Ideas? Rover 400 problem

The_Bullman

Here's my situation. I have a 98 rover 400 1.6L engine. With about 66000 miles on it. Just fixed the head gasket before xmas. A slight rattle on the exhaust but nothing major.

Last Thursday I was driving and I felt as though the cluth might be feeling a little off. Nothing much, only it seemed to slip once or twice. I thought nothing of it as the car was running fine but thought I should get it checked out soon. Later that day I was driving at about 50 and the car slipped out of 5th gear except it hadn't and it poped back in again a second later.

A little up the road something more serious happened. I was pulling upto trafic lights and I could feel something seriously wrong with the clutch/gears. It wasn't right basically. As I was taking off from them the car came to a complete sudden stop.

I'm assuming that the gearbox just suddenly siezed. I couldn't move the car at all. It wouldn't push at all. A mate drove by and tried to tow it but it wouldn't budge. So I had to tow it away from there. Bloody well cost 120 euro

I'm probably explaining it wrong, but it seems to me that something is up with the gearbox/clutch.

I'm wondering how much you'd think it would cost to get whatever's wrong fixed? And is it worth fixing? Should I just bite the bullet and get a new car?

What do you guys think?

alias no.9

If I was to guess, I'd say that the clutch bearing seized. Were you able to engage/disengage gears when the car and engine were stoped?

Ratchet

clutch bearing seized-- this will not stop the engine from operation , it will only grind through pressure plate . As he can't move that car in neutral would indicate that gearbox could be sick or engine is seized.

The_Bullman

alias no.9 wrote:

Were you able to engage/disengage gears when the car and engine were stoped?

I wasn't able to do anything with the gears after the car stopped. The clutch felt ok though, and the engine would start. It just wouldn't go into gear. Oh it wouldn't move in neutral(probably because it wouldn't go into neutral) but it wouldn't move when my foot was on the clutch either

The_Bullman

Ratchet wrote:

clutch bearing seized-- this will not stop the engine from operation , it will only grind through pressure plate . As he can't move that car in neutral would indicate that gearbox could be sick or engine is seized.

So, do you think it's the clutch bearing or the gearbox or both? When I started the engine I didn't feel a grinding through the clutch. Does that mean that it isn't the clutch bearing?

Ratchet

oh, that's good

engine starts.

can you move in to neutral when the engine is off? If the pressure plate is gone you will not be able to change gears. Still you will have to replace complete clutch kit including bearing.

AlienGav

Maybe the problem's a little less serious?

Is the clutch cable still intact? Or maybe your gear linkage is gone all wonky? Have you dipped the gearbox for oil?

The_Bullman

I can start the engine, but there is a rattle noise which seems to be coming from the gearbox area. When I put my foot on the clutch the noise stops.

The worrying part is the "burning" smell that's there when the car is running. That was there just after the breakdown too. It seems like there was oil sprayed around the gearbox. I've no idea where that oil came from which worries me too.

I don't think there is a dipstick for checking oil on my gearbox, so I've no idea what the oil level is there

Gearchanging is possible when the engine is started, only not all the gears are available, and at that it still sticks in that gear for a bit too

ChiTom

The_Bullman wrote:

Here's my situation. I have a 98 rover 400 1.6L engine. With about 66000 miles on it. Just fixed the head gasket before xmas. A slight rattle on the exhaust but nothing major.

Last Thursday I was driving and I felt as though the cluth might be feeling a little off. Nothing much, only it seemed to slip once or twice. I thought nothing of it as the car was running fine but thought I should get it checked out soon. Later that day I was driving at about 50 and the car slipped out of 5th gear except it hadn't and it poped back in again a second later.

A little up the road something more serious happened. I was pulling upto trafic lights and I could feel something seriously wrong with the clutch/gears. It wasn't right basically. As I was taking off from them the car came to a complete sudden stop.

I'm assuming that the gearbox just suddenly siezed. I couldn't move the car at all. It wouldn't push at all. A mate drove by and tried to tow it but it wouldn't budge. So I had to tow it away from there. Bloody well cost 120 euro

I'm probably explaining it wrong, but it seems to me that something is up with the gearbox/clutch.

I'm wondering how much you'd think it would cost to get whatever's wrong fixed? And is it worth fixing? Should I just bite the bullet and get a new car?

What do you guys think?

From your description I would think it's the gearbox. A good back street mechanic should be able to buy a second hand one from a breakers and fit for well under 500 euro.

stratos

Could be a long shot but i'v seen it happen. If after work was done on the car, some foreign object managed to get into the bellhousing. This jammed between clutch plate and flywheel, stoping the cluth from disengaging.

$lash

It sounds to me like the Clutch release bearing ...

JohnCleary

http://forums.mg-rover.org is your friend