No 5th Gear .....

No 5th Gear .....

Author
Discussion

johno

Original Poster:

8,521 posts

289 months

Monday 17th March 2003
quotequote all
Collected car from WLA's on Friday and takling it back tonight ...

After a run down the M2 with a friend I went to change gear and found I couldn't across the whole box. Eventually engaging 4th with some luck...

Stopped on side of road and checked master
cylinder to find no fluid.....end up round a friends and find the leak is coming from the fitting to the slave cylinder, between pipe and fitting. Manage to solve with PTFE tape and stop leak (cutting long story short)

Find that even after this I can not consistenly get 5th gear. It should be the easiest gear in the box to get, but it just won't go in. Then all of a sudden it goes in with no trouble. That is 1 in 20 attempts though

The fluid that came out was crap, full of sediment and evident of a cylinder failure, but all the other gears are fine, just 5th is a problem.

Anyone else had trouble with the supposedly bulletproof Borg Warner T5 ???

Cheers

Mark
Thoroughly had enough at the moment. Just had a £300 bill for stuff that wasn't covered under warranty. So far its done a PAS rack, heater control, screen wash disconnection behind scuttle, PAS rack high pressure hose and clutch master cyliner ..... in 10,000 miles ...

Beano500

20,854 posts

282 months

Monday 17th March 2003
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Wow - sounds like you're having an unlucky spell.

I can report the odd day when reverse is difficult and the fact that you have to learn not to rush 2nd to 3rd - but not had any problem with fifth (well not in the last 35,000 miles anyway......)

alex.mcintosh

200 posts

285 months

Monday 17th March 2003
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Don't know the exact details, but it is not unknown for the T5 to "lose" 5th...

lavingp

883 posts

274 months

Monday 17th March 2003
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Joolz used to do a Griff buying guide on his website.
That mentions the T5 box breaking 5th gear for no apparent reason. Sorry Mark...
Surely the warranty should cover it though.

Paul

Paul V

4,489 posts

284 months

Monday 17th March 2003
quotequote all
I'd say get that pipe changed and a new slave cylinder before you get too worried as it was fine until the clutch started play up.
I’ll be round the garage tomorrow to try and figure out that clonking noise is, if you want to change any bits you’re welcome to pop round.

johno

Original Poster:

8,521 posts

289 months

Monday 17th March 2003
quotequote all
PaulV,

The cars going into WLA's and I need a lift home from Larkfield this evening ... Fancy doing me a massive favour ... petrol money etc ...

Having chatted to few friends there seems to be an agreement that 5th does on occasion dissapear although this is more related to Cerberra's than Griffiths ...

We'll see what they say ...

Paul V

4,489 posts

284 months

Monday 17th March 2003
quotequote all
Yeah no problem, what time etc?

You can meet us at Jane's then we'll follow you down.

gary judd

2,675 posts

272 months

Monday 17th March 2003
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hello mark
sorry to hear about your troubles . i know just how you feel. my new new starter motor is packing up.if you want a lift back from larkfield i would be up for it let me know.
gary and cerb

calvinhutt

21 posts

260 months

Monday 24th March 2003
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I have a problem with getting fifth - synchro has gradually worstened to the point where I can only get in by either crashing it (obvious no-no) or double de-clutching, which works fine. I am not certain that I want to pay up to £1K for a replacement gearbox to cure this though at this point. Anyone know of a low-mileage second hand t5 available??

Calvin

xain

261 posts

284 months

Tuesday 25th March 2003
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I had a problem selecting 5th, as though the synchro was going, unless I let the revs drop *right* down. I read a post from another PHer who had the same issue, and it went away when he had the clutch replaced after the release for snapped. Made no sense to me, and I had assumed he must have had the gearbox reconditioned.

Sure enough, a month later, my release fork was just miles from snapping, and after replacing it and the clutch my 5th gear problems were a thing of the past. No work on the 'box at all.

Can't explain why only 5th should be affected, but clutch issues seem to cause it to graunch. Hopefully when you fix your clutch the gear issue will also go.

2 sheds

2,529 posts

291 months

Tuesday 25th March 2003
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The Tuscan racers ( which used the T5 ) used to loose 5th on a regular basis. My old Tuscan racer also lost 5th and needed uprating to cope with the torque, but i didn't think it was such an issue with the Griffith 500's ?
Hopefully something simple, linkage, circlip etc.
Tim

calvinhutt

21 posts

260 months

Wednesday 26th March 2003
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Does anyone know how much a replacement clutch plus release fork is fitted, inc VAT? Any recommendations on where to go (Oxford based)?? Besides the need to double-declutch for 5th, my gearchange is quite heavy. I would like to resolve this one sooner rather than later as I feel another jaunt to Italy coming on this summer....

