Gearbox? Somethings not right.

[chris blue]

Accelerating the car quite hard up a hill, a clunk noise followed by a tinkling of something rolling along the road, and i pulled over as car didnt seem right.
I walked the road and found a long bolt about 7cms long on the road. Not sure if i went over it, or it came off the car.
The car doesnt drive right, and when pulling away in gear it feels like the gearbox jerks/clunks quite sharply, as the torque kicks in
As said, the car drives, no abnormal engine noise on idle, and havent had chance to look under car properly yet, but its not right.
Any suggestions other than get it on a ramp, and getting someone who knows what theyre doing to have a look?

Dont want to drive it and cause more damage.
Guess: Dogbone issue?

 

[bozothenutter]

Long bolt on to of the bearbox broke.......the one holding it to the gearboxmount?
if so don't drove it, might damage your driveshaft.

 

[chris blue]

Bolt doesnt look broken. Looks like it just come undone and fallen off. thats if its my bolt
Can i get to have a look at the gearbox mount easy- just to check

 

[hipwell]

Yeo. My guess would be one of the 2 bolts holding the dogbone Mount on.

Under the car you will see a dogbone sort of thing which twists in the middle. 1 bolt should be aiming straight up and at the other end its held on with a long bolt and a nut

 

[bloke]

pic of bolt otherwise it's just a guessing game.

 

[chris blue]

Yes- will get a pic of the bolt up later. I reckon its that- now to buy a set of ramps to get the car up on them
Recommendations- always liked those heavy duty polystyrene type ones.... but pricey

Be nice to have ones i can bolt into the tarmac road surface to stop them slipping

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Has the bolt got a tapered end on it?

 

[bozothenutter]

Bolt doesnt look broken. Looks like it just come undone and fallen off. thats if its my bolt
Can i get to have a look at the gearbox mount easy- just to check

remove the battery and you're looking at the mount, the bolt I mean is the tapered one in the middle of the rubber bit.
If it is broken also check the hole in the tripod on the gearbox hassn't gone oval...otherwise the new bolt will just break aswell (this will mean removing the batterymount)

 

[chris blue]

 

[Budgie]

That's not the main dogbone bolt. The 18mm one anyway.

Could well be the 16mm one that mounts it to the subframe, but doubtful that would work it's way out..

What size is the head?

 

[chris blue]

Has the bolt got a tapered end on it?

yes- slightly tapered- not broken i dont think but will check

 

[Budgie]

If it's a 16mm head, it could be from anywhere in that area. Could be one of the ones that mount the gearbox spider to the box itself..

or could be one that bolts the box to the block, but there are so many doing that, you probably wouldn't notice it missing.

My bet, either gearbox mount spider bracket to box, or dogbone to subframe.

 

[chris blue]

That's not the main dogbone bolt. The 18mm one anyway.

Could well be the 16mm one that mounts it to the subframe, but doubtful that would work it's way out..

What size is the head?

Bolt head is 15mm hex, might not be my bolt. seems strange as it was in middle of road, back tho

 

[Budgie]

Nothing in that area is a 15mm. Always a chance someone could have replaced the original 16mm's with one of these though.

 

[chris blue]

Set of ramps then. Said to the wife i wanted a house with a garage 4 yr ago. I made the compromise.......

Looked at one bungalow, double garage, with pit.. wife no like :-(

 

[Chris_Beer]

Polystyrene car ramps?

@cs_dave 's forklift sounds safer than that

 

[bloke]

not original if 15mm so many not be off car.

 

[STEVE.M]

Set of ramps then. Said to the wife i wanted a house with a garage 4 yr ago. I made the compromise.......

Looked at one bungalow, double garage, with pit.. wife no like :-(

I`d expect the threads to be damaged if it had worked its way out the dogbone.

 

[chris blue]

Will remeasure the bolt

Working on the premise the bolt is not off the car, is there anything other than dogbone which would make the "torque lurch clunk" when pulling thru gears?

Engine mounts, will check thegearbox fixings. Anything else to look at when under.

 

[chris blue]

Got car up on axles stands, having a look around
In these photos, just in front of the dogbone (Yellow bushes) there is quite a shiny threaded hole.... would that be where the bolt come form? Shall i just screw it back in... any advice

cant see anything else hanging down, or out of place.

ED: its close to the drivers side drive shaft that was replaced couple months back. Wonder if its something they didnt tighten up>

Thanks

This photo its a bit more clear- can paintbox circle the hole if you wish

 

[Budgie]

@chris blue

Nope, it's not come from that hole. That's for a Ph2 dogbone setup..

 

[Budgie]

The black bracket the dogbone bolts to at the gearbox end should have 2x bolts holding it on.. I can see one of them, check the other is still there...

 

[chris blue]

will have a look around. cheers
Makes me think the guys that sorted the driveshaft may have something to do with the issue

 

[Coops Mk1]

they shouldn't of needed to touch anything engine mount related, or anything inboard of the hub really for a drivers side shaft change
the bolt does look a bit like one of the ones that holds the black bracket to the gearbox, but never heard of one of those working loose before

 

[chris blue]

This where you mean- seems like something could be missing on the black bracket

 

[JamesBryan]

Yeah that's missing a bolt out of that lower hole!

 

[Budgie]

^This.

Problem solved!

 

[chris blue]

Shheeeesh. your joking- just taken it to local garage
lets see what they say......

 

[chris blue]

Cor -, theres me trying to sort my own stuff (With you guys help) . Just about there, and blew it
Garage just phoned to say an engine bolt come out, and its the one i gave them
Wonder how much they are gonna charge, especially as i reckon they left it loose couple month back........

will post up later

 

[Budgie]

Lol. 5 mins work to fix if you know the problem.

 

[Coops Mk1]

Mad, shouldn't of been touched to do a driveshaft.

 

[chris blue]

Cars back to being fab and beastie. Havent checked (Getting dark) that they put the bolt back in the dogbone bracket. will do that tomorrow.

Wanted to charge me £20, as it happened (Honest) only had £15 in my pocket. He took that and no receipt ;-)
Had a good chat, they liked the car " Very torque, almost went of the end of the lift" LOL.
Seem keen to do any work i need, bar engine rebuilds.

Lesson learned, wait for a reply from you guys. Thanks
Just gotta get to know the car i spose.

 

[bloke]

£20 just to stick a bolt in?? bunch of sperm donors!!!!

 

[chris blue]

£20 just to stick a bolt in?? bunch of sperm donors!!!!

Take your point, but they stuck it on a lift, had a guy look around for 10 minutes, even if they had charged me nothing I would have given them £10 for a drink

More peed off bout the warm satisfying glow i didnt get after a succesful fault find and cure.... :-(
almost.......... not quite