Strange Gearbox Behaviour

MC707

Tuner
Points
60
Location
Quito, Ecuador.
Car
Megane 1.6 RT 16v
Sup all.First of all, I'd be thankful if you read this 'essay' I just did, most people are lazy and don't help.:sad2: I was talking about my Megane ride some time ago. Now something strange has happened, I hope a very knowledgeable person can enlighten me cuz this is real confusing.

Ok so some time ago I was washing my car (we wash it the oldskool way, just a high pressure hose and car shampoo). So this person I know told me "why don't you wash the engine?". I never thought about it and never washed the engine before, but he always washed his ride's engine, so we checked the engine and it was dusty as hell (black oily sticky dust), so he washed the engine. He did bend the hose so the pressure was diminished, so it didn't f*** up the engine - apparently. So I am happy and take my car out the gas station, on to home. Some blocks away, I stop at a red light. When I try to shift to 1st gear (change to neutral when I stop at red lights), some sort of rubber (dunno what it was, I've never seen inside the gearbox) clogged my way to fully engage 1st gear, so I lift the clutch lightly and press the accelerator like always. However, at that moment I hear a scraping sound which I've never heard, but the gearstick finally fits. The rest of the day and all days after that, I have that strange crap that prevents me to easily and normally get to 1st gear.

Two days after that (I couldn't drive correctly with the gearstick gettin' stuck) I decide to send it to the mechanic, and so they decide to open the gearbox. They tell me renault engines CAN'T be washed, and that my car shouldn't even have turned on after the guy washed my ride's engine (it did turn on thankfully). However, my dad never told me the engine can't be washed conventionally (arghhh! :evil:). The dude said it was because someone didn't shift gears well (my dad probably, I SWEAR I shift gears fine!), but I really think the damage is actually because that rubber crap that prevented me from getting the 1st gear well and made that scraping sound. What I can't explain is why the rubbery crap suddenly started getting stuck so I couldn't get the gear correctly.

Now my problem is, I want to know if there is any real relation between the washing of the engine, and the problem getting the gearstick to fit the first gear. Also, why in the hell can't renault engines be washed?! Finally, I'd like to know if there is a solution (new gearbox, quick shift gearstick upgrade kit, etc) to make my gear shifting as fast and seamless as possible, which would be the best option (I believe a quick gearstick upgrade would be easier than a full gearbox upgrade...), and the less expensive. Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Mario
 
Whenever you wash an engine you should avoid the electrics and warm the engine up a little before you begin (not hot just a little warm). I've not heard that Renault engines are particularly bad when washed or that they shouldn't be done.

I also don't see how water has caused the gearbox issue. Is the rubber issue at the engine end or the gearstick end?
 
you didnt knock the gear selector cables did you ? i would have thought this would have made a couple of gears hard to select rather than just one.

what is the rubber your on about ?
 
Thanks for the responses.
Whenever you wash an engine you should avoid the electrics and warm the engine up a little before you begin (not hot just a little warm). I've not heard that Renault engines are particularly bad when washed or that they shouldn't be done.

I also don't see how water has caused the gearbox issue. Is the rubber issue at the engine end or the gearstick end?
Well, the engine was very warm in fact. And the rubber thing is in the gearstick, what I mean is that when I try to get the gearstick into first gear (it is actually in 1-4th gear, except it is worse in 1st gear), I feel that a rubber thing blocks the way to fully place the gearstick into the gear.


you didnt knock the gear selector cables did you ? i would have thought this would have made a couple of gears hard to select rather than just one.

what is the rubber your on about ?
Indeed, it affected more than one gear, only the first gear has the worse 'clogging', so I just mentioned it. I am not really sure, the dude I was talking about washed the engine... it is very likely he did hit whatever cables you are talking about :blink:, but I am really confused because two people and two mechanics have said that washing the engine has NOTHING to do with getting the gearbox/stick in trouble, so I want to know if there is a possibility that the wash caused the damage, since the clogging happened JUST after washing the engine. By your comment, I suspect it is a possibility. So these people tell me the wash has NOTHING to do, but I feel they know nothing.

The rubber thing I am talking, as I said, is the thing that doesn't let me fully engage the gearstick into position.

Another strange thing is that, after I successfully engaged first gear (of course, after half damaging the gearbox with that scraping sound), if I didn't let go the clutch, I could easily engage all gears. But I am used to letting go of the clutch and leave in neutral each time I stop before a red light, so then again after engaging the clutch again and trying to put first gear, I get the clot problem again :sad2:

Hopefully that clarifies something. Again, thanks for any responses, car experts! ;)
 
I wonder if your clutch is on it's way out. Is the biting point quite high up in the pedal travel?

I really don't see how washing the car could damage the gearbox or gearchange. You would really have to give the selectors a bash to knock them out. Not something you can really do whilst washing the engine.

It sounds like the selector knob has broken to me. A quickshift is probably not the solution, you need a slick clean gearchange to start with or the q/s will just make it even harder.

Take a look at the bottom of the gearknob under the boot following the makers instructions to remove the boot, don't cut it out! It should be fairly obvious what is going on in there.

Perhaps you should also add a little grease to the selector rods on the gearbox and you may find this helps a little.
 
Ok I see. I will take it to the mechanic so they fix it, I don't want to do more damage :embarrest:
I wonder if your clutch is on it's way out. Is the biting point quite high up in the pedal travel?
Nope... the clutch looks and feels fine to me. The only problem is getting the dang gearstick to the full position.
I really don't see how washing the car could damage the gearbox or gearchange. You would really have to give the selectors a bash to knock them out. Not something you can really do whilst washing the engine.
Not even with a high pressure hose? As I said, the dude did bend the hose so there was much less pressure, but in some instances, he did let some highly-pressurised water escape (hose unbent for a second or two at least three times.)

Thanks for the answer though. :)
 

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