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Finding 3rd gear



  RenaultSport clio 172 mk2
The more I need it the more likely it is I don't get it.

I change gears a hundred times a day in normal driving without any problems. But take it out on the drag strip and try to get a time, and time after time the same thing happens, I go from first to second OK, but when I change up from 2nd I find myself in 5th. Or if I pull onto the motorway into the gap ahead of a big truck, a gap the 172's acceleration means I should have no trouble fitting into easily, when I change up from 3rd I either find myself in 5th with very little acceleration or in neutral with no acceleration and with a annoyed truckie coming up rapidly on my arse. Its not just damn annoying, its a safety issue. I'm going to get shunted up the arse one of these days, and I'm going to be held responsible.

The car's got 45,000 kms on it. The gearbox did its synchros and had them replaced under warranty, but it did the same before it was rebuilt, and it still does it now. When I take it in for service I complain every time, and every time they do nothing, they just dismiss my complaint with a comment that I just need to take the upchange more slowly/carefully. But, gees, I've driven cars for 40 years, I know how to change gears, and I've never had any similar problem to this on any car I've driven ever. I've never driven a car that missed going into the right gear exactly when you need it to.

It doesn't crunch. It either just slips cleanly into gear, only 5th instead of 3rd, or it just balks for long enough that your left foot starts coming back up off the clutch before your brain realises your left hand had only made it to the middle of the H-pattern not all the way into the next gear.

Its like under full power the engine and gearbox and moving just enough that the gear linkages are thrown just a bit out of alignment. But I don't know if that really is the problem.

Its due for service again soon. Is there anything I can suggest to the dealer that they might be able to do that might sort out the problem?
 
Last edited:
  1.2 Clio
Into neutral and push forwards??? You gotta be going right intentionally instead of letting it rest before pushing....
 
shifting quickly from 2nd to 3rd can be a bit of a lottery in mine too - is there a procedure to follow in setting up the linkage?
 

MRBILLYUK

ClioSport Club Member
  FF Jeden Osiem Dwa
I don't use 3rd gear much , straight from 2nd to 4th , lol .

Sounds like you need some driving lessons tbh ;)
 
Second to third gear is without a doubt the worst shift (one of the gearbox experts on here will explain why im sure) |Quite often if im racing ill try to shift into third and it feels as though it goes in i boot it and i get a rattling noise as its not quite gone in

The third gear syncro is always the first to go

Driving lessons - what a stupid thing to say how hard is it to shift a gear
 

Gaz_

ClioSport Club Member
  Extreme mode
i find 5th is obstructed somewhat on this 182 i now have. No real problems with my previous cup though
 

MarkCup

ClioSport Club Member
I've no idea on the internals of a gearbox, nor the problem you're describing.

What I do know, is that the change isn't helped by the gate being like this for third;

1 3 5
¦_/_¦
¦ ¦
2 4

It's very easy to miss.
 
I've no idea on the internals of a gearbox, nor the problem you're describing.

What I do know, is that the change isn't helped by the gate being like this for third;

1 3 5
¦_/_¦
¦ ¦
2 4

It's very easy to miss.


I wonder why its designed like that?
 

DrR

ClioSport Club Member
  VW Golf GTD
3rd to 4th and 5th to 4th are the only gears that work "well" on my car.
 

DrR

ClioSport Club Member
  VW Golf GTD
All seems well now :) Think it's just the way the 172 gearbox is, it's crude but functional.
 

DrR

ClioSport Club Member
  VW Golf GTD
It's on it's 3rd, but it's had 4 in it lol the orginal seemed alright to me.
 
is there a knack to setting up the linkages on these?

if it's a contributory factor in people's problems, it might be useful to a few
 


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