Mk1 Galaxy Gear Problems

[allbluedave]

hi guys. firstly my apologies for not been on here in a while.but saying that my car was trouble free till   yesterday  :angry2:. so i took a short journey from home yesterday and stopped at a set of traffic lights. took the car out of gear and had my foot on the brake. lights changed to red a put the car in gear and let the clutch out. nothing.......... thought the hand brake was on......... wasnt. thought the clutch had gone........... clutch was fine. so i had to push the car to a safe place........ when i checked the car there was no resistance in the gear change.......... i arranged for a family member to tow me home so i started the car and started to get the car towed home when there was huge bang! sounded like a shot gun :o so i honked the horn and stopped to investigate the bang as the car veered to one side....{ gearbox side } i checked the underside of the car and there was a slight drip of oil from the centre of the engine. thinking this aint good but decided to carry on been towed home. as the rope got taught a heard another bang....... even louder this time. i shut the car off this time to check and the car was pissing out red oil which i thought at the time was gearbox oil.........the car was stuck in the middle of the road pretty much as we were passing a parked car at the time and when i tryed to move the car on the kerb the car wouldnt move......... like it was stuck in gear and pressing the clutch didnt work. eventualy after 20 mins or so i managed to move the car on the kerb. i managed to get the car recovered home and upon removing the belly pan the following day i didnt see what i was expecting....... a hole in the gear box?...... the oil had come from a burst power steering  pipe under the engine! :o  expecting the gear linkage cables to be broke......... a problem i had  with a citroen synergie recently....... sounded like the same fault. the cable where in fully working order and not snapped. im hoping that its something simple and not the gearbox knacked. any ideas guys? need the car back on the road asap.is here anything on top on the gear box the can wear out that the cables are connected to? cheers guys. bottom line is...... if your gearlinkage goes. press your clutch in if your getting toed. dont do what i did. from what i can gather the car as put itself in first gear while been toed at 25 mph. or so it seams anyway. cheers for reading guys and i hope someone can help.  :)

 

[sparky Paul]

Doesn't sound good.

 

There is an issue with the gear selector assembly on the top of the gearbox where a bolt comes loose and falls into the gearbox, causing the lack of gear selection you describe as your initial problem. In many cases, it seems to make it's way to the bottom of the gearbox without doing any damage and can sometimes be recovered with a magnet.

 

If you are unlucky, the bolt gets caught up in the gears and bang...

 

If the drivetrain has been staked by something jamming the gearbox, then the whole of the gearbox and engine will have been jolted pretty sharply - which could account for your burst pipe.

 

You need to identify whether the bolt issue is the cause, if it is then I fear you may be looking for a replacement gearbox. Fortunately, the manual gearboxes are otherwise robust and that means they are reasonably easy to find, and shouldn't cost a fortune. Try that well known auction site, some breakers want an arm and a leg for stuff now.

[allbluedave]

hey paul. thanks for the reply. :) from what you,ve said and what happened it looks like the bolt has dropped into the gearbox so i recon the gears are now knackard due to the two huge bangs. been looking on the mentioned auction site and found a few. just need to make sure i get the right one. as for the burst pipe. heres me thinking it was power steering but on closer inspection today i found out the oil had come from the air conditioning compressor.how its poped the metal pipe because of the gear box i dont know.  :wacko: im planning on draining the gearbox oil and see if its full of cog teeth and a severed bolt.  :o 
 

 

[sparky Paul]

If you can't fish the bolt out from the top, I think you have to separate the two halves of the gearbox casing... not completely split it, just part it enough for the bolt to drop out.

 

If you're lucky, you might have chipped a few teeth... if you're unlucky, it'll be secondhand gearbox time. :unsure:

Edited July 17, 2013 by sparky Paul

[allbluedave]

cheers paul. so draining the oil to see if there is any metal in it wont work then? also is the gear selector that goes though the top of the gearbox through the bellhousing where the flywheel is or through where all the gears are?  :blush:   :wacko:

[sparky Paul]

The selector mechanism is on top of the actual gearbox where the cables attach, underneath the battery tray when fitted to the car.

 

You might get some bits of gearbox out of the hole, but if I remember correctly the bolt gets stuck where it can't get to the drain. You'll have to drain the gearbox in any case, so it will be interesting to see what comes out after these bangs!

[allbluedave]

ive got the battery tray and various plastics removed to check the linkage. not i can see much with that lot removed. ive popped the cables off the gear box end to see if they where snapped and there not. think im gunna drain the box tomorrow to see what comes out.so if i unbolt the box from the engine do you recon the bolt will drop out or i can poke about with a magnet? sorry for all the questions but i really need this back on the road to get the kids to nursery. :) cheers for you help again :)

[sparky Paul]

if the bolt has gone in the gearbox, it will be inside the gearbox where the shafts are. You will have to split the casing of the actual gearbox itself, once removed from the car... it might drop out, or you might have to fish a bit.

