Crunching into 3rd Gear
 

Hi

I just had my 2000 2.7 boxster in for a full service inc poly belt change and fuel filter as well as the free whell pulley on the alternator being replaced as it was seized. The car was otherwise in perfect condition when I took it in and the gearbox has always been as sweet as a nut. As soon as I got it back and drove it home, there was a crunching sound when selecting 3rd gear, almost as if I haven't pushed the clutch down far enough. Its much worse if you shift up at higher rpm, but in general the whole gearbox doesn't feel quite as 'tight' as it did before. Now the garage is saying its nothing to do with them and it is now down to the fact that the syncro is worn and would probably be cheaper to just replace the whole gear box. My real question is, could anything have happeend while it was being serviced to suddenly make my gearbox go all crunchy? All the other gears appear to be fine, and the crunch is much worse when downshifiting from 4th - 3rd.

update : I did a little more inspecting and the crunch happens even when the car is stationary and you put it straight into 3rd (every other gear is fine, except it cruched once or twice when selecting 4th aswell) It's then fine on subsequent shifts as long as you don't pull up the clutch (ie keep foot depressed on clutch and you can select all the gears perfectly) As soon as you pull the clutch up (obviously engaging neutral) and then depress the clutch and try and select 3rd again , the crunch happens. Weirdly, it is fine if you select say 4th and then shift into 3rd without releasing the clutch - there is no crunch at all. Is this a sign of a worn syncro? It really does feel like the clutch just isn't fully disengaged.

Cheers
Mike

did they change the tranny gear oil ? does it do [due for cloud job] it more cold than hot ? did they flush clutch fluid ? clutch feel the same `~

kinda makes me wonder if

(a) the mechanic took it for a wild test drive and broke the tranny or

(b) the shop randomly selected you for future service by sabotage. I once knew people that did that.

Thanks for the replies. The tranny oil was not changed - someone has suggested that I change this as my car is now on 87k miles and probably still on the original oil. However, I just find it HIGHLY coincidental that I take the car in working perfectly, and now the gearbox starts grinding when I get it back. The garage is meant ot have a good rep, but who knows. I know they struggled for quite sometime gettimg some bolts off as they were almost rusted shut due to water seeping in via the hood and not draining proberly, and I wonder whether something else has happened while they were doing this?

In general the whole gearbox suddenly feels slightly less precise than it did before if that makes any sense? The clutch feels the same and the problem is the same whether the car is hot or cold.

Cheers

Mike

It sure sounds like a synchronizer, nothing they repaired should have effected that, key word being should have, if someone broke the car moving it, would they own up to it, that's the question.

If you're mechanically inclined, you can try bleeding the clutch and changing the gear oil, you never know you might get lucky, you could check all the linkage points too; like the shift cables.

Have you owned her since new? If not you don't know the history of how it was treated previously.

This is a stretch, but if they changed the polyrib belt and were also under the car to change the fuel filter, perhaps they accidentally dislodged the shift cables from their retaining brackets that are under the car. If that happens, your shifting will act funny.

Or, you may simply need to adjust you shift cables where it attaches to the shift knob itself. Perhaps it's out of alignment.

good call...i didnt think of that>

Thanks very much for the suggestion. I'll get the car up jacked up over the weekend and take a look :) I'm still not convinced that it's the actual box. When the car is stationary it crunches if you put it straight into 3rd..... however if you hold the clutch down for a few seconds and then engage 3rd it shifts perfectly into gear with no crunching. Weird?! Its the same when shifting up from 2nd-3rd - if you hold the clutch in and let the the revs drop right down, it's fine, unfortunatly upshifting from 4th - 3rd still crunches no matter what. I really hope I don't need a whole new box.

This is probably a total noob question, but how do I adjust the shift cables that attach to the gearstick? I obviously need to pull up the plastic housing around the gear lever, but how is the cable adjusted?

Thanks

M.