I expect to drop in a recon box at some point hopefully a lower ratio 1-3 and maybe even adding a 6! It's a common thing on A3's apparently, fast changes when cold are just not going to happen in some low gears.

 

[aston]

I don't have anything to crunch any more :-(

What do you fancy next?

 

[pgarner]

you should be able to fit the 02M 4wdbox.
will need front driveshafts and possible hubs along with the cables
but like you say its a common swap as the 6sp has closer ratios than the 5sp

 

[obi_waynne]

I'd love to get it RWD and thought of using a 4wd box and trick diff to achieve this but I think this is a bit of a pipe dream.

 

[HDi fun]

That's sort of what I've been doing. A bit of a double clutch trouble is remembering to do it on that first early morning gearchange.



I'll be keeping this car so I expect to drop in a recon box at some point hopefully a lower ratio 1-3 and maybe even adding a 6! It's a common thing on A3's apparently, fast changes when cold are just not going to happen in some low gears.

My mate has a 1.8T (150bhp) and that is a bit clunky from cold. Although the not stipulated an oil change - even if you can only change, say, 2/3rds will help a lot.

 

[pgarner]

it is possible but would require a new rear diff and axle as the quattro in the A3 isnt a real quatrro but haldex controlled. if you could get it working youd be laughing for drifting as i belive its locked at 50:50

 

[HDi fun]

What do you fancy next?

At the moment nothing as I've totally lost any enthusiasm for driving and we can manage with one car for now.

I'm slightly tempted with another 2.2 HDi 406 but they're rare as hens' teeth in 4dr/5dr form so probably won't bother hunting one down. And I also ought to get something different just for the sake of it.

When I genuinely another car then I'm likely to consider an E39 5 series as it's possibly the best all round used car on the market at prices I'm prepared to pay. I really want to go back to automatic transmission so nothing less than 2.5 litres and at least 6 cylinders. 530d is likely to cost too much.

That leaves me with 530i or 535i as the bargains to be had at the top of the range. BMWs larger engines have always done very well in fuel stakes against similarly powered competitive cars.

 

[fezzafii]

Ah HA! This is why my car crunches coming off the drive in the morning? Worn sycromesh you say?! This has been winding me up for weeks now. So a bit of double clutching is the way forward for this then?

 

[HDi fun]

It could also just need the oil changing. Don't add friction modifiers to gearbox oils - you need a bit of friction to get the syncro cones to work properly