Reverse gear shuddering

[DannyPancho]

I'm having a little problem with reverse gear, the gear itself works fine (in the sense that it lets me reverse) - but it makes an awful shuddering noise which seems to vibrate the whole car and i'm worried that it could be doing some damage...

I had the car serviced not too long ago with an advisory that the 'gearbox mounting is broken' - would this be the reason? If so, I've had a look for the broken mounting and i couldn't see anything which looked cracked, chipped, missing... it was all solid too! there was no play in the bracket or mountings!

The U bracket which holds the gearbox mountings looks fine, so do the mountings - are there any other mountings i need to know about? 

any help would be great as this could potentially set back my plans to order my new suspension kit    thanks in advance!

[Gadge]

A typical failure of a gearbox mount is the rubber coming away from the metal casing. It may not be obvious at first so give it a good poke - remove it if possible and have a look. There's only three mounts that hold the engine in, the two at the gearbox and one on the other end with the spring. Personally I don't think you'll your issue is the mount but perhaps either the spigot bush in the centre of the flywheel or the input shaft bush/oil seal that goes on the inside of the bell housing. The juddering you are feeling i think is the clutch not centralising as it takes up drive so the whole input shaft rotates in a oval kind of direction instead of around

[DannyPancho]

Okay i think im with you  as a rookie im learning all the lingo but that does make sense, ill have another look tomorrow and also remove the bracket and mountings (i bought new mountings after the service so i may aswell change them!) and then ill report back.

As for the clutch, i may just buy a new set and have a go (with help of course) 

Thanjs very much!

[Gadge]

Oops sorry! I sometime take for granted people's knowledge on these little cars  if I were you ild do as you say and change the mounts and go from there, however don't go buying a clutch just yet as that may well be fine. If it is the spigot or the input shaft bush then these parts are not expensive (about £20 for the input bush and about £12 for the spigot) and well within the capabilities of a DIY mechanic.

We are always here to talk you through it so don't be afraid to ask

[little donkey]

  Hi my 126 did the same  as this and i change the mounts clutch drive shafts and upgraded  to a cv joint to get rid of the rubber torsion mount but in the end it was the gearbox on its way out and in the end the back wheels lock up and was unable to drive the car . but good luck with your 126, i would drain the gearbox oil and have a look for metal bits in it before spending lots of money, but i hope it is just a rubber mount on your car.

[DannyPancho]

Haha not a problem! I have to learn some how!    as i type this i have just finished changing the mounts and it turns out they were both broken fully! The stud that connects the rubber mount to the U bracket had sheared off completely on both sides so it wasnt connected at all  ill be test driving after some much needed grub

Gadge, are there any visual signs of what you are describing? Would i be able to see the source of a leak etc?

Oo blimy i really hope that doesnt happen to me! Sounds terrible! But i think i should check the gearbox oil as you said just to be safe 

Thanks for all the help guys i really appreciate it! 

[Gadge]

Sounds like you might have sorted it  you won't know if the bush or spigot is worn unless you take the gearbox off. I little oil dribbling from the bottom of the bell housing would point to the input seal.

[DannyPancho]

Absolute terror. Ive just started the car and it drives fine, reverse is better but not fixed... BUT the car now vibrates violently when in neutral or the clutch is pressed down  Any ideas on this one?? Other than the fact that the gearbox is actually attached to the bracket now, i cant figure why it only vibrates so badly in neutral?!?

Speaking of a little dribble, mine does have that  so i may have to look further into getting the gearbox done somewhere professional...

[DannyPancho]

or maybe the rubber mounts just need wearing in?

[Gadge]

I think you may have a more serious internal gearbox issue. The mounts won't need bedding in as such they either work or they don't so I suspect that whatever's going on inside the gearbox/clutch area was probably what caused the original mounts to break. I still stick to my original theory as the only thing that could cause such a violent shudder is something that isn't rotating in a balanced way.

So basically you have two options if your feeling brave you can remove the engine complete with the gearbox (not as hard as it sounds but requires some mechanical skill) or take it to an old school classic car garage and explain the problem and go from there.

[DannyPancho]

hmmmmm I reckon the latter is the better option for me, i feel i may make something worse if i try myself! ill contact the garage i know in the new year
thanks for the help 

[Lloyd74]

Another cause or the shudder is an over tightened rear engine mount, where the spring it sits on is over compressed and therefore instead of absorbing the engine vibration transmits it through the car, don't know if you touched this though, but one to be mindful of

[DannyPancho]

oh my, i think you may have solved it... ill need to check when i next get home but i have changed that spring setup a while back as the rubbers had failed! ill test it out when i get home cheers