Manual Gearbox

[karlous54]

Recently i replaced the gearbox oil in my vr4, i have found that after i have done this and when the car is cold reverse gear keeps poping out and makes a crunhing noise. Seems to not fully select reverse. When the car warms up its all good.

Did some research on here and ended up putting in
Valvoline Duragear SAE 75w-85 API GL-4.
Is this all related to the new oil or have i got some other issue?
cheers

[Ryan]

I'd say the oil might not be your problem as it is G-4 specification, which is the correct oil to use for this application.

[Turbo_Steve]

It may be worth draining the new oil and seeing what conditiion it's in.

[Subaru ETA]

has it got enough oil in it?

[bradc]

Does it feel any worse at all in any of the other gears? When I had GL5 in my car (the wrong oil!) it was really hard to get into any gears for about 3 minutes after starting the car from cold then became great and felt excellent. Reverse was no harder or easier to get into than the other gears.

[karlous54]

Does it feel any worse at all in any of the other gears? When I had GL5 in my car (the wrong oil!) it was really hard to get into any gears for about 3 minutes after starting the car from cold then became great and felt excellent. Reverse was no harder or easier to get into than the other gears.

Doesnt feel any worse at all, a little notchy changing between gears but nothing out of the norm.
Just feels that it doesnt fully engage into reverse gear sometimes.
Would it be worth a shot and trying another oil?
and do your reckon maybe the fluid in the clutch needs to be changed or bleed ?

[elnevio]

Manuel Gear box
I think your 'Manuel' gearbox might be 'Fawlty'...

:coat



Anyway, has the biting point of the clutch moved up or down? Or was it low/high already?

[bradc]

rofl, I thought the same thing Nev, but I didn't say it :)

What happens if you push and hold onto the gear lever to keep it at the bottom right of it's travel?

[miller]

maybe now is the time for an auto conversion

[bradc]

Yes Mike, that way noone without a wand and a black hat will be able to fix it when it is first driven and subsequently breaks. :)

[Ryan]

/popcorn

[miller]

are NZ'ers averse to sarcasm the same way US'ers are?

[bradc]

No, we are smarter than American's, we are capable of using 3 pedals with only 2 feet!

[elnevio]

Americans have three feet?

[miller]

pmsl :jester:


back on topic /whip

[karlous54]

rofl, I thought the same thing Nev, but I didn't say it :)

What happens if you push and hold onto the gear lever to keep it at the bottom right of it's travel?

Makes a little crunch and pops out. Weird though cause i just took it for a drive to the shops and all was well with it.

[elnevio]

I wonder if it's just coincidence that this has happened at the same time as changing the oil. I don't know enough about the mechanisms, but is this something as simple as the linkages need adjusting slightly?

Maybe now that the oil is not thick and gooey any more, it doesn't keep it in reverse!

[karlous54]

I think your 'Manuel' gearbox might be 'Fawlty'...

:coat



Anyway, has the biting point of the clutch moved up or down? Or was it low/high already?

Doesnt seem to have moved at all, still seems to be high with a long travel from slightly engaging to fully engaged.

[karlous54]

I wonder if it's just coincidence that this has happened at the same time as changing the oil. I don't know enough about the mechanisms, but is this something as simple as the linkages need adjusting slightly?

Maybe now that the oil is not thick and gooey any more, it doesn't keep it in reverse!

The old oil was fairly dirty and stunk like crap!!! ruined a pair of my overalls thats how bad the odour was.

[bradc]

Strange. Perhaps your shifter bushings are on their last legs? These are the little brackets that sit on top of your gearbox and guide the shifter cables to the gearbox. When they fail the car tends to stop changing gears! I don't think that they will be at fault because you made mention that it is ok when warm, but it is probably worth looking at.

[karlous54]

has it got enough oil in it?

Pretty sure the oil level is all good! prob used about 3L after spillage ;)

[Gowf]

Im not saying this is your problem but i have seen it happen. The gear selector cables, which are sealed, are suseptable to heat damage. When this occurs they basically melt so once cold everything solidifies again and it becomes difficult to engage a gear, but feeling on the gearstick is fine. Once they get some heat in them again they are totally fine. Its a possibility this may have happend to a lesser extent than ive seen, but id start with the cables, looking at the selectors whilst someone is selecting the gears. Odd though that it happend at the same time as changing the oil

[karlous54]

Had the clutch replaced yesterday and the damn reverse gear is still jumping out, so plan to plan B

got to have a really good look at the shifting cables and see if there is any problems there.

