"Johny B Good" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 09:34:26 +0100, "Muddymike"
wrote:

On Thursday, April 24, 2014 12:57:25 PM UTC+1, Bill Wright wrote:

Sometimes (about every third time) there is considerable resistance on
the gear lever when I try to engage first.

not uncommon on old vehicles. Go into 2nd then retry first.


I second that, I had to do this with my old Volvo.


My driving instructor taght me the trick of shifting back to neutral
and releasing the clutch briefly before repeating the slection of
first gear. The ' try another gear' (you're not just limited to 2nd
unless you just want to get the car moving straight away despite the
extra wear on the clutch and reduced acceleration) is usually the last
resort when dealing with recalcitrant gearboxes.

Surprised no one has asked if the gearbox oil has ever been changed?

If never, it could be dirty, low or contaminated, or if it has been changed,
the wrong grade put in.


I had an Iveco based motorhome, and it was a bitch to get into second (first
was a crawler gear and hardly used unless pulling away up a very steep hill
full loaded, then engine was at 3.5k rpm at 7 mph in 1st gear, would sit at
2.6k rpm in top at 70mph)

I asked iveco what oil to buy as i wanted to change it, and they asked if i
was doing so because of difficulty getting into 2nd.

So they sold me a synthetic oil to replace the mineral oil in the box, an
official iveco solution for stiff 2nd gear, of which about 95% of the vans
suffered,

i got enough oil to do 2 changes, so i first changed the oil and drove for a
a few hundred miles, so to mix the dregs of the mineral oil with the
synthetic (or not mix as i believe happens) then drained the oil again and
put in fresh synthetic,

The difference in gear changes was amazing, every single gear became lighter
to engage, and i could now select 2nd at a stand still with the clutch down,
or even go into 2nd whilst slowing to a stop at lights,
2nd was still the hardest of the gears to engage, but it was a million times
better than before..... 1st couldnt be selected whilst moving (crawler gear
thing again, and it was located with the stick right over to the left and
back) but with the mineral oil in the box, even if i started off in 1st,
changing to 2nd was a fight no matter what i did... like going into third
then 2nd,

i really was ready to strip the box down expecting to find the syncro chewed
to pieces, and honestly didn't expect an oil change to do much, but i was
glad i did try it, a 10 litre bottle of synthetic oil was better than a
gearbox strip.... and likely to find nothing wrong anyway