172 gearboxes.. is there an ’issue’

[Captain Slarty]

ok, after allowing renaut to try differnt oil in the gearbox (with no change) to try to eliminate a slight 4-3 crunch, they would appear to be willing to change the box. (Less than 7000 miles)

Tims box was full of metal deposits after drag stripping a few times, and 3 that I am aware of have disintegrated around the clutch housing / input shaft area causing catastrophic damage to the gearbox casing and the engine mounting flange necessitating new engine and box assembly.

How do other owners of 172 and cup find the change on the box ??.

I would be interested in your experiences and comments.

A clutch problem has been ruled out leaving only the box as culprit btw..

Joe.

 

[teady172]

I used to have a slight problem shifting from 2nd - 3rd, but that seems to have disappeared now!

 

[172Cup]

Captain,

I do not like the gearbox at all. Too wooly (technical term) and wobbly. The travel is waayyyyy tooo long. Being 63", I sit back, but then find changing to 3rd/5th right @ the end of the reach. It all seems a bit out of sync.

The Imprezas throw is also too long. This is cured, by putting in a short or quick shift to shorten the throw.

Does anyone do these for the Clio?

172CUP

 

[VR6man]

cant say i have noticed any problem TOUCH WOOD

the box feels a lot better than on my Golf VR6..... which a. had a much longer throw and b. allowed you to find a gear somewhere between 2nd and 3rd sometimes... aka neutral....but would pretend to be a gear.....i.e slot in !!

also on that car, 4th to 3rd was dodgy... i.e wouldnt always go in.. not sure if the linkage was out or if it was something to do with a dodgy high speed change i did once.. accidentally...

but my box ooo errr... seem fine....thru all the gears...

i have done 13,500 miles so far.......well.. i have done 2,000 miles so far.. someone else did the rest !!

 

[VR6man]

having said that, im gonna try a few more 4th to 3rd changes on my way home tonite (at low speeds !!)

 

[Roamer]

172Cup - Yeah, there is a quickShift available for the 172, infact itll fit most Clios (If I remember right).

It really does make the throw alot shorter, more postive etc etc.

Slugger has just had it fitted to his, and Ive had mine for a couple of a months now - absolutely fine, youve just gotta get used to reverse and 5th curving back to the centre a bit (Sorry hard to describe, but if you get one youll know what I mean)

 

[Captain Slarty]

It is rather easy to make a quick shift if you want to.

just remove the lever completely and weld a 20 mm extention into the bottom lever part (cut it and shut it so to speak...)

Joe.

 

[172Cup]

Agreed,

But im no welder!! so ill have to get the cheque book out.

Roamer, any names/nos that I can call re the q-shift??

 

[Mav]

Cap,

I find that any change in mine is bad unless i do 2 things

1) I use superman strength and push the cluthch through the floor
2) I let the revs drop before change to <3.5k and bring the clutch up whilst holding the stick fully in gear.

Otherwise i get a nasty crunch 1st-2nd and small one 2nd-3rd and a slight noise (like a hacking cough) from 3rd-4th. The change into 5th is fine.

If i could transplant my old RT gear box (even with the knackere syncromesh in second) to my 172 i would. I dont have any problem with the reach in the 172 just the fact i cant seem to slip it from gear to gear the cluthc and accelerator together.
They seem like completely seperate systems rather than a fluid one, where you can be changing at the same time as depressing and releasing the clutch for the gear.

I dunno, maybe all sporty cars are like this, i mean ive only ever had things like my RT before now.

Mav

 

[Captain Slarty]

Hi Mav, they arent all like that thank god (hot hatch boxes) lol !!..

I have no probs anywhere else in the box, purely 4-3 downchange, say to overtake,.. the rest are fine. I agree with your comments re the lack of a fluid system. I may have just got a bad one (well I certainly seem to have a bad one lol) but the gearbox is the thing that lets it down... hopefull the new one will sort things.

Having all mountings changed today too (on warranty) as one broke (cam belt end) and although they were only gonna change the one, I persuaded them that the others would have been subject to overstressing.

Joe..

 

[BRUN]

make sure you check that they have changed them ALL then Joe

 

[MarkB]

When my 172 is cold (for the first 5 minutes or so) I get a bit of a crunch going into 4th from both 3rd and 5th, and in the last 2 weeks or so it is now being a bit iffy going into 3rd - even when it has warmed up... Got the 24000 service in about 2200 miles (before Christmas) so gonna get them to look at it then.

 

[Tom]

its a renault if it had a good gearbox we would all be driving peugot 172s!!

 

[172@18]

I get this cruching noise 3-4th normally at high speeds but it only does it now and then???what causes this???

 

[Pillesnoppen]

I have noticed the gear change isnt too hot, especially not after the Integra. 4th to 3rd is a pain in the arse, sometimes wont engage.

A sequential six-gear box will sort that out.

 

[BenR]

My box has been abused.....severly......its used as a demo car sometimes when the other 2 are booked.

anyway, normally no probs, but at full throttle with slam changes, it goes grind/crunch alot, but i am just ever so briefly flickin the clutch......seems fine when normally used though.

 

[chris172]

I have had to have a new gearbox due to the oil seal around the CV/drive shaft bit where it enters the box was leaking.(tek speak!!)

Noticed after 650 miles a patch of oil on the garage floor and when looking underneath, the car was soaking. The monkey that looked at it said they tried to replace the seals but it was no good. He then said that the Tech Specialist told him of a Tech Notice that said, if there is any leak around the seals to replace the box.......5 weeks later and one courtesy car "run in" we got it back.

Never experienced any crunching with the old box or the new but 5th gear needs a little persuation to get out of now, just a more positive tug!

So it looks like they have a problem that is well known to them....not that they would admit it of course!!!