Same Gearbox troubles with my 480 as my Clio

[TLindley]

Hi all, sorry got a bit of a long one here, if anyone can be bothered to read- much appreciated!

I have read quite a few of the posts about the troubles that many of you have had with the 480 manual gearbox.
Having previously owned a '92 Clio with a more or less identical gearbox, i have to say my experience of old Renault gearboxes is that they are utter shite.
I know that I have probably just been unfortunate, but I have had trouble with both the Clio and the 480 in the gearbox department.

The Clio's gearbox failed on the motorway at 80mph , popping out of 5th gear and sending me flying towards the hard shoulder . It had covered 100k, granted - but the mechanic i phoned for a quote predicted what had happened before i had even told him. He said that he had 7 Mk1 clios in the past year with failed gearboxes. Apparently this is due to overheating alot (probably worn driveshaft boot leaking). He told me they are quite weak boxes in his opinion.

I bought the 480 without knowing it shared a similar gearbox, and now i've had similar troubles getting it into gear, usually when its hot (from 4th to 3rd on decelerating, you really have to bash it in, 5th is difficult to find also). It will go into all gears, but the level of aggression/force needed is excessive. I have already changed the gearbox oil, which only made it marginally better.

Im pretty sure, from the posts that i've read, that this will be down to either a worn synchomesh or a messed up linkage.

Sorry for this diatribe- here's the point of the post!

I could probably fix the linkage myself, but if its the synchomesh, then its new gearbox time. If this is the case, do you guys know if the gearbox is easy to remove? The quotes i was getting for the Clio were uneconomical (£700 +) due to the fact the garages said they would have to drop the subframe off, and it would be a 6 hour job (despite haynes giving it a 3 rating)- plus they would only fit a box they had reconditioned, and not one i'd bring to them (probably 'cos of warranty)

Is a similar procedure neccessary with the 480? I dont really have the time to do it myself, and i use it daily, so i would unfortunately have to get a garage to fix it , if it did go. This is mainly for future reference- i'll keep running the existing one till it dies- hopefuly not at 80mph tho!

Thanks for the help, if you read this far
Tom

[martinholmesuk]

It will go into all gears, but the level of aggression/force needed is excessive. I have already changed the gearbox oil, which only made it marginally better.

Im pretty sure, from the posts that i've read, that this will be down to either a worn synchomesh or a messed up linkage.

I think your first look should be the linkage, I know if there out a little then getting into gear is really hard.

Best get under the car while someone changes gear and see how it goes.

Another thing.... is there a plastic washer that get worn (on linkage?)

[pol]

I've posted this a few times, but i'll do it again!!

I had a problem with the synchro being worn on the 5th gear.
This caused problems with all other gears eventually as they all share the same shafts, a worn synchro seemed to cause slack on the shafts and all of the gears were able to move along it, even if only slightly. You could feel this when driving and a gear is engaged, letting the clutch out would force the gear stick rearwards.

This would often cause it to jump out of gear, mostly with 5th....

Anyway, before you go binning your gearbox, drain the oil and remove the black 5th gear cover under the nearside wheelarch. That will uncover 5th gear and it should be pretty obvious if the mesh is worn, and the securing nuts on the end have worked loose.

If that's the case you can replace the synchro ring with a scrap or new one (it's a renault part). Pulling the selector fork hard enough will free it enough to change the ring.

If not, I wouldn't bother trying to re-build the box yourself... Took me hours and I could only test it back on the car... It locked straight away which was a big waste of time!!

pol

[chris1roll]

Try changing the gearbox linkage bushes first, (the white things martins on about) they are only about £20 all in, and even if it doesn't solve it when you do get it sorted you really want to have all new ones anyway.

[Bramdeman]

Do you remember what the old oil in the box looked like? Grey/silverish or copper colour are bad. It should be more or less transparant. Any weird whining noises while driving are bad also.

The clio is a lot of work to do...the 480 is even worse (much worse IMHO)

[TLindley]

Thanks again for the help.

Yes, there is a lot of play in the gearstick, and the stick does tend to move back/forward with acceleration/deceleration (which is exactly what my Clio did) , but to date it has never slipped out of gear, even under hard acceleration.

Im pretty good with engines, I have stripped a few down and rebuilt heads, etc. But i havnt ever been very confident with either gearboxes or brakes- so if any repair or reconstruction work is needed i think i'll have to leave it to a garage to take care of, I know some people that could do it at a reasonable price.

But I'm not sure if the subframe needs to be dropped off to remove the gearbox, or how awkward it is to remove. (the Clio's was very awkward!)

I'll have a look at the gear linkage this weekend and see what the bushes look like.

[TLindley]

The old oil - probably never been changed EVER by previous boy racer owner - didnt appear to have any metal fragments or silver/gold deposits. It was however very black and clearly needed changing. As i say- it will go into gear, but its like- if you try to smoothly 'place' it into gear, it sometimes doesnt go. But if you give it a hard direct 'shove' it goes in fine. Im guessing its more that the linkage is set up incorrectly or worn.

F'ing gearboxes- its the one problem i didnt want to have to deal with!

[lee]

I am able to offer you my services to replace your gearbox. The problem is you would have to come to HOMD here in sunny Birmingham

[TLindley]

Thankyou for the offer, im hoping it wont have to be replaced for the rest of the cars lifetime (I predict about another 30k) ,but if it does I will know who to come to. How much do you charge for replacement if i supply the gearbox?

Tom