Then plan C is to replace/repair the gearbox ( damn it )

1) would it be better to just replace the gearbox with a low millage one ?

2) or take it out and have it inspected to see whats up ? And can anyone recommened somone in the Hutt Valley/Wellington Area who would be good to have a look at it ?

[bradc]

Have you searched for the problem on evolutionm? It is probably the largest Evo forums in the world and they will most likely have come across the problem at some point.

There is no need to buy a new gearbox, the great advantage of manuals is that every individual part can be purchased seperately.

[fuel]

I found Valvoline gearbox oil to be pretty crap, I had similar troubles with a FWD Galant of mine. I switched to Castrol (VMX I think?) and all was well again. Better yet, go to Mitsubishi and grab the proper gear oil, I think it's a BP product.

[karlous54]

I found Valvoline gearbox oil to be pretty crap, I had similar troubles with a FWD Galant of mine. I switched to Castrol (VMX I think?) and all was well again. Better yet, go to Mitsubishi and grab the proper gear oil, I think it's a BP product.

This whole issue started when the oil was changed to valvoline stuff, and thats what went back in. My mate at mitsubishi says they use the VMX in there workshop. Might give that ago.

[bradc]

VMX is very good

[karlous54]

Have you searched for the problem on evolutionm? It is probably the largest Evo forums in the world and they will most likely have come across the problem at some point.

There is no need to buy a new gearbox, the great advantage of manuals is that every individual part can be purchased seperately.


Yeah, i will keep it a go tomorrow night, do you know what type ? is it the 80w-90, or 75w-90 ?

cool, if this fails i will just get whats broken fixed with it, as all the other gears work fine, better than before.

Must say though, little dissapointed with how juddery the new clutch is. Has loads of bite to it, feel like ill break something if i just dropped it.

Got a 5 puk, brass button excedy, with a machined fly wheel. hopefully it will settle down.

[fuel]

I would go 80W-90

[Subaru ETA]

Vmx is some of the best you can get. And lol about the clutch - a 5 puk brass button is never going to be the smoothest!

[Gly]

Must say though, little dissapointed with how juddery the new clutch is. Has loads of bite to it, feel like ill break something if i just dropped it.

Got a 5 puk, brass button excedy, with a machined fly wheel. hopefully it will settle down.

speaking from experience, NO it wont, and its juddering coz your slipping it, and not giving it enough rev's,

its ment to be used as on or off and never in between, you will wreck it (ware it out prematurely) if you slip it

[funkstardelux]

mine was cruddy change before then had it changed to amsoil..nick mann did it, and since last oct nice and smooth once engine is heated up.

[Gly]

check the bolt next to the fill is tight,
usually a torx head, is tight, it holds the reverse gear

[karlous54]

Well i dropped the valvoline oil after work today, gave it a damn good flush out and replaced it with castrol VMX 80 and...

WHAT A CHANGE!

Reverse was a little funny at the start but once i took it for a long nice easy drive and got the new fluid circulated round the gearbox felt great.

No worrys with reverse, checked it out about 10x times and was very positive every time no issues, left it for a couple of hours and took it for another drive without any hassel.

So here is hoping this was the issue! :) Very happy chappy

[bradc]

Sounds good. Do you know if the Valvoline was GL4/5 or GL5?

[karlous54]

Valvoline Duragear SAE 75w-85 API GL-4.

[fuel]

Yeah I specifically recall it was the 75W-85 GL-4 which gave troubles for me - I went for the GL-4 as I knew GL-5 is bad for the Mitsubishi transverse gearboxes (ironically the RWD/commercial 4WD boxes use GL-5). Perhaps it's the viscosity which was playing havoc?

[bradc]

Normally GL4/5 or GL5 oils cause those problems but that one is GL4 only according to their website so I would have thought it would be ok.

[fuel]

the API rating is one thing, but the viscosity is another important thing, I don't think any Mitsubishi transaxles call for a 75W-85 oil, it's usually 80W-90.

[karlous54]

was a cold morning and took the car to work to check it out and no probs at all.
:)

[gareth001]

Glad you got yours sorted - afraid I've already got the right oil in the box and it's still clutch route atm. Anyone used the clutch/flywheel from http://www.jp4mance.com/ ?