Difficult to engage reverse and first

[OzzyAlfa159ti]

Hi
My 2.2 jts with 72k suddenly became difficult to engage reverse and first.
But when I get it in reverse then quickly but back to neutral then it's easy to go in ,same as first.

It drives fine no noises or crunching and clutch grabs as it always has. About half way between floor and resting .

Any advice would be appreciated.
Also where is the slave cylinder as would like to bleed the system.
Kind regards

[bazzbazz]

Most likely you have some wear/play in your gear selector cables, the one that controls the height.

Slave cylinder is located in the clutch bell housing.

[OzzyAlfa159ti]

Hi baz

Thank you for your quick response
What do you mean the one that controls the height.

[OzzyAlfa159ti]

Also if the slave cylinder is in the bell housing , how does one bleed I?

[bazzbazz]

Ok, this is a general description -

The gear selector horn on the top of the gearbox that the cables are connected to has two axis of movement.

1/ It rotates clockwise and counterclockwise. This takes it into & out of a set of gears, say 1st clockwise & Reverse counter clockwise

2/ It also moves up and down, 3 or 4 positions depending on how many gears you have.

So, if it sits in the middle position and you rotate it back and forth you get 2nd & 3rd, if you push it down you get 4th & 5th, if you pull it up you get 1st & reverse.

Get someone to change gears for you as you watch the movement of the gear selector horn and you'll understand. When it comes to the gears that your having trouble with, as the person in the car tries to put it into that gear, grab the horn and assist him as he tries to put it into gear and you will see that with a slight assist it will drop into gear, and you will see which cables need adjusting and in which direction.

However, it may be a case that the selector cable ball joint is worn and it will need to be replaced.

Clear as mud?

Bleeding the slave cylinder - there is a bleed nipple on top of the bell housing.

[kaleuclint]

Do you hear that, Bazz??  That's the sound of the value of my Haynes publishing shares plummeting...

[OzzyAlfa159ti]

Hi

Thank you baz with this info.

I read somewhere that you bleed the system from the nipple that's on the firewall driver side?

Anyway thankyou

[bazzbazz]

That's for bleeding the brake lines.

As I said before bleeding the clutch is done at the slave cylinder 3 way connector. Remove battery & battery try for access, it's pretty obvious.

[bazzbazz]

Do you hear that, Bazz??  That's the sound of the value of my Haynes publishing shares plummeting...

One is glad to be of service.   

[OzzyAlfa159ti]

Hi baz
Thank you so much for your valuable time and knowledge