Difficulty in engaging gear - cause?

scorpionxedos

My sister's car is having difficulty engaging gear (her description). It's a Honda Civic with 180k on clock - given to her for free, but has sailed through MOT for past 2 years, astonishingly!

Is it possible that the problem could be rectified by anything other than a new clutch? Obviously, unless it's a cheap fix till the next MOT in May, it's a scrapper and will put money to a new car instead.

Just your thoughts before we go to the garage please.

facade

Could be wear in the gear linkages mechanism, it may need a couple of plastic bushes replacing somewhere, or the linkage adjusting.

Could also be broken springs in the clutch causing it to not release fully when the pedal is pressed.

Could even be worn bearings/lack of oil in the gearbox.

Worth getting it looked at IMHO.

colino

Check if it will slide in and out of the gears with the engine off and clutch engaged. If little or no resistance, the linkage and selectors are probably OK. Is it worse selecting 1st and reverse? If so it does point to a clutch on its way out and you can confirm (only do it once!) by starting the car up, make sure the handbrake is fully on, elect top gear and letting in the clutch. If all is healthy, the car will stall, if it doesn't, it confirms the clutch needs looking at.

scorpionxedos

Brilliant. Thanks guys. The car should be dropped-off sometime this weekend, so I can try those things.

scorpionxedos

facade wrote: »

Could be wear in the gear linkages mechanism, it may need a couple of plastic bushes replacing somewhere, or the linkage adjusting.

Could also be broken springs in the clutch causing it to not release fully when the pedal is pressed.

Could even be worn bearings/lack of oil in the gearbox.

Worth getting it looked at IMHO.

She's had it 3/4 years and hasn't changed oil or anything. No service, no oil change, nothing!

mgdavid

unlikely to be the clutch itself IMO. I believe it is a hydraulic-operated clutch, so it could be a failing master or slave cylinder which should not be too expensive to fix.

scorpionxedos

mgdavid wrote: »

unlikely to be the clutch itself IMO. I believe it is a hydraulic-operated clutch, so it could be a failing master or slave cylinder which should not be too expensive to fix.

My sister finally decided to take her car to garage. Turns out the slave cylinder was leaking. Replaced and the old jalopy is back on the road. £122 JD.

mgdavid you were right on the money, buddy!

Thanks for all that posted.

agrinnall

Did she also get the oil changed while it was in?

darkmatter101

scorpionxedos wrote: »

She's had it 3/4 years and hasn't changed oil or anything. No service, no oil change, nothing!

Lol no oil change in that long? How many miles has she done since she got the car? What year Civic is it anyway ans what engine?

sh0597

If you mean engine oil and not just gear oil I'd definitely get it serviced, sounds like a reliable car and not worth destroying it to save peanuts on servicing.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

if the box oil hasn't been changed since it last main dealer service, the oil in that box will be pi$$ water and not actually doing anything to aid lubrication as it will have by now degraded. get the fuel filter done too as that by now will be full to the brim with sediment from the tank and getting into the injection system.