 

Draining the oil should tell you something, but the bangs you described do not bode well. I think I would be keeping one eye out for a secondhand gearbox.

Edited July 18, 2013 by sparky Paul

[allbluedave]

well i went to drain the oil today and when i removed the drain plug no oil come out :wacko:  looked further under the gearbox and theres a hole in it smaller than the end of a biro pen so guess thats why they aint no oil in the gearbox lol. ive been looking on the car to try and find the vin plate so i can look up the info to source a replacement gearbox but cant find the vin number anywhere. any ideas guys?  B) read somewhere theres different codes so gota get the right one or it wont fit. i take it only a 1.9 tdi one is suitable? same type.

[sparky Paul]

VIN plate is in the front passenger door shut, on the B pillar.

 

Yes, the diesel ratios are different, so you will need a box off a similar vehicle.

[BIGboykev]

Glad i joined this group because my 1999 galaxy has developed the same problem , can get 1st & 2nd gear but the selector wont more so im going to check out the cables and selector. my car has been stood for about 6-7 weeks without being moved and i have read some where on here that there may be gunk & crap around the selector ????????? al that may be required is a gentle pulling upwards and a tap of a rubber mallet and heaps of wd 40 may free and sort my problem what do you guys think ( the r,a,c, diagnosed it as the gear lever housing at fault and after locating and trial fitting they where wrong thanks what a waste of £75 )  live and learn   i welcome any comments thanks

[allbluedave]

hey guys.  :)  ok so ive started prepping the car to take the gear box out......... removing battery/plastics.turbo pipes ectect and my next job was to remove the drive shafts.bearing in mind i dont have to drop the gearbox oil as i did that all over the road about 2weeks ago lol.so i followed the haynes to remove the drives shafts and what a p%%% on ive had.managed to get the wheel end out after alot of hammering but the inner shaft at the gear box end wont budge. any ideas guys? if i dont sort this soon i,ll have to sell as a spares or repair which i dont wanna do as its a great car.well was :rolleyes: haynes says to gently prise it out which ive tryed to do and it still wont move. could the selector thats fell in the box mashed sumit up to jam the shaft from coming out?

Edited July 26, 2013 by allbluedave

[BIGboykev]

Hi i thought id post to let all know how my problem went . well i ended up taking the selector out ( that is a job in itself to do removing the battery tray etc ) when i had it on the table there was no movement in the spindle to allow it to move it upwards or downwards so i sprayed lots of wd40 and left it for 30 mins and it seemed to free it so i continued to work it for a while, i  cleaned everything and reassembled it all and hey presto its back to normal thank god no huge garage bill ( although a couple of garages i have spoken too havent come across this problem )  id like to thank all those people that have posted there questions and replys on here because without you guys we would all possibly splashing out loads of cash  thank you .

[colin247]

I have a gearbox problem with my 1.9 Tdi 5 speed, I can only engage 3rd and 4th gear, both cable are free enough, it seems to be the swivel on top of the gearbox won't move any more than a couple of mm, has anyone encountered this before?

[chrispb123456]

You need to get some penetrating fluid on the gearbox turret or you can remove the turret and do it off the car, the shaft gets corroded and seizes up (common fault)

[colin247]

I have been spraying it with WD40 for a week. Does the gearbox have to be removed to get the turret lifted out, there doesn't seem to be much room between it and the battery tray support.

[BIGboykev]

COLIN 247 this sounds like the same problem we are all having the selector is full of crap it needs to move forward and up and down to be able to select gears. when i did mine all i did was remove water bottle, battery, support the gearbox with axle stands take out battery tray then you can get access to the selector disconnect the cables, note which went where, undo bolts securing the selector onto the gearbox one or two where tricky to get to , remove selector and spray all around the mechanism moving the links which should start to free and move up and down , took a good 30 mins or so to free it for me and getting it moving freely then its just a case of reassembling it all, good luck      

[BIGboykev]

COLIN 247 i didn't need to remove the gearbox but i beleive you only need to do that if the bolt has worked itself lose on the selector shaft and has dropped into the gearbox .  

[colin247]

Thanks for the reply, I unbolted the six bolts that secure the gear selector but it won't lift as it is jammed in place by the cast gearbox mount, also to release the cable ends from the selector do you compress the centre of them?

[BIGboykev]

The gears need to be in neutral for the selector to be lifted upwards and out of the gearbox (it is all 1 unit) . have you removed the battery and tray ? ( this helps accessing the selector housing and lifting it out ).

i used a screwdriver and gently prised the cables off the selector arms .