New clio, problem number 1!

[Unreal-Master]

Went and bought a 53plate clio 172 yesterday (privately). First time ive ever driven a renault, and the clio sport is great! Drove over 100miles on the way home, drove fine all the way. When i got home my brother took it for a little drive, when deccelerating from speed, going down through the gears, got it into third, and thats where its stayed, For some reason the gears have jammed themselves into third and got stuck.
Took it to renault dealer this morning, and seems as tho its something inside the box thats got stuck, so he advised me to take it elsewhere because renault would rip me off lol.
So, any ideas what it could be?
Nothing too serious I hope, as ive spent all my pennies buying it, so wont be repaired for a while if its gonna cost alot

Cheers in advance.
Rich

 

[DrR]

Mega money!

 

[Unreal-Master]

How mega is mega? New gearbox jobbie?

 

[mattjk]

The gearboxes are notriously bad on them lol mines on 28 thousand and the syncro on thirds a little grindy when cold or when ragging it

 

[bmh.01]

They're only bad if abused, with a bit of mechanical sympathy they're fine.

 

[lemonnobby]

sounds like the detent is broken and its locked in two gears.

 

[philmots]

Could be a linkage that has gone.

 

[DrR]

My cars on it's 2 nd gearbox and the new one done less than 6k is pretty crap IMO.

 

[Graham Gooch]

They're only bad if abused, with a bit of mechanical sympathy they're fine.

Agreed, then again most are driven by heavy handed types

 

[Josh@Renparts]

so does the shifter move? or is the shifter stuck in 3rd as well as the car and impossible to get out?

 

[Unreal-Master]

Why have renault made such a weak gearbox then? Or is it simply because people thrash them all the time?
Thanks for the comments so far.
The gear stick jiggles a little bit, as it would in any gear, but wont pull down out of third. The bar underneath which goes between gear stick and gearbox moves freely, but the bit that actually goes into the gearbox wont budge.

 

[GordonD]

Why have renault made such a weak gearbox then? Or is it simply because people thrash them all the time?

They designed an engine and a gearbox that'd stretch to 1.8 litres and 1.8 litres worth of torque. Then safety requirements got tougher and tougher so cars got heavier so they stretched the engine to 2.0 litres. Which pushed the gearbox right to its limits. So if you get a good one you're alright. And if you don't, or you thrash it, it can be expensive.

They knew they'd pushed it too far, so for the Mk3 they made the engine compartment wide enough that they could go to Nissan, which they have a large stake in, and source a gearbox design from there that had 6 speeds and a higher torque rating. No, it won't fit in a 172/182 without a lot of effort.

Maybe Renault spent too much on safety or F1. Its cars are getting aged in their engineering. The two litre engine is solid, but its old. They're probably lucky there that rising oil prices mean engine sizes are heading back downwards. And the suspensions in their cars lack the sophistication of, say, Fords. Its a bit hard to see why anyone but the French are buying Renaults these days.

 

[mattsport182cup]

get him on revs and move hard from 7k

 

[Diesel_Power]

Why have renault made such a weak gearbox then? Or is it simply because people thrash them all the time?

They designed an engine and a gearbox that'd stretch to 1.8 litres and 1.8 litres worth of torque. Then safety requirements got tougher and tougher so cars got heavier so they stretched the engine to 2.0 litres. Which pushed the gearbox right to its limits. So if you get a good one you're alright. And if you don't, or you thrash it, it can be expensive.

They knew they'd pushed it too far, so for the Mk3 they made the engine compartment wide enough that they could go to Nissan, which they have a large stake in, and source a gearbox design from there that had 6 speeds and a higher torque rating. No, it won't fit in a 172/182 without a lot of effort.

Maybe Renault spent too much on safety or F1. Its cars are getting aged in their engineering. The two litre engine is solid, but its old. They're probably lucky there that rising oil prices mean engine sizes are heading back downwards. And the suspensions in their cars lack the sophistication of, say, Fords. Its a bit hard to see why anyone but the French are buying Renaults these days.

Thats the most depressing thing ive ever read.

 

[edde]

Why have renault made such a weak gearbox then? Or is it simply because people thrash them all the time?
Thanks for the comments so far.

The box is strong enough owners just abuse them to much.

Went and bought a 53plate clio 172 yesterday (privately).

I think this is the problem owner most likly new if was gonna fail.

They designed an engine and a gearbox that'd stretch to 1.8 litres and 1.8 litres worth of torque. Then safety requirements got tougher and tougher so cars got heavier so they stretched the engine to 2.0 litres. Which pushed the gearbox right to its limits. So if you get a good one you're alright. And if you don't, or you thrash it, it can be expensive.

They knew they'd pushed it too far, so for the Mk3 they made the engine compartment wide enough that they could go to Nissan, which they have a large stake in, and source a gearbox design from there that had 6 speeds and a higher torque rating.

Its cars are getting aged in their engineering. The two litre engine is solid, but its old. They're probably lucky there that rising oil prices mean engine sizes are heading back downwards.

The box was designed for a 2.0 engine its a dervivate for the Williams box and it ok its just an evolution though from ages ago hence why its not CTR or VAG type box for strength or feel.

Doesn't matter if you get a good or bad one there all ok realy just abuse is the killer.
The box is sort of still used today though the Mk3 has the new box which was codesigned with Nissan as it needs to take more torque as the stock JC5 limits were 200NM and the 197 was making more torue and needed a 6 speed box for both the market demands and to help with peformace as HP hasn't risen by much but weight has in the new platform.

The new 2.0 engine though is good the one used in the 197 ok hasn't much evolved since the Mk1 it was used in but hey it works.

As for engine sizes going down due to fuel prices there's always new chalenges the big thing to remember is petrols arn't the mainstay of business anyway.