Xsara gear change

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Mon 28 Feb 2005 12:05
Xsara gear change - David Horn
Hello,

I'm sure that over the last 6 months the gear change on my Xsara has grown more notchy and difficult. Engaging first (or second gear) when moving is proving extremely difficult, and when changing up it can be quite hard to pull it out of gear immediately after the clutch is depressed.

As far as I know the oil in the gearbox has never been changed - would this help. Also, I'm thinking that because it's difficult to pull out of gear, something might need to be adjusted clutch-wise. Interestingly, it's a lot better when the car is warm or it's been sitting in slow moving traffic with the clutch depressed for a while.

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated!
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Mon 28 Feb 2005 12:41
Xsara gear change - RichardW
Sounds like the clutch is dragging. Is it a TD? I would think the clutch cable on these should be self adjsuting - try stepping off the clutch very sharply - this should wake the self adjuster up. In other applicaitons of this engine (Xantia, ZX) it's normal for the clutch pedal to appear quite high when the adjsutment is correct - for Xantia it should have 140mm of travel. If the 'box crunches into reverse even if you come to a full stop and wait a couple of seconds then that's a good sign the clutch is dragging.

Changing the oil in the 'box will do no harm, but use the proper Total 75W/80 oil - these boxes dislike other oils.


--
RichardW

Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Mon 28 Feb 2005 16:31
Xsara gear change - Roly93
It might just be the very cold weather causing this.

Does the gearchange get better when youve been on a realy good drive and the gearbox has warned up ?
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Mon 28 Feb 2005 17:25
Xsara gear change - Insect
If it's the same set up of rods, bellcranks and ball joints that my ZX has, try getting underneath and greasing all of the pivots and joints; they're all exposed. I now do this at least once a year and the quality of the gearchange improves each time (not that it's ever really good, though!)
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