HELP - no gears selectable

I have just renewwed the insurance TODAY for my 88" S3 and fired it up for the first time in about 3 months, didnt even have a flat battery. Just fired up after 20 pumps the throttle and away it went first twist.

Drove about 1/2 mile then could not select any gears, makes no difference if rolling, clutch in or out, engine running or not, high or low ration selected, overdrive engaged or not.

The gearlever has always felt fairly vague when it comes to selecting gears but now it feels even more so. If its just the selector fork thats 'snapped' or whatever they do then how easyu a job is it to chnage . I have an old s2a gearbox laying around, and another old LR gearbox that I cannot quite identify its origin. Any ideas before i have to start removing boxes. Does irt sound like a box out job, because its -5 here and falling and i dont really fancy that tonight.

Regards

Tony

Have you got free wheeling hubs? If so, lock these in and then try again in 4WD - if it now drives, your problem is more than likely a broken rear halfshaft.

If "no gears selectable" means no gear drives, then this is probably free wheeling hubs plus a broken rear half shaft. If so, then the prop shafts will turn when driving, but without effect. An unlikely but possible alternative is the centre has broken out of the clutch plate, but I only know of one case of this - happened to me in 1966.

If it really means you can't get any gears because the gear lever is not doing anything it means that the bottom of the gear lever has disengaged from the selectors, has the locating pin fallen out, or has the tip broken off. Not a gearbox out situation, nor expensive to fix - remove floor and transmission tunnel and all will become clear. JD

No drive at all? Could be the clutch plate has siezed on the spines away from the flywheel, or the clutch slave cylinder has siezed. To check anything you're gonna have to take the floor and transmission tunnel out, check under the gear lever to see if the other end is still present to move the selector rods. There's also an inspection plate on the bellhousing so you can see if the clutch pressure plate is turning when you do engage any gears.

Alex

When you move the gear lever does it sound/feel as if any of the selector shafts are moving? Can you hear the gears 'clunking' into position?

Does it actually feel as if you are still moving in a 'gate' or jusr stirring nothing?

Can you twist the gear lever about a vertical axis? Have you lost/broken the grub screw that screws into the side of the main pivot ball for the lever? If this has gone it's possible that the ball on the end of the lever is no longer constrained within the gate. You might be able to waggle it back into position but that's not a long term solution.

You might be able to see something if you peel back the gear lever gaiter.

Thanks for all your suggestions, i will look deeper tomorrow when its daylight again

If as above it does not feel like it engaging any gear and the stick is just flopping about then it could just be the famous "lock out" or whatever you want to call it. Series, and particularly SII boxes, have this habbit of very, very occasionalydoing just as above. It only happened to me once (slap bang in the middle of a dual carridgeway), and half an hour of frantic gearstick waggling and a bit of language and it went back to normal, all for no apparent reason.

Richard

I had that happen once on my old 2B Forward Control after rolling down Dunmail Raise towards Grasmere in neutral. Bloody thing wouldn't go into any gears. I pulled over, stopped everything, looked underneath at the linkages - nothing found untoward. Got back in, suddenly all the gears came back. Never happened again and the gearbox was otherwise very solid.

All I can guess is that a detent ball which prevents you selecting two gears at once hasn't returned to its proper place. You might be able to reach the caps which hold the spring-loaded bearings in place and squirt some oil into them.

How's the oil level in the gearbox? Does it need changing?

My Stage One did that too....suddenly refused to engage any gears. I pulled over, glared at the gearstick, and lo....it worked again. Very odd.