Mark I clutch/gearbox wont engage?

[max0]

I've had my mark I 1.4 16v for about 2 months now and never had anything wrong with it, however yesterday when pulling away from a junction there was a loud bang and the car felt like it had come out of gear.

i rolled to the side of the road and had these symptoms;

i cant drive it, theres no power from the engine to the drive shafts.
when the engine is running i can put it in gear with the clutch up or down and both the clutch and the gearbox feel normal but theres no drive.
most confusingly theres no out of the ordinary noise, no banging or screeching, it just seems normal?

i've started to take the gearbox off but ive realised i have no idea what im trying to fix so i dont know if its gonna be a problem for me to do it myself.

any ideas as to the cause?

 

[Shorty_Irl]

Sounds like the clutch is gone mate

 

[max0]

i've had clutches go before, if the pressure plate goes then its constantly engaged (as if the clutch was up all the time) and if the friction plate goes its noisy as f*** cause parts fly about in the clutch housing.

so im doubtful that its one of the normal parts that go on the clutch, so any ideas as to what it could be?

 

[Beef-Mc]

Loud bang then no power, I'd go with cambelt personally.

 

[max0]

its not the cambelt, i checked that, plus the engine block runs absolutly fine theres just no drive

 

[Mike@Rentech]

Circlip on the diff has come away by the sounds of it, remove nearside driveshaft refit clip .

 

[max0]

wouldnt that only affect one side of the car though?

 

[Whiteley]

Yep sounds like circlip. Seen here:

 

[max0]

ok just had a look and there are two circlips loose behind the rubber cover on the gearbox so thats the problem!

whats the best way to go about refitting them? i've got a circlip compressor but where do they go etc?

 

[Riley!]

if one driveshaft isnt engaged non of them work

 

[Rossy197]

Circlip on the diff has come away by the sounds of it, remove nearside driveshaft refit clip .

skills