Any help appreciated,

Cheers,

Calvin

johno

Original Poster:

8,521 posts

289 months

Wednesday 26th March 2003
quotequote all

2 sheds said: The Tuscan racers ( which used the T5 ) used to loose 5th on a regular basis. My old Tuscan racer also lost 5th and needed uprating to cope with the torque, but i didn't think it was such an issue with the Griffith 500's ?
Hopefully something simple, linkage, circlip etc.
Tim


Thye slipper pads and circlips are out of shape, bent and knackered. This knacks the synchro, hence no 5th. Apparently it has been a problem for some Cerberra owners more than Griffiths ...

Just another wait fot it to return ...


trefor

14,661 posts

290 months

Wednesday 26th March 2003
quotequote all

calvinhutt said: Does anyone know how much a replacement clutch plus release fork is fitted, inc VAT? Any recommendations on where to go (Oxford based)?? Besides the need to double-declutch for 5th, my gearchange is quite heavy. I would like to resolve this one sooner rather than later as I feel another jaunt to Italy coming on this summer....

Any help appreciated,

Cheers,

Calvin


Dunno, but Thames Valley Racetech are quite close (Sonning Common) tel. 01189 723153 or maybe Top Cats Racing North of Alyesbury. Both indies with good reps.

Scruffy

3,757 posts

268 months

Wednesday 26th March 2003
quotequote all

calvinhutt said: Does anyone know how much a replacement clutch plus release fork is fitted, inc VAT?

300 quid,.. I'm guessing at the labour costs as it's a bit of a pain in the arse.. - not tricky, just longwinded..

Any recommendations on where to go (Oxford based)??Cheers,

Calvin

Don't know as I did it myself..

Good luck.

My T-5 looked fine though the linkages were a bit iffey so might have lost fifth..?

griff2be

5,090 posts

274 months

Wednesday 26th March 2003
quotequote all

trefor said:
Dunno, but Thames Valley Racetech are quite close (Sonning Common) tel. 01189 723153 or maybe Top Cats Racing North of Alyesbury. Both indies with good reps.




In my humble opinion, Thames Valley Racetech's good reputation was based on the experience of Steve Howard, who has now left and is back set up on his own. He is based in Hurst, not far from Twyford (nr Reading). If you do a search for Steve Howard or Thames Valley Racetech on here you will find a thread with his phone number.

xain

261 posts

284 months

Thursday 27th March 2003
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It was Steve Howard who did mine. I'm afraid that the cost is nearer 600 notes, because it's a gearbox off job, and there's no point in just replacing the fork. The clutch has to be done at the same time usually, and in any case, it always makes sense to change the clutch if you drop the gearbox.

The issue is that the clutch gets very heavy as it wears. Steve reckoned it was poor maintainance earlier in its life. He said that dust builds up on the springs if not blown out, and makes it very heavy. Not sure I follow that logic, but my clutch was *very* heavy. It seems that as with so many TVR things, the release fork is not really up to the job, so near the end of the clutch's life the fork can often just wear through under the strain.

You won't believe the difference it will make though... I was a bit sorry to have to part with such a wedge of cash, but the car was transformed!

shpub

8,507 posts

279 months

Thursday 27th March 2003
quotequote all
The cost is around 600-700 depending how much of the clutch is replaced. Drop gearbox job fortunately unlike the Wedges where the engine has to come out!

Worth replacing the release fork and bearing anyway. Tower View strengthened the fork on the 520 as its uprated mega clutch was that heavy that I bent the fork!

Steve
ww.tvrbooks.co.uk

jodypress

1,940 posts

281 months

Sunday 30th March 2003
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shpub said: The cost is around 600-700 depending how much of the clutch is replaced. Drop gearbox job fortunately unlike the Wedges where the engine has to come out!

Worth replacing the release fork and bearing anyway. Tower View strengthened the fork on the 520 as its uprated mega clutch was that heavy that I bent the fork!

Steve
ww.tvrbooks.co.uk


hi steve
i think the selector fork has just gone on mine. driving home tonight and the car just poped out of 5th gear at about 70ish, put it in fourth, tried fifth, went in but revs ust rise, seems to not be engaging 5th at all.
the other four gears seem to be fine and when i stopped i couldn't hear any bad metallic crunching noises.
the clutch was replace about 1000 miles ago by towerivew.
could it be anything else?
thanks
jody

johno

Original Poster:

8,521 posts

289 months

Monday 31st March 2003
quotequote all
When I lost 5th there were no nasty metallic noises unless you mena that it just crunches